NBA warned over UAE sportswashing risk over Sudan abuses: HRW

Where Diplomacy Meets News

NBA warned over UAE sportswashing risk over Sudan abuses: HRW

June 10, 2026

DUBAI,— Human Rights Watch accused the National Basketball Association on Monday of risking “sportswashing” the United Arab Emirates’ human rights record by deepening its financial ties with the Gulf state’s government.

The New York-based rights group raised the alarm as the 2026 NBA Finals series, which began June 3, continues to feature the Emirates airline logo prominently on court.

The airline, owned by the state-controlled Emirates Group based in Dubai, signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with the NBA in 2024 that Reuters reported would bring in $500 million each year in advertising income.

Joey Shea, the senior UAE researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said the league’s growing commercial relationship with Abu Dhabi cannot be separated from the broader political picture.

“As evidence of the UAE’s military support to Sudan’s abusive Rapid Support Forces mounts, the NBA will be prominently donning Emirates logos during the 2026 NBA Finals,” Shea said.

“The NBA should use this high-profile opportunity to speak out about the country’s human rights record, particularly the UAE’s role in Sudan, rather than letting the sport serve as cover for those abuses.”

HRW reported that Colombian private military contractors, believed to have been engaged by a company operating out of the UAE, were moved through Emirati military installations before arriving in Sudan, where they were deployed alongside the Rapid Support Forces.

The RSF stands accused of widespread atrocities in its fight against the Sudanese military for control of the country.

The rights group said the findings add to a growing body of evidence that the UAE bears responsibility for bolstering the RSF’s ability to carry out war crimes.

The UAE government has repeatedly pushed back against those claims, maintaining that any support it provides to Sudan serves civilian and humanitarian purposes only.

HRW rejected that position, pointing out that as a tightly controlled, centralized state, the UAE’s leadership could not credibly claim ignorance of military operations conducted on sovereign territory, particularly those taking place on government-owned land and within active military installations.

The NBA’s financial relationship with UAE authorities stretches back several years. The league entered a multi-year arrangement with Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism back in November 2021, bringing professional NBA games to UAE soil for the first time.

In January 2026, the two sides announced a nine-year extension of that partnership, which the Associated Press reported could be worth well over $300 million.

HRW said it sent a formal letter to the NBA laying out its concerns and pressing the league to put in place a strategy for managing human rights risks connected to the partnership, which the group said should include taking public positions on UAE conduct.

The organization also asked whether any terms in the league’s agreements with UAE partners limit the ability of NBA officials or players to criticize the country’s government. The league offered no reply before this report went to publication.

A broad network of civil society groups has added its voice to the pressure campaign, demanding the NBA sever its commercial relationship with the UAE until the country stops fueling the violence in Sudan.

More than three years of reporting by international media, United Nations investigators and rights organizations has assembled a detailed record of arms, fighters and logistical support moving from the UAE to the RSF.

That assistance has stoked a war and humanitarian catastrophe that uprooted 14 million people within Sudan’s borders and pushed a further 4.4 million to abandon the country altogether.

Among those convicted in a mass trial of at least 84 human rights defenders and political dissidents was prominent Emirati rights defender Ahmed Mansoor, who has been held in an isolation cell since March 2017. The trials effectively ended civic space in the country, HRW said.

Migrant workers in the UAE live under the kafala sponsorship system, which ties their immigration status to their employers and leaves them exposed to wage theft, excessive recruitment fees and restrictions on changing jobs, Human Rights Watch said.

The UAE also lacks adequate protections against extreme heat, which the group said causes serious health harm including organ failure. Trade unions are banned in the country, limiting workers’ ability to push for stronger labor protections.

Human Rights Watch said the NBA and its sponsors should take immediate steps to prevent the sport from being used as a vehicle to rehabilitate the UAE’s international reputation at the expense of accountability.

The group urged the league to allow players and officials to publicly speak out, including calling for Mansoor’s release and better treatment of migrant workers.

(With files from Human Rights Watch, hrw.org)