(Paris) Overcrowded rooms, unsanitary sanitary facilities, flouted social rights: images of the living conditions of migrant workers in Qatar, broadcast on Thursday by France Television, led the French Football Federation to announce an on-site verification mission, about a month away. month of the Mondial-2022.
Posted at 1:05 p.m.
Broadcast in a context of strong criticism of respect for human rights in the gas emirate, in particular those of migrant workers, these images were filmed with a hidden camera “before the summer” according to the French channel, as part of a investigation into the contested attribution of the World Cup to Qatar, led by its program Complément d’Enquête and the investigation unit of Radio France.
We see in particular the accommodation of employees of private security companies, a subcontractor of the hotel which must serve as a base camp for the outgoing world champions, and another working for the French giant of the sector, Accor, chosen to oversee the provision of accommodation during the tournament.
Shown are cramped rooms infested with cockroaches, where workers pile up on bunk beds, unsanitary and dirty toilets, damp-stained walls, basic kitchens with a sink and two gas stoves as the only equipment, or even a faulty air conditioning in one of these rooms where the temperature is 35 degrees. Some workers report working with virtually no rest days or overtime pay.
These accommodations are located in the “Industrial Area”, a peripheral district, a “place strictly forbidden to cameras”, devoid of green space and transport infrastructure, describe the journalists.
Qatar is the subject of numerous criticisms from NGOs on the respect of fundamental freedoms and human rights, in particular those of foreign workers, who come in particular from Africa and South Asia, who make up the majority of its population.
Don’t close your eyes
Doha emphasizes having reformed its laws: largely abolishing the “kafala” system (need to obtain a permit to leave the country, authorization required to change employer); verification of payment of wages; introduction of a monthly minimum wage of around 250 euros; maximum working time of 60 hours per week and compulsory rest day.
However, workers do not have the right to form unions and the right to demonstrate is not respected up to international standards.
Solicited by Complément d’Enquête, the FFF announced, in a letter of October 2 produced by the show, the dispatch of a “mission” on site “mid-October” and assured that it had already “implemented a series of verifications concerning the six service providers under contract with the hotel group, base camp “of the French team, in Doha.
They “have made it possible to exclude the security company” because of “many unacceptable irregularities”, “non-compliance with decent housing conditions, retention of passports, non-compliance with rest days…”, explains the FFF which promises that it “is and will remain vigilant”. The World Cup “constitutes an opportunity for progress, but participating does not mean turning a blind eye”, assures the federation in this letter.
Initially, in an interview granted to journalists, its president Noël Le Graët had explained that there was “tremendous progress to be made, but if there had not been football, it would have been much worse, clearly worse “. Confronted with the images of the accommodations, he had said that the hotel would be contacted: “It is not insoluble that, it is strokes of paint. There’s still time to fix that.” “I can show you lots of images like that in lots of countries, maybe even not far from here,” he says again in his Paris office.
Asked by AFP, Accor noted that the company in question “only works with one hotel of the group in Qatar”, that “an audit was carried out by a third party and local Accor teams also delivered to the scene”. A report highlighted “a number of missing points in the rules of the group’s ethical charter”, “compliance actions were then required”.