For migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, the war brought the challenges of finding shelter, accessing healthcare, staying connected to support networks, their families, and retrieving their wages and their papers, along with the threat of bombardment and displacement.
When War Reaches the Workplace
With the escalation of the war in March 2026, migrant domestic workers faced a particular set of challenges similar to those faced in the 2024 war on Lebanon and the economic crisis of 2020. Many live in the homes where they work, making their safety dependent on decisions taken by their employers. When families flee their homes or other areas, migrant domestic workers might be left behind, sometimes even without their wages, legal documents, and any safe place to go.
For Meriam Prado, a community leader with the Alliance of Migrant Domestic Workers in Lebanon, the crisis exposed the difficulties workers face in accessing assistance. Unfortunately, their needs do not always fit into the humanitarian response, especially when legal status, insurance, racism and discrimination, and access to basic services become barriers not necessarily present for other displaced communities.
Prado explained that health insurance and documentation can determine whether a migrant domestic worker receives medical care. Without someone able to support them, whether their employers, an organization, or other initiatives, accessing medical care and treatment can be difficult. During the war, however, she noted that multiple local initiatives were trying to bridge some of these gaps, including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and others.
The services provided by these organizations are particularly important for workers who could not independently obtain access to their needs, such as treatment, or navigate the systems required to obtain it by themselves.
Staying Connected During the Crisis
Access to communication is another important need for migrant domestic workers during the war. For many workers living in their employers’ homes, staying connected is not taken for granted. Many have limited access to phones; others may live in rooms typically near the kitchen or other parts of the house where Wi-Fi is unavailable, and others are not even given the Wi-Fi password by their employers. With the extremely poor wages migrant domestic workers earn in Lebanon (and sometimes, these wages are withheld), it is hard for many, if not most, of them to spend money on mobile data.
SIM cards with internet access can make a significant difference: they allow workers to contact their friends, communities, receive information about available assistance, seek help, and contact their families. When employers restrict access to phones or workers cannot afford data, these channels of communication become even harder to maintain. This is why Meriam Prado tried her best to make SIM cards and mobile data available for members of her community.
Connectivity is particularly important during an emergency, when information about safe routes, areas, shelter, medical services, and available support can change at any moment. For workers isolated in private households, a functioning phone and an internet connection are often a luxury even though they are essential. The need for such support is overlooked by many of the initiatives providing their services for displaced communities.
The Difficult Decision to Seek Shelter
Despite the dangers, not all migrant workers choose to seek refuge in shelters. Prado explained that some workers would rather stay in their employers’ homes or find other households to work at due to the need to continue earning money. Many migrant domestic workers have families in their countries of origin who depend on the income they send home. Losing a job, even temporarily, could threaten their families’ ability to meet basic needs. “I totally understand,” Prado says, “it’s like choosing between yourself and your family”.
The wider humanitarian response presented countless other barriers for migrant domestic workers. Reported by L’Orient Today in April 2026, multiple migrant domestic workers had been abandoned by fleeing employers and struggled to find shelter, with some turning to compatriots for shelter and accommodation.
Therefore, for these workers, a response that encourages people to seek shelter must also account for what they stand to lose when they leave their workplaces, as well as whether they can access assistance once they arrive.
From Domestic Worker to Advocate
Meriam Prado came to Lebanon around 30 years ago to work as a domestic worker. Unlike the experiences many migrant workers describe, she recalls having kind employers with whom she had a great relationship. It was through this experience that she became increasingly aware of the contrast between her own circumstances and the exploitation faced by other workers under Lebanon’s kafala system. Her employers encouraged her to speak out, take action, and become involved in advocating for her rights and those of other migrant domestic workers.
Co-founder of the Alliance of Migrant Domestic Workers, she is committed to continuing to support a community whose members often have limited access to resources and protection. Today, her work brings her into contact with workers navigating not only the horrors of the Kafala system, but also the additional risks and uncertainties created by the war.
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Clara Ghorayeb
Clara Ghorayeb earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the American University of Beirut (AUB), with a minor in Gender Studies. Her interests include structural inequalities, collective care, and social issues in Lebanon and the broader region. She has also been involved in volunteer and activist initiatives focused on social and humanitarian issues.