On Labour Day, the world celebrates workers and the dignity of labour. For migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, this day remains a reminder of exclusion.

Despite the essential work migrant domestic workers do every day, caring for homes, children, and families. They remain excluded from Lebanese labour law and trapped under the Kafala system. Their legal status is tied to their employers, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and abandonment. And when war escalates, migrant domestic workers are once again left to face it alone.

During the 2024 Israeli war on Lebanon, now continuing into 2026, migrant domestic workers have been among those most abandoned and most excluded from protection and humanitarian assistance. As employers fled, many workers were left behind without shelter, food, wages, or access to their documents.

But migrant workers have never waited for systems to protect them; they have organised for and among each other. In the absence of humanitarian assistance, migrant domestic workers and migrant-led networks mobilised emergency relief by operating community kitchens, opening shelters, sharing resources, and making sure no one was left alone. They have acted as first responders not only for migrant communities, but for all those affected by war and displacement.

This is not new. This is how migrant workers survive and resist every day. Building community, organising collectively, and creating systems of care in the face of ongoing injustice.

This Labour Day, we honour the labour of migrant community leaders as first responders and humanitarian workers on the frontline of conflict, and we recognise their resistance, leadership, and collective power.

Migrant domestic workers are workers. Their labour is work. Their rights must be recognised and protected.

There can be no labour justice while migrant domestic workers remain excluded.

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