Table ( continued )

Nationality	Number	Nationality	Number
Niger	3	Sweden	1
Nigeria	475	Syria	184
Pakistan	275	Tanzania	7
Palestinians from Syria	4	Thailand	25
Panama	1	Togo	254
Paraguay	2	Tunisia	21
Peru	1	Turkey	220
Philippines	14 518	Ukraine	1
Romania	4	Undetermined nationality	2
Senegal	464	United Kingdom	2
Seychelles	15	Venezuela	1
Sierra Leone	67	Viet Nam	553
Somalia	40	Yemen	8
South Africa	1	Zaire	18
Sri Lanka	37 608	Zambia	1
Sudan	809	Total	106 780

part two

Article 2

12.No constitutional amendments have been made since the last reports. The elimination of confessionalism announced in the Taif Agreement of 22 October 1989 and in the amendments to the Constitution promulgated on 21 September 1990 (paragraph (h) of the preamble and article 95) is expected to take some time and must be done with care, since what is at stake is civil peace in the country. Indeed, if the authors of the Taif Agreement and the constitutional amendments believed that civil peace would best be served by eliminating confessionalism, and if, today, it would seem, on the contrary, that it is by its preservation, at least on a temporary basis, that this peace will be safeguarded, then there can be no harm in waiting. This is why the national committee envisaged in article 95 of the Constitution has not been appointed.

13.Likewise, no plans have been adopted for the introduction of civil marriage, even as an option.

14.With regard to foreign labour, the Ministry of Labour has finalized a Bill for the establishment of a new labour code. Lebanon’s current Labour Code dates back to 1946 and a new code was needed to take account of the changes that have occurred since then and of all the international conventions by which Lebanon is now bound. The Bill provides that the categories of wage earners not covered by the text will be subject to special laws. Indeed, domestic employees, whether Lebanese or foreign, are not covered by the Labour Code, but merely the Code of Obligations and Contracts.

15.In order to protect foreign employees, the Ministry of Labour signed order No. 5, dated 17 January 2003, concerning regulation of the work of agencies that recruit foreign domestic employees.

Under the terms of the order, in addition to the documents needed to bring such employees from abroad, agency owners must present a contract signed by the sponsor (the employer) that includes the following elements: the duration of the employment and the amount the employee will be paid, and undertakings by the sponsor to: ensure that the employees receive clothing, medical care, an acceptable space in which to sleep and rest; pay the employee a monthly salary at the end of each month; provide the employee, at his request, with the help he needs to remit his salary abroad; give him adequate rest breaks and refrain from ill‑treating or beating him, under penalty of law (art. 15).

16. The same ministerial order requires recruitment agencies to maintain lists of temporary contracts between sponsors (employers) and female employees who work in their homes in order to ensure that such employees perform effectively, are well-treated and enjoy all their rights. The agency is required to notify the Ministry of Labour of cases necessitating the filing of a complaint against the employee or the sponsor (art. 16).

17.The Ministry of Labour has one week to decide upon the complaints submitted to it. The Ministry has invoked the same order to suspend the permits of a number of recruitment agencies found to have violated its terms, particularly with regard to ill-treatment of female employees and the bringing in of employees using fictitious sponsors (art. 14). A special office has been set up at the Ministry of Labour to receive and to deal with complaints in accordance with the laws in force and with the terms of employment contracts.

18.The Ministry of Labour furthermore requires the employer to draw up a written employment contract with the foreign worker, which must be authenticated by a notary public. The foreign worker may ask for the contract to be translated into his or her language. The above-mentioned draft labour code drawn up by the Ministry fills a lacuna in the present Code with regard to the language of a contract. It stipulates that the foreign worker is only subject to the terms of an employment contract that is written in a language he or she understands.

19.Foreign female domestic employees must be covered by an insurance policy that guarantees them hospital care, medical attention, compensation for any occupational accident they may have and repatriation of their remains in the event of death.

20.The Lebanese authorities pursue, in accordance with agreements reached with organizations working to protect human rights, a strategy of protecting refugees and persons who have entered Lebanon illegally.

21.In that regard, an arrangement was concluded on 9 September 2003 (see document attached) between the Regional Bureau, at Beirut, of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The text was designed to find temporary humanitarian solutions to the problems of persons who have entered or are living in Lebanon illegally and who apply to UNHCR for refugee status, pending their resettlement in a third State or repatriation to their country of origin, Lebanon not being a party to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951.

22.In the same spirit, a cooperation agreement was signed, on 11 March 2002, between the Lebanese Government and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) on the humanitarian repatriation to their countries of origin of illegal immigrants.

23.To date, no cooperation agreement has been concluded between Lebanon and the International Organization for Migration, although the Organization has received authorization to

open an office in Beirut. Moreover, during 2003, the Organization, in cooperation with the Directorate-General of General Security, financed the voluntary repatriation of Iraqis to their country (transport, food, medical care and personal expenses). Similar initiatives will be organized in the future (see document attached).

24.Cooperation with the Migrants Centre of Caritas Internationalis (Caritas) Lebanon has taken the following forms:

(a)The distribution of aid in kind and in the form of medical care for persons being detained by the General Security Department, including verification of the detainees’ psychological state;

(b)The final touches are now being put to the “Maison de la Sûreté” project, which will be carried out jointly by the General Security Department, Caritas and the International Catholic Migration Commission. The building has already been leased pending the completion of the legal arrangements required for the project.

25.In the framework of the regularization of the situation of persons who have broken the law on residence of aliens, the Directorate-General of General Security regularized the situation of Arab and foreign nationals by memorandum No. 24 dated 4 February 2002. According to the memorandum, persons who had entered Lebanon legally but had infringed the residence laws were allowed to regularize their situation by paying their tax arrears. A final two-month reprieve was given to the persons concerned in order to allow them to meet one of the conditions required for alien residence or to leave Lebanese territory. That deadline was extended to three months in a memorandum dated 2 April 2002.

26.With regard to persons in possession of a valid passport or laissez-passer who have entered Lebanon illegally, they were permitted to pay a fine proportional to the number of years since the infraction, together with an entry tax; they were given one week to leave the country. Arab and foreign nationals who had been married to a Lebanese woman for more than one year were exempt from expulsion. Their situation was regularized and they were given three months to meet one of the conditions required for an annual residence permit. They had to pay a fine proportional to the number of years of illegal residence, in addition to the tax on their new residence.

27.Those deadlines were extended until 30 June 2002 pursuant to a memorandum dated 29 May 2002. Anyone who applies for regularization is exempted from the condition of leaving the country and has three months to satisfy one of the conditions required for an annual residence permit.

28.Persons who are entirely non-documented are instructed to apply to their country’s embassy or consular mission to obtain a passport or laissez-passer. If it is impossible to obtain a document, because there is no diplomatic or consular representation in Lebanon, the criminal Investigation Department will decide on the action to be taken.

Article 4

29.It is worth recalling, as mentioned in Lebanon’s report dated 6 November 1997 which the Committee discussed (CERD/C/298/Add.2, paras. 33 and 34), that article 317 of the Lebanese Criminal Code punishes “any act, written word or statement whose object or effect is to excite religious or racial hatred or to promote dissension between the communities or different elements of the population” and that article 318 imposes penalties on “any person who belongs to an association founded for the purposes mentioned in the previous article” and provides that the association must be disbanded and its assets confiscated. The laws governing the print and broadcast media contain similar provisions. No supplementary legislation has since been adopted.

Article 5

30.Any foreigner is entitled, on the same basis as Lebanese nationals, to have access to the Lebanese courts in order to bring a complaint before a criminal court or institute proceedings before a civil court, the Council of State (administrative court) or labour arbitration councils, etc. He or she is entitled to the same services as Lebanese citizens without any discrimination.

31.By way of example, decree No. 3572 of 21 October 1980 provides as follows:

“Article 3: All actions brought before the Labour Arbitration Council shall be exempt from court fees and stamp duty, except for costs.

Article 4: It is possible to bring an action or to appear before the Labour Arbitration Council without the assistance of a lawyer.”

32.These provisions apply without discrimination to Lebanese citizens and to foreigners. The same holds true for all laws and regulations governing proceedings before different Lebanese courts.

33.Lebanese law applies to foreign wage earners and their employers. Regardless of the work they do or their nationality, foreign workers in Lebanon are subject to the Labour Code and to the protection it affords, unless they are domestic employees, in which case, as indicated above, they, like Lebanese domestic employees, are subject to the Code of Obligations and Contracts. All forms of ill-treatment are punished under the Penal Code without distinction between Lebanese citizens and foreigners.

34.Neither the Lebanese Labour Code nor employment laws and regulations, such as the laws establishing general wage increases or fixing the minimum wage, make any distinction between Lebanese citizens and foreigners.

35.Foreign wage earners have the same rights as their Lebanese counterparts to daily and weekly rest breaks, annual paid leave, family leave and paid holidays. They work the same number of hours, as stipulated in article 31 of the Labour Code, i.e. 48 hours, and receive overtime pay for additional work.

36.The same preventive and security measures and sick leave allowances apply to workers in all categories, regardless of their nationality. Women are entitled to seven weeks’ maternity leave, whatever their nationality.

37.Special leave, such as leave when a male or female wage earner marries, is granted without regard for nationality, if it is provided for in the enterprise’s statutes as approved by the Ministry of Labour.

38.Occupational accidents are covered in decree law No. 136 of 16 September 1987. However, article 10 of the decree law stipulates that:

“The heirs of the foreign wage earner are not entitled to claim the compensation provided for in the present decree law if, at the time of the accident, they were living outside Lebanese territory. The provisions of this article shall not apply to foreign wage earners who are nationals of a State which accords, in this domain, the same rights to Lebanese as to its nationals.”

39.The above-mentioned draft of the new labour code provides:

“The heirs of a foreign wage earner are entitled to the compensation provided for in the present chapter, if the foreigner is a national of a State that has ratified International Labour Convention No. 19, concerning Equality of Treatment for National and Foreign Workers as regards Workmen’s Compensation for Accidents (1925).”

40.Pending the amendment of the Labour Code, the Ministry of Labour adopted order No. 142/1 (Official Gazette No. 53, 20 November 2003), requiring all employers to conclude an insurance policy on behalf of all foreign wage earners, male or female, incorporating life insurance plus transport of remains to a value of US$ 7,500, a permanent disability allowance of a minimum of US$ 2,500, and hospitalization costs in the event of sickness or accident, of whatever nature or origin, in the amount of US$ 2,500 for each case, with a maximum of US$ 7,500.

41.Concerning the termination indemnity for foreigners and other social security benefits, article 59 of the Labour Code provides that “Foreign wage earners shall, when dismissed, enjoy the same rights as Lebanese wage earners, provided there is reciprocity; they must obtain a work permit from the Ministry of the Economy (now the Ministry of Labour)”.

42.States with which reciprocal arrangements have been made under bilateral agreements are the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Iraq, Morocco, Germany and Switzerland.

43.Similarly, article 9, paragraph 4, of the Social Security Act provides that “Foreign wage earners working in the territory of Lebanon shall be subject to the provisions of this Act in respect of some or all social security benefits only if the State to which they belong grants Lebanese equal treatment with its nationals where social security is concerned”.

44.However, the Labour Arbitration Councils have ruled that wage earners whose nationality is being reviewed or has not been determined shall receive the benefits offered by the National Social Security Fund, and that employers must block half of the contributions payable for Palestinian wage earners, to be held against the termination indemnity.

45.The judicial authorities (the Public Prosecutor’s Office), the Ministry of Labour and the security services, notably the General Security Department, carry out an investigation whenever a foreign wage earner lodges a complaint of ill-treatment against his employer. Appropriate legal steps are taken if the complaint proves to be justified. These bodies may also receive complaints from embassies or consulates of the worker’s country.

46.Where domestic employees are concerned, despite some reports of exploitation or ill‑treatment, a succession of general investigations carried out by the Ministry of Labour and the consideration of individual complaints the Ministry has received show that the number of such cases is very small. Indeed, it has been noted that many domestic employees return to Lebanon for a second spell of employment.

47.Under Lebanese law, a foreign employee’s passport may not be retained against his or her wishes. Generally speaking, the employer may need to have a foreign employee’s passport in order to carry out various formalities, involving work permits, registration of the labour contract with a notary, medical examinations or insurance. Similarly, the employee may freely entrust his or her passport to his or her employer for safe keeping. However, where an employer refuses to return a

passport to an employee on request, the General Security Department will intervene. In fact, there

have been cases in which Lebanese courts have declared the retention of a passport by an employer to be unlawful.

48.Employers, who are aware of the religious needs of their domestic employees, allow them to visit their places of worship each week or on the occasion of religious festivals. Domestic employees spend their days off with their fellow-countrymen, and this offers them intimacy and social freedom which are non-existent in most of the countries in the region. Some employers allow their domestic employees to work for other persons during the day or to live elsewhere, giving the employee considerable independence. When domestic employees live away from their employer’s residence, this enables them to live in the neighbourhoods which are specific to them, to share their experiences, and to enjoy their own cuisine. In Lebanon there are restaurants which serve foreign wage earners their national dishes, and in the shops they can find their own food, as well as newspapers and magazines. There is even a special night club for Filipinos at Sinn el Fil, in Beirut’s inner suburbs, where karaoke evenings are organized. Singers of various nationalities and groups of performers are brought to play to the various ethnic groups.

49.The social freedoms enjoyed by manual workers and domestic employees in Lebanon have led to a rise in marriages between them, and in procreation. The General Security Department has issued an internal memorandum under which three-year residence permits can be granted free of charge to certain foreign nationals, including the children of foreign parents who are working in Lebanon.

50.No alien who has not breached the law governing entry and residence by foreigners in Lebanon can be deported without a decision from a competent authority, which is issued only in connection with an offence against public order or morals or questionable activities.

51.As far as the right to work is concerned, foreigners in Lebanon are authorized to engage in various occupations, with the exception of work as State employees or in certain occupations which are reserved for Lebanese.

52.The breakdown of work permits issued to foreigners by the Ministry of Labour in 2003 is shown in the table below.

Nationality	Number	Nationality	Number
Afghanistan	10	Cambodia	1
African States	369	Cameroon	71
Albania	2	Canada	60
Algeria	20	Chad	4
Argentina	2	Chile	1
Armenia	3	China	41
Asian countries	553	Colombia	22
Australia	13	Congo	66
Austria	3	Côte d’Ivoire	81
Bahrain	3	Countries of the Americas	3
Bangladesh	5 963	Croatia	2
Belgium	17	Cuba	2
Benin	121	Cyprus	4
Brazil	17	Czech Republic	1
Bulgaria	9	Denmark	5
Burkina Faso	57	Dominican Republic	1

Table ( continued )

Nationality	Number	Nationality	Number
Ecuador	10	Pakistan	606
Egypt	12 056	Palestine	245
Eritrea	333	Philippines	12 844
Ethiopia	18 146	Poland	13
European States	28	Qatar	1
France	226	Republic of Korea	6
Gambia	30	Romania	37
Germany	59	Russia	12
Ghana	214	Saudi Arabia	22
Greece	11	Senegal	399
Guinea	12	Seychelles	11
Haiti	63	Sierra Leone	44
Hungary	9	Singapore	1
India	5 621	Somalia	32
Indonesia	60	South Africa	7
Iraq	217	Spain	2
Ireland	10	Sri Lanka	32 772
Islamic Republic of Iran	64	Sudan	604
Italy	49	Sweden	7
Japan	4	Switzerland	16
Jordan	202	Syrian Arab Republic	436
Kenya	11	Thailand	64
Kuwait	5	Togo	245
Liberia	45	Trinidad and Tobago	2
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	14	Tunisia	25
Madagascar	119	Turkey	187
Malaysia	5	Ukraine	2
Mali	28	United Arab Emirates	1
Malta	1	United Kingdom	118
Mauritania	1	United Republic of Tanzania	7
Mauritius	23	United States	159
Morocco	47	Venezuela	1
Mozambique	1	Viet Nam	164
Nepal	119	Yemen	9
Netherlands	10	Yugoslavia	8
New Zealand	7	Zaire	2
Nigeria	380	Zambia	1
Norway	4	Zimbabwe	1

53. The total number of work permits issued to foreigners during 2003, by occupation, is shown in the table below.

Occupation	Number	Occupation	Number
Accountant	4	Journalist	45
Administrative	118	Labourer	112
Adviser	45	Launderer	8
Agent	7	Mechanic	3
Artistic occupations	144	Miscellaneous	5 300
Auditor	3	Musician	68
Baker	319	Nurse	59
Barmaid	28	Office worker	2
Blacksmith	4	Packer	2
Carpenter	60	Painter	14
Cleaner	7 569	Pastry cook	7
Company director	169	Photographer	1
Construction	1 220	Physicist	1
Cook	267	Porter	931
Coordinator	2	Primary teacher	36
Delegate	42	Printer	1
Director	302	Sales representative	41
Domestic employee	72 024	Service station attendant	194
Dress designer	11	Shopkeeper	22
Electronics specialist	5	Specialist	28
Engineer	2	Sportsman or woman	17
Expert	291	Tanner	59
Farm worker	4 430	Teacher	317
Fisherman	7	Technician	57
Furniture maker	7	Tiler	124
Glazier	3	Trainer	27
Handicrafts	1	Translator	17
Instructor	15	Warehouseman	7
Ironworking	23	Weaver	9
Jockey	7	Welder	3
		Total	94 647

54.Travel documents for Palestinians are issued by the General Security Department, for several journeys and several years. Consequently, the persons concerned are free to come and go within Lebanon, to leave the country and to return to it. In the case of those who entered Lebanon clandestinely, some of whom may be in Lebanese prisons, the delay is due to the fact

that the embassies concerned do not respond appropriately and speedily to the requests made by the General Security Department by supplying the necessary documents, but may take several months to do so.

55.Concerning the right to work, Palestinians in practice engage in all occupations. Palestinians can obtain a work permit from the Ministry of Labour at a discount of 25 per cent on the fee

normally payable by foreigners, even though article 1 of decree No. 17561 of 18 September 1946, on

organization of work by foreigners, sets out the principle of reciprocity, and article 8 provides that priority in the exercise of the right to work should be given to Lebanese. For humanitarian reasons, the Lebanese authorities do not prosecute Palestinians who work without a work permit.

56.Concerning the reservation of certain occupations and jobs for Lebanese, article 9 of the above-mentioned decree stipulates that the Minister of Labour must, in December of each year, identify the operations and occupations which the Ministry deems it necessary to reserve for Lebanese. A number of orders, including order No. 621/1 of 15 December 1995, stipulate that this rule may be waived in the case of foreigners who:

Have been living in Lebanon since birth;

Are of Lebanese origin or were born to a Lebanese mother;

Have been married to a Lebanese woman for over a year.

57.There are legal obstacles to the acquisition of real estate by foreigners in Lebanon. First of all, the law which authorizes foreigners to acquire real estate, within very specific limits as to the area authorized per person and per district, applies on condition of reciprocity, which Palestinians cannot offer. In addition, since it was amended on 21 September 1991 (paragraph (i) of the preamble), the Constitution prohibits Palestinians from settling in Lebanon.  This measure is based on United Nations General Assembly resolution 194 (III) of 11 December 1948, which acknowledges the right of Palestinians to return to Palestine.

Article 6

58.No new developments to add to previous reports.

Article 7

59.The problem of racial discrimination and the need to combat it have occupied an important place in the plans, programmes, research and projects of the Educational Research and Development Centre, and especially in:

1.The educational recovery plan drawn up in 1994.

2.The new structure of general education adopted in 1995.

3.The new curricula adopted in 1997.

4.The specifications for the national textbook drawn up by the Educational Research and Development Centre.

5.Other projects in the field of education.

60.The educational recovery plan was adopted on 8 May 1994. Chapter 1, paragraph C states that Lebanon is an ideal homeland for cultural interaction and openness in contrast to regimes and doctrines based on racial discrimination and fanaticism.

61.This assertion was repeated and reaffirmed among the general objectives of the new structure of pre-university education adopted in 1995.

62.Similarly, the concept of combating discrimination, and especially racial discrimination, is widely reflected in the various subjects taught. The new curricula and their objectives, as adopted in decree No. 10227/97, contain the following provisions:

The general objectives of the curricula (general principles): in intellectual and human terms: the same assertion as above.

The objectives of the kindergarten cycle: among these objectives (paragraph (h)): to encourage the child to communicate with others.

The objectives of primary education: among these objectives (paragraph (h)): to lead the child to adopt positive attitudes towards others, whether individuals, groups or peoples.

At the secondary level: respect for others and the strengthening of harmonious relations within society.

Civic education: its general objectives: paragraph 9: to strengthen pupils’ awareness of their humanity and their kinship with their peers, regardless of differences in sex, colour, religion, language, culture, etc.

The specific objectives of civic education:

Primary level: paragraph 3: to develop the concept of recognition of the existence of others.

Fourth year of primary education: solidarity and cooperation among peoples.

Middle level and secondary level: paragraph 3: non-discrimination among human beings.

First year of the secondary cycle: protection of human rights at the international and regional levels.

63.Concerning the national textbook, the Educational Research and Development Centre has prepared a table in Arabic showing the frequency of references to the United Nations and its values in the various manuals. It shows that references to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for example, appear 112 times in basic education, and 93 times in secondary education, that the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is mentioned 10 times in basic education and 16 times in secondary education, and that the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is mentioned 7 and 6 times respectively.

64.The other educational projects include:

The peace education project;

The human rights education project;

The conflict resolution education project.

Annexes

Memorandum of understanding between the Directorate General of the General Security and the Regional Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees concerning the processing of cases of asylum-seekers applying for refugee status with UNHCR office.

Draft cooperation agreement between the Government of the Republic of Lebanon and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development.

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