(Beirut) – The National Basketball Association (NBA) is risking “sportswashing” the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) egregious human rights record by hosting its upcoming preseason games in Abu Dhabi, as part of the UAE government’s promotion of an image of openness, while failing to speak out about the government’s ongoing abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.
The NBA is hosting two preseason games, on October 4 and 6, 2024, in Abu Dhabi. The UAE has a zero-tolerance policy toward dissent and has sentenced dozens of political dissidents and human rights defenders to long prison terms. The UAE has also failed to adequately protect migrant workers, who form 88 percent of the country’s workforce. A growing body of evidence also indicates that the UAE has been providing support to an abusive warring party in Sudan that has carried out atrocities amounting to crimes against humanity in that country’s devasting conflict there.
“While the NBA is entertaining spectators in Abu Dhabi, people will be dying in Sudan, where the UAE has been credibly accused of providing support to abusive parties,” said Joey Shea, United Arab Emirates researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The NBA’s preseason games will take place just a few kilometers from where imprisoned human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor languishes in an isolation cell.”
In November 2021, the NBA signed a multiyear partnership deal with the UAE’s Department of Culture and Tourism: Abu Dhabi to host NBA games in the UAE. The UAE hosts high profile sporting, entertainment, and cultural events to promote a public image of openness that is at odds with the government’s efforts to prevent scrutiny of its rampant systemic human rights violations, at home and abroad. The UAE uses these high-profile events to burnish its image, despite maintaining a zero-tolerance policy toward dissent domestically and while fueling human rights abuses abroad.
The Emirati government has embarked on a sustained assault on rights and freedom over the last decade, including the recent unfair mass trial of at least 84 human rights defenders and political dissidents, which has led to the complete closure of civic space.
The NBA should take immediate steps to ensure that its preseason games are not used to distract from the harm linked to the UAE government at home and abroad, Human Rights Watch said.
The NBA has a responsibility to respect human rights throughout all its operations. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights sets out these responsibilities, including the expectation that businesses will adopt specific policies and conduct due diligence to identify any risks of contributing to human rights harm. Such harm may include helping a country’s reputation in a way that helps distract from its human rights abuses.
Human Rights Watch wrote to the NBA on September 30 outlining its concerns and urging the association to develop a human rights risk mitigation strategy that includes speaking out about the UAE’s abuses. Human Rights Watch asked whether the NBA had agreed to any clause that would restrict their freedom, or that of their employees, to publicly speak out about UAE’s abuses. The NBA has not responded as of the time of publication.
There is mounting evidence that the United Arab Emirates has provided weapons to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, a force responsible for widespread war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities, including as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign in the Darfur region. Human Rights Watch found that both warring parties had acquired apparently new weapons, including some that had first been acquired from their manufacturer by the UAE military.
A coalition is calling on the NBA to cancel their preseason games in Abu Dhabi in solidarity with the people of Sudan.
On July 10, the Abu Dhabi Federal Appeals Court meted out sentences ranging between 15 years and life in prison to at least 44 human rights defenders and political dissidents in an unfair mass trial. Due process concerns include restricted access to case material and information, limited legal assistance, judges directing witness testimony, violations of the principle of double jeopardy, credible allegations of serious abuse and ill-treatment, and hearings shrouded in secrecy. Among those sentenced was the well-known Emirati human rights defender, Ahmed Mansoor, who has been imprisoned in an isolation cell since March 2017.
Migrant workers are governed by the abusive kafala (sponsorship) system that ties their visas to their employers and makes them highly vulnerable to abuses including wage theft, exorbitant recruitment fees and job immobility. The UAE also relies on inadequate heat protections against the country’s extreme heat that leads to health harm, including organ failure. The UAE bans trade unions, which inhibits workers’ ability to demand stronger labor protections.
“The NBA and its officials and sponsors should use their presence in the UAE to speak out, and allow its players to speak out, about the country’s human rights record, including its role in Sudan, the release of Ahmed Mansoor, and its ill-treatment of migrant workers,” Shea said.
