It was perhaps not the first subject on which the ecologists were expected, even if they sometimes like to play the opposite way: sport. It is on this that the environmental group of the National Assembly decided to organize its first commission of inquiry of the legislature (each group is entitled to one per year). More specifically on “the failures within sports federations and the sports movement”. Are targeted by the deputy who will lead the commission, Sabrina Sebaihi, the issues of corruption, discrimination and sexist and sexual violence (VSS).
It is true that the last few years, and even the last few weeks, have largely hit the headlines on all these subjects: “Not a day goes by without an article revealing dysfunctions to us, notes the deputy for Hauts-de -Seine. However, we are still talking about 16 million French men and women who are registered in a club attached to a sports federation. We can’t keep pretending to solve problems by putting dust under the rug. There needs to be a profound change. »
omerta
Scandals in skating and in the gym more recently have marked the spirits. But the problem is massive: “About forty federations are concerned and 98% of the victims are minors and mainly girls”, specifies Sabrina Sebaihi. However, as in the rest of society, there are few complaints and few convictions. “The objective could be to create a legal framework to free speech and initiate the transformation of the sports movement”, explains the MP. Is there more sexist and sexual violence in sport than elsewhere, not sure, but Sabrina Sebaihi sees favorable circumstances there: “We entrust really young children to coaches, to federations. An omerta has long reigned and the families have long trusted the supervisors completely. »
Several associations are working on these subjects, such as Colossus with clay feet, founded just ten years ago. Contacted, they often do not prefer to prejudge what the commission will be, while waiting to be themselves very probably auditioned. The Ministry of Sports has set up a unit which receives reports and can open administrative investigations, or even send them to the prosecution, via article 40 of the code of criminal procedure. At the ministry, we note that with the Rugby World Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympics, sport is of increasing interest and we see this initiative as an “opening”. We also recall that Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has set up a national ethics committee, on the same subjects as the commission, co-chaired by the former communist minister Marie-Georges Buffet and the former world champion in the 400m hurdles, Stéphane Diagana. She is due to report her findings in the fall.
A report in six months
But isn’t there a risk that the subject of gender-based and sexual violence will be drowned in the middle of the other two? That in the end, the report is a bit of a catch-all? Sabrina Sebaihi recognizes that the question has arisen but sees the three subjects as really intertwined: “An old world and a new world are colliding. With sides the former leaders, from the sports world, former athletes, who find it difficult to move on the subjects of inclusion. And on the other, businessmen or politicians who arrive with money, brutal management…” And overall, the VSS concern all these beautiful people.
The commission of inquiry should be set up in the coming days. Up to 30 deputies can participate, in proportion to the representation of the political groups in the National Assembly. Sabrina Sebaihi can choose to be either rapporteur (writer of the report) or president of the committee (who leads the debates), the other position will go to a member of the government majority. The report, “which makes observations and makes recommendations”, must be approved by the majority of the commission and must be delivered in six months, maximum. “But the commission of inquiry can then turn into a transpartisan working group, and why not lead to a bill,” says Sabrina Sebaihi.