No Lebanese law grants pool owners the right to deny entry to foreign workers or Black women on the basis of nationality, skin color, or their employment as domestic workers. 

This is the legal conclusion at the heart of a case that resurfaces every summer.

Why do pool owners oppose allowing foreign workers to enter, and what role do human rights organizations play in addressing this issue?

Legal expert and university professor Fadi Hashem explains that “the general principle under Lebanese law is non-discrimination. Article 7 of the Constitution states that all Lebanese are equal before the law without discrimination, while the Constitution’s preamble affirms Lebanon’s commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international treaties.”

Racist Behavior

Given the clarity of the law, Hashem argues that “preventing a foreign worker from entering because of her skin color, nationality, or employment status constitutes discriminatory and racist behavior, particularly as Lebanon is internationally bound by agreements prohibiting racial discrimination.”

So, can pool owners be held accountable?

He explains: “When pool owners seek to justify such prohibitions, they usually do not rely on any law, but rather on the argument that the pool is private property or on the resort’s internal regulations. However, this justification is weak both legally and ethically, because a private pool that is open to customers in exchange for an entry fee is not a private domestic space, but a public-facing establishment that provides a service.”

Therefore, Hashem argues that private ownership cannot be used as a license for discrimination. “A pool owner may impose general and legitimate conditions, such as requiring an entrance fee, compliance with public safety rules, appropriate swimwear, or respect for public order. However, excluding a particular group because its members are foreign, Black, or employed as domestic workers constitutes racial discrimination.”

Legal Complaints

Previously, the Ministry of Tourism issued a circular prohibiting discrimination in swimming pools and tourist facilities, following campaigns that documented the exclusion of migrant workers from entry. Accordingly, complaints can be filed with the Ministry of Tourism against any pool engaging in such practices.

But have any legal complaints or lawsuits been filed by workers in such cases?

He confirms that “no law permits such prohibitions. And when they occur on the basis of skin color, nationality, or domestic worker status, they are not neutral legal practices but acts of discrimination and racism.”

This form of discrimination has long mobilized several human rights organizations, including the “Anti-Racism Movement,” founded in Lebanon in 2011 by a group of young activists and migrant workers.

The movement has worked for years on this issue, monitoring and documenting cases over time.

Co-founder Farah Salka says that “migrant workers, especially women from African and Asian countries employed as domestic workers under the unfair sponsorship system, face economic, gender, and racial discrimination that extends to both public and private spaces such as beaches and resorts, and often goes further, affecting their daily lives.”

She argues that “this unjust exclusion reflects a deeper, broader, and more alarming pattern of dehumanization, as migrant workers in Lebanon are often identified by their nationalities rather than being recognized as individuals.”

The root of the problem is the "sponsorship system," as "the prohibition of beach access is just a visible symptom of this discrimination, and the sponsorship system itself is a root cause and is exacerbated by Lebanon's lack of legislation defining racial discrimination." 

She concludes: “A state and society that allow the continuation of the sponsorship system are not prepared to challenge the racist behaviors and patterns that prevent individuals from entering resorts and pools because of their skin color.”