Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa Castéra has asked the French Football Federation (FFF) to provide her with evidence of its human rights action during the World Cup in Qatar in a letter that AFP was able to consult on Wednesday.
This letter details in particular the various areas on which the audit mission will focus on the body that the Minister entrusted to the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research on September 16 after receiving the president of the FFF Noël Le Graët and its general manager, Florence Hardouin.
The audit at the FFF will begin in the “very next few days”
This mission, "
which will take place in the very next few days
" with Noël Le Graët "
to organize the first meetings
", follows the publication in the magazine So Foot of an article questioning the FFF and its president. , accused of having sent text messages of a sexual nature to employees.
A defamation complaint has since been filed by the FFF.
But in this letter, the minister also addresses the World Cup in Qatar (November 20 - December 18).
She recalls that she had "
insisted
" during a meeting with the deputy vice-president of the FFF, Philippe Diallo, that the Federation "
quickly take measures to ensure that the participation of our French team at the World Cup in Qatar can be done in accordance with our values relating to human rights and ecological transition
", she writes.
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If the minister explains that she "
noted
" the press release of September 23 in which the FFF "highlights
"
several steps taken, she asks the body "
to kindly inform (him) of (his) progress
" on these "
issues
".
"
On the point relating to the verification of working conditions at the base camp of the France team in particular, I ask you to let me know, as of now, the concrete initiatives that you have taken and you will also communicate to me , when the time comes, the results of the next on-site visits
,” she adds.
On Tuesday, Philippe Diallo assured that the body was working with several other federations on a compensation fund for victims of accidents at work on World Cup sites.
In an open letter published two days before Denmark-France on September 25, in Copenhagen, Amnesty International had regretted the "
deafening silence
" of the Blues "
in the face of the thousands of migrant workers who died on Qatari construction sites, and the thousands of others subjected to forced labour
”.
The question of the rights of migrant workers in Qatar has been regularly raised by NGOs since the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to the rich Gulf gas state in 2010.
