LEBANON. Beirut. February 2025. Beatrice from Sierra Leone, 29, at her home which she shares with three other migrant women in the southern suburb of Beirut. Four months ago, she broke both of her ankles trying to save herself from an Israeli airstrike. She came to Lebanon in 2022 to find work to support her mother and two children back home. She lives in the southern suburb of Beirut, a hard-hit area during the recent Israeli war in the country. One day, Beatrice’s employer for the day locked her in his house while she was cleaning. At the sight of a nearby airstrike, she jumped off the building to save herself. She broke both of her ankles. She spent two months recovering at the hospital post-surgery. MSF and another organisation covered the healthcare expenses as it was expensive for her to do so. “I’m scared to get out of the house. Other than for work, I don’t go anywhere. If I face a problem, this is not my country, and my family can’t help me.” © Myriam Boulos

Migrant Workers in Lebanon

Myriam Boulos

2025 — Beirut, Lebanon

About this series

Migrant workers in Lebanon face precarious conditions under the kafala (sponsorship) system, which requires each worker to have a Lebanese sponsor. This system gives sponsors significant control over workers’ lives, often leading to overwork, underpayment, and denial of basic rights such as healthcare and freedom of movement.
As of 2025, an estimated 176,500 migrants live in Lebanon, about 70% of whom are women. Half of them are domestic workers living with their employers, frequently under harsh conditions. Racism and discrimination are widespread, and abuse has become so normalized that even the most extreme cases draw little attention. The recent Israeli war in Lebanon worsened their situation, with many workers abandoned by employers, left homeless or trapped in dangerous areas.
Photographer Myriam Boulos, assigned by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), documented the lives of female migrant workers in shelters supported by the organization. She also captured the work of MSF staff at a clinic in Burj Hammoud, a northern Beirut suburb, where MSF provides basic medical care, sexual and reproductive health services, and mental health support, including psychiatric consultations. During the conflict, MSF partnered with migrant community leaders to reach the most vulnerable individuals in overcrowded shelters and apartments. Mobile clinics were deployed to deliver medical aid, and essential relief items were distributed. This initiative highlights both the urgent needs of Lebanon’s migrant workers and the efforts being made to support them in the face of systemic neglect and crisis.
(In collaboration with Magnum Photos and MSF)

LEBANON. Beirut. February 2025. Ahmet* and Nasima* at their house in Mar Elias, Beirut. They both migrated from Bangladesh to Lebanon to earn a living. Ahmet* travelled to Lebanon eight years ago. She’s rented a room in the same house ever since. During the recent Israeli war in Lebanon, Nasima* moved into the same house. There’s a lot of solidarity in migrant communities in the country; they help each other whenever they have the means, just like Ahmet* and Nasima* became a support system for each other. *Name changed to protect identity. © Myriam Boulos
LEBANON. Beirut. February 2025. Martha*, Makdes* and Tigist* currently live in an Ethiopian shelter in Beirut, after having spent months trying to earn a living in Lebanon. They’re now awaiting repatriation back to Ethiopia. © Myriam Boulos
LEBANON. Beirut. February 2025. Tigist*, 30, and her 2-year-old son at an Ethiopian shelter in Beirut. She has spent 11 years in Lebanon to date. At just 19 years old, Tigist* came to Lebanon hoping to earn a living. Around 5 years ago, she married a man from Sudan who, after the birth of her 2-year-old son, became abusive. He kicked them out of the house, and they became homeless. “I haven’t been able to support myself and my son. We rely on external help, from the embassy or organisations,” says Tigist*. “No one is giving me any work because I can’t take my son with me. I feel scared and abandoned, as if having a baby is a fault. Everyone gave up on me after I delivered my child. This world doesn’t see us [migrant workers] as human.” *Name changed to protect identity © Myriam Boulos
LEBANON. Beirut. February 2025. Ahmet* lives with her 2-year-old son in a small rooftop apartment in Mar Elias, Beirut, along with seven other migrants. She migrated from Bangladesh to Lebanon eight years ago. *Name changed to protect identity. © Myriam Boulos
LEBANON. Beirut. February 2025. Martha*, Makdes* and Tigist* currently live in an Ethiopian shelter in Beirut, after having spent months trying to earn a living in Lebanon. They’re now awaiting repatriation back to Ethiopia. © Myriam Boulos
LEBANON. Beirut. March 2025. Rayana Zaatari, MSF nurse, following up on psychiatric cases in the Bourj Hammoud clinic. In the MSF clinic in Bourj Hammoud, services are open to all, but the majority of our patients are from migrant communities. We offer primary healthcare consultations, sexual and reproductive health services, and mental health services, including psychiatric consultations. We also cover referrals for hospitalisation, including for psychiatric emergencies. © Myriam Boulos
LEBANON. Beirut. March 2025. The MSF pharmacy in Bourj Hammoud clinic, where patients come to receive their medication following a consultation with the doctor. In the MSF clinic in Bourj Hammoud, services are open to all, but the majority of our patients are from migrant communities. We offer primary healthcare consultations, sexual and reproductive health services, and mental health services, including psychiatric consultations. We also cover referrals for hospitalisation, including for psychiatric emergencies. © Myriam Boulos
LEBANON. Beirut. February 2025. Makdes*, 22, lives in an Ethiopian shelter in Beirut. She made the trip to Lebanon around 7 months ago, but her experience working in the country was traumatising for her. The first family Makdes* lived with made her work under impossible conditions. For 15 days, they never gave her any food, and she had to do housework on an empty stomach, until she became bedridden with exhaustion. Unfortunately, her experience with the second family was tougher for her. Her employer would always yell at her, slap her hand to “teach” her tasks, and scare her for leisure. *Name changed to protect identity. © Myriam Boulos
LEBANON. Beirut. February 2025. Ahmet* in her rooftop apartment in Mar Elias, Beirut. She travelled from Bangladesh to Lebanon to find work eight years ago. *Name changed to protect identity. © Myriam Boulos
LEBANON. Beirut. March 2025. Sujon during a consultation with MSF Dr Chadia El Kadi, general practitioner, at the Bourj Hammoud clinic, accompanied by Kawthar, MSF community health educator who is translating the conversation to Bangla, Sujon’s native language. In the MSF clinic in Bourj Hammoud, services are open to all, but the majority of our patients are from migrant communities. We offer primary healthcare consultations, sexual and reproductive health services, and mental health services, including psychiatric consultations. We also cover referrals for hospitalisation, including for psychiatric emergencies. © Myriam Boulos
LEBANON. Beirut. February 2025. Martha*, 25, in an Ethiopian shelter in Beirut. She came to Lebanon to earn a living a year and a half ago. For the first three months Martha* spent in Lebanon, she was going through sexual harassment, but her employer did not believe her. “My employer would yell at me if I ask her for anything or ask her a question. She mistreated me, often delaying paying me my salary,” says Martha*. “She did not believe I was going through sexual harassment. She even did not believe me when I told I her I was sick.” *Name changed to protect identity. © Myriam Boulos

Photographer: Myriam Boulos
Nationality: Lebanese
Based in: Beirut, Lebanon
Website: www.myriam-boulos
Instagram: @myriamboulos

Myriam Boulos was born in 1992 in Lebanon. At the age of 16, she started to use her camera to get closer to reality. She graduated with a master’s degree in photography from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts in 2015. She has taken part in both national and international collective exhibitions, including Close Enough at ICP, New York; Infinite Identities at Huis Marseille, Amsterdam; and Troisième Biennale des Photographes du Monde Arabe, at l’Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris.

Her work has been published in Aperture, FOAM, Time, GQ Middle East, Vogue Arabia, and Vanity Fair France, among other publications. In 2020, Myriam co-founded and became the photo editor of Al Hayya, a bilingual magazine that publishes literary and visual content on the works, interests and strife of women in her region. In 2021, she joined Magnum as a nominee. In 2023, her book What’s Ours was published by Aperture and she was awarded the W. Eugene Smith Fellowship.