BEIRUT: A domestic worker Tuesday committed suicide by throwing herself off a balcony in Beirut's southern suburbs, state media reported.
The Ethiopean national reportedly died quickly after she jumped from the ninth floor of a building in Chiyah.
The National News Agency said that security forces opened an investigation into the incident as a Civil Defense team worked on pulling the body.
Countries such as the Philippines and Ethiopia have previously banned their citizens from working in Lebanon due to the lack of legal protection of foreign domestic workers.
Reports by Human Rights Watch and other organizations have found that the majority of domestic workers in Lebanon have been subjected to illegal practices such as having their passports confiscated by their employers and not receiving any time off.
Several reports have also indicated that foreign domestic workers suffer from inadequate salaries, lack of basic worker rights, physical abuse and isolation, which in extreme cases have led to domestic workers taking their own lives. Read more herewq