LABOR MINISTER HARB UNDERSCORES COMMITMENT TO TIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 000119 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2020 TAGS: ELAB KTIP PHUM KWMN PGOV PREF KPAL LE SUBJECT: LABOR MINISTER HARB UNDERSCORES COMMITMENT TO TIP ISSUES Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Labor Ministry had recently agreed to form a joint committee with embassies with many citizens working as domestic employees in Lebanon to oversee employment agencies that contracted the workers, Labor Minister Boutros Harb told the Ambassador on February 3. Harb also expressed his support advancing legislation that would bring Lebanon into conformity with UN Convention 182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labor. Despite the political sensitivities surrounding Palestinian refugees, Harb said he preferred that Palestinians work in the Lebanese labor market instead of other Arabs because they would keep their earnings inside Lebanon. Harb sharply criticized President Michel Sleiman's involvement in the municipal electoral reform negotiations and ruled some of the proposed reforms "not appropriate" for Lebanon at this time. End Summary. MINISTRY OF LABOR FOCUSED ON TIP ISSUES -------------- ¶2. (C) Harb reported to the Ambassador on February 3 that he had met that same day with ambassadors from countries with large numbers of domestic workers in Lebanon to discuss trafficking in persons issues. The group had agreed, he said, to form a joint committee with his labor ministry (MOL) to oversee the "crooks" in the employment agencies that contract workers. As part of the commission's work, a list of agencies would be maintained and embassies would have direct access to the minister to report abuses, said Harb, who promised to "send the culprits to justice personally." ¶3. (C) When the Ambassador asked him about the status of a draft law at the MOL to extend labor rights to foreign workers, Harb said he had not yet heard of the proposal. The issue, he noted, was complicated by questions about whether those workers would also be entitled to social security benefits -- a move that he opposed. Instead, Harb described his plan to improve enforcement of existing laws requiring employers of domestic workers to buy insurance for them before arrival. Enforcement against lax labor agencies and corrupt insurance companies had been weak, Harb complained, underscored the need to guarantee health care to guest workers. ¶4. (C) Harb said that he had recently approved draft changes to the Labor Law that would bring Lebanon into conformity with UN Convention 182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labor. Drafting of the law continued inside the MOL, he reported, and he predicted the final draft law would reach the cabinet within two months. PALESTINIANS COULD FILL LABOR SHORTAGES -------------- ¶5. (C) Despite the political sensitivities surrounding Palestinian refugees, Harb said he preferred that Palestinians work in the Lebanese labor market instead of Syrians or Egyptians who would send their earnings outside of Lebanon. Even so, he recommended continuing to treat Palestinians as refugees, not foreign workers. While proposals to allow Palestinian nurses to work in the Lebanese health care system might work in the short term, he assessed, the government should launch a campaign to encourage Lebanese youth to train for specialties where shortages existed. Such a program could tie into his proposal for a regional Arab office of employment to address labor shortages and worker exchanges across the Arab world, he suggested. NOT ALL ELECTORAL REFORMS TRUE REFORM -------------- ¶6. (C) President Michel Sleiman's involvement in the municipal electoral reform negotiations was "unfortunate," Harb assessed. The proposals of Sleiman appointee Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud were fine in the abstract, he allowed, but they were "not appropriate" for Lebanon at this time. Some, such as the requirement for municipal council heads to have university degrees, were not even reforms, he argued. While Baroud had postulated that the reforms would be useful for the next parliamentary elections, Harb complained that technocrat Baroud knew little about the finer points of electoral campaigns. ¶7. (C) Harb strongly opposed several proposed reforms. Free Patriotic Movement head Michel Aoun's campaign to split the Beirut municipality into three districts would end up reducing Christian representation overall, Harb opined. While the Lebanese Forces and March 14 independents were negotiating a 50% Christian representation within Hariri's comprehensive Beirut list, Harb grumbled, Aoun was seeking to play on Christian sentiments for his own benefit. The end result, Harb predicted, would be a decline in Christian representation from 12 council members city-wide to five under the new system. The proposal for council members to be selected proportionally from different lists depending on election results, he said, would likely result in "paralyzed" municipalities that would be "like the council of ministers." ¶8. (C) COMMENT: Harb, who is focused on social security reform and larger political issues, was obviously still getting a grip on the finer details of his portfolio. While his commitment to trafficking issues is laudable, the modifications to the Labor Law have already been pending in the MOL for over a year. SISON