BEIRUT: A maid who was found hanged at her employer’s apartment in Tripoli Thursday had been on a hunger strike for three days before committing suicide, Lebanon’s Labor Ministryannounced Friday.
The ministry said in a statement that its investigation had revealed that the Bengali worker had been insisting on traveling back to her country to be with her children.
The worker was identified as Melika Begum, according to security sources. She was found hanged in her room at her employer’s apartment in the Qibbeh neighborhood of Tripoli.
“Recently, the maid had been asking to go back to her country and see her children, the pictures of whom she had been carrying,” the statement said. “She refused to eat during her last three days and then committed suicide by hanging.”
Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi called for the investigation to continue in the case. He faulted the employers for not acting “humanely,” knowing that she had been on a hunger strike and was in despair.
“It is unacceptable to detain a maid when she’s a mother without notifying the maid agency or the Labor Ministry so that the necessary measures are taken,” the statement said.
“Considering the incident a suicide is not enough to close the case,” Azzi was quoted as saying in the statement.
Begum was living with a family of six, the statement said, including a mother who works as a school teacher, her husband who works at a hospital, and their four children.
About 200,000 foreign domestic workers are employed in Lebanonunder the much-criticized sponsorship system. Human Rights Watchand other organizations have called on Lebanese authorities to address the "high levels of abuse and deaths" of maids in the country.
HRW in 2008 recorded an average of one maid death a week in Lebanon by unnatural causes, including suicides.