On RTL, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra expressed her feelings following the reaction of the president of the FFF in the program Complément d’Enquête, after having viewed images of the living conditions of subcontractor workers at the Hôtel des Blues in Qatar.
Broadcast on Thursday evening, the Complément d’Enquête program has not finished making people talk. Centered around the troubled link maintained by France and Qatar, finally chosen as the host country for the 2022 World Cup, the report notably challenged by showing images of the living conditions of subcontractor workers at the Hôtel des Bleus in Qatar.
After viewing these images of cramped rooms infested with cockroaches where workers pile up on bunk beds, the president of the French Football Federation Noël Le Graët replied to the journalist: “It’s not insoluble, it’s paint strokes. There’s still time to fix that. I can show you lots of images like that in lots of countries, even maybe not far from here“.
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“This reaction shocked me, I found that she was above ground (…) that she lacked humanity and even lucidity“, replied the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on RTL this Friday morning. “The FFF must take its share of responsibility and do everything in its power to improve the situation on the subject of working conditions and respect for human rights at its base camp. Compared to the very shocking images we saw yesterday, reactions are needed“, she estimated. These images led the FFF to announce an on-site verification mission, verifications which “enabled the security company to be sidelined” Due to “many unacceptable irregularities“Explains the federation in a letter of October 2 produced by the show.
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At the beginning of October, the Minister had sent a letter to the FFF asking it to provide proof of its action concerning human rights during the World Cup in Qatar (November 20 – December 18). “I had a first return which honestly did not remove the doubts, so I will not let them go on the subject“, explained the minister. “I want us to be vigilant and irreproachable (…). They are committed to meeting there in the next few days, they must do the job“, did she say.
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.
My hand will not shake when drawing all the conclusions.
Amelie Oudea-Castera
The Minister also affirmed that she would draw all the consequences of the audit mission in progress at the FFF, while new anonymous testimonies of ex-employees disclosed by Radio France on Wednesday evoked behavior “inappropriate» by Noël Le Graët, what he «firmly contests“. “I want this federation to be exemplary in the way it takes up this major issue“, said the minister, in reference to gender-based and sexual violence. “We will carry out this work (of auditing) independently in respect of the contradictory, methodically” and “my hand won’t shake when drawing all the conclusions“, she assured.