Slavery of people from Africa and East Asia was succeeded by the modern Kafala system of poor workers from the same region where slaves had previously been imported.
[1] The Ottoman Empire issued decrees to restrict and gradually prohibit the slave trade and slavery between 1830 and 1909 in response to Western pressure.
[1] In 1877, there were about 4,500 "negresses" in the private Muslim households in Beirut, with an average of 450 being imported annually, in addition to about 100 white (Circassian) women each year.
[5] On one occasion, the Consul Mr. J. Eldridge made an attempt to liberate a "negro lad" who had fallen victim to the slave trade, and the case took six months before he finally succeeded.
[6] It was noted that runaway slaves, mostly "negresses", sought refuge at the British Consulate in this period, but that there was in practice very little he was legally able to do to help, and that he was often forced to hand over the slave to the Ottoman authorities, who then returned her to her enslaver: "All he can do is to bring the matter to the knowledge of the local authorities, deliver the poor creature to them, and ask them to do her justice, which request is always met with kind, but vague, promises.
[11] Following the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War, many Arab domestic workers decided to leave due to a general economic decline and a crisis in security.
[16] Instead the system is made up of a number for administrative regulations, customary practices and legal requirements which bind the worker to the recruiter temporarily.[17][1].
[21] In April 2019, Amnesty International urged Lebanon government to end the Kafala system which has led to the abuse of thousands of domestic workers in the Mediterranean country.
[22] By suspending the implementation of a new standard unified contract, Lebanon's State Shura Council caused a sharp blow to the migrant domestic worker rights.