According to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, a migrant worker is "a person who is to be engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a state of which he or she is not a national."

Official figures published by the |Central Administration of Statistics concerns only migrant workers who have work permits.In1999, more than 72,000 migrant workers were registered in Lebanon, Sri Lankas, Filipinos and Ethiopians representing 60% of this non-Arab labor force.Femal migrants constitutes the largest number and the overwhelming majority is the employed as domestic maids.

The statistics published by the competent authorities do not take into account seasonal migrant, illegal workers and Syrian laborers.Their number vary widely from a source to another.Therefore, offical sources do not reflect the real number of migrant workers in Lebanon, according to the local NGOs.

Lebanon has not yet approved the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families. Migrant workers,especially women , suffer from discrimination,exploitation,difficult work conditions...