1 - The Lebanese law covering foreign workers (as opposed to non-Lebanese Arab workers) dates back to the 60s. To get a work visa there, you need to be sponsored by a specific employer. If you wanted to change employers, you'd have to leave the country and come back again, starting at square 1.

2 - Foreign embassies are for the most part utterly useless. In a lot of cases, the person in charge of the embassy isn't even a national. In any case, the governments that send these workers are usually much more interested in getting the remittances than in taking care of their nationals once overseas.

3 - During the question time, one guy complained that his family's maid had run away and taken $200 with her. Ow. He was well-ventilated thereafter - Naccache said, "look, she has the $200, and you have her passport and her papers, and there's no way that she can get out of the country without those. You've got your teeth in her throat, and you want me to feel sorry for you over $200?" Only at much greater length, and in Arabic, and with superior use of sarcasm.

4 - Used to be, domestic servants in Lebanon were young girls from either Syria or the sticks (Akkar, other outlying parts of Lebanon). In the 50's and 60's, people started bringing in Egyptian maids. Non-Arab foreigners started being brought in in the 70's - she said the first group were from the Seychelles, I think, though I wouldn't swear to that. She also said she knew one Sri Lankan woman who had been in Lebanon since 1978. (EDIT: She knew a woman who claims to be the first to have been the first to import Sri Lankans, starting in 1978. Oops.)

5 - (EDIT: Pursuant to a convo with Ms. Naccache, there is no point number 5. I substantially misunderstood what she was saying. Mea culpa.)

6 - Domestic workers and agricultural laborers are covered by different sections of the labor law than all other workers. I didn't catch precisely what those differences entailed.