BEIRUT, Lebanon: The leading international rights watchdog says immigrant maids in Lebanon are dying of "unnatural causes" at an alarming rate and is calling for an investigate.
Human Rights Watch says at least 95 migrants who worked as domestic servants died in Lebanon since January 2007, mostly in suicides or in botched attempts to escape abuse.
Senior HRW researcher Nadim Houry says domestic workers are dying "at a rate of more than one per week."
The New York-based group's statement Tuesday also urged Lebanon for a national strategy to reduce the deaths. A report by the group last year criticized several Gulf states and Lebanon for failing to curb abuse and protect migrant women workers.
There are an estimated 150,000 such workers in Lebanon.
