French construction giant Vinci vigorously denied allegations it had violated the rights of migrant workers helping to build stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and said it would sue the human rights group Sherpa over its claims.
Paris-based Sherpa said it had asked the public prosecutor of Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, to investigate its findings that Vinci’s Construction Grand Projects division and the managers of its 49 percent-owned Qatari unit QDVC were involved in “forced labor” and “keeping people in servitude.”
Vinci, which employs 3,500 people in Qatar and counts the wealthy Arab state as its second-largest shareholder, said it would sue Sherpa for libel and that the claims “severely” hurt its image.
Photo: AFP
The remaining 51 percent of QDVC belongs to Qatari Diar, an arm of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which holds a 5.3 percent stake in Vinci. QIA declined to comment.
Sherpa executive director Laetitia Liebert told French newspaper Le Parisien in an interview that one of the financial crime-focused organization’s lawyers traveled to Qatar and found that migrants worked 66 hours per week and had their passports confiscated.
“Vinci absolutely denies the claims made by Sherpa. The group respects local labor laws and fundamental rights in Qatar as well as in all the nations where it operates,” a Vinci spokesman said by telephone.
“In Qatar, each QDVC collaborator has free access to his passport while work and rest times are strictly respected,” he added.
Allegations of forced labor in Qatar come up frequently.
Sherpa wants France to pass legislation forcing big international groups to be “vigilant” about human rights violations made by their units or suppliers operating abroad, Liebert said.
Vinci noted that it belonged to the UN’s Global Compact under which companies agree to the organization’s 10 principles regarding human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.
French MEDEF employers association head Pierre Gattaz said any effort along the lines proposed by Sherpa should be an international one.
“All countries must fight so that the situation improves everywhere in the world,” Gattaz told Europe 1 radio station.
According to the second annual Global Slavery Index released last year by the Walk Free Foundation, an Australian-based human rights group, 29,400 people, or 1.4 percent of Qatar’s population, are estimated to be working as slaves, in forced labor or domestic servitude.
Qatar’s authorities have denied these claims and dismissed them as a campaign against the first Gulf nation to host a soccer World Cup. Qatar has also said none of the workers employed for World Cup projects have been exploited.
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