Time for the 20,000 footballers trafficked out of Africa to have voice heard

Last Thursday evening, a French-Algerian footballer arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport on a flight from Doha.

For the previous two years, he had been trapped in Qatar. A dispute over unpaid wages led to his numerous requests for an ‘exit visa’ being denied. Eighteen months with no income. A wife and two children to support.

Depressed, suicidal, he contemplated hunger strike. He sold his furniture and slept on the floor of his empty house.