Qatar: Vinci soon to be indicted for "trafficking in human beings" and "forced labor"?

A metro station under construction as part of preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, on April 11, 2019, in Doha, Qatar.

Amer Ghazzal/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

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2 mins

Will Vinci be indicted for "human trafficking" and "forced labor" in Qatar?

A subsidiary of the French construction group is summoned on Wednesday, November 9, by an examining magistrate from Nanterre.

Vinci announced this Monday morning in a press release, thus confirming information published yesterday in the newspaper

. 

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Vinci Construction Grands Projets, the Qatari subsidiary of the French giant, is accused by the Sherpa association and the Committee against modern slavery of mistreating its employees.

Workers from Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan who, since 2011, would work for a very low salary 6 days out of 7, even in the event of very high heat, on several construction sites for the Football World Cup.

In the event of protest, these workers, whose passports would have been confiscated, would be

.

Crammed into very small rooms, they would not have access to enough showers.

►Also read: Qatar: the suffering of foreign workers, forgotten builders of the 2022 World Cup

Three worksites are decried by these plaintiffs: that of the " 

 " linking Doha to Lusail, a new city which will host the final of the Football World Cup, that of the underground car parks of Lusail, as well as those of the building site of the hotel of luxury Sheraton, in the heart of Doha.

Vinci refutes these accusations

These allegations of modern slavery, Vinci has refuted them since the start of the investigation, seven years ago, following a complaint from Sherpa.

In 2018, the Nanterre prosecutor closed the case without further action.

But the NGO is taking legal action again and this Wednesday, November 9, the group's subsidiary could be indicted ten days before the start of the World Cup.

A telescoping that Vinci deplores. 

While the procedure has been open since 2015, this indictment would take place in “

”, can we read in its press release.

►Also read: In Qatar, the number of unpaid wages to migrant workers has doubled, according to the ILO

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