UAE billions buy Manchester silence on human rights, HRW says

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UAE billions buy Manchester silence on human rights, HRW says

July 26, 2026

LONDON,— Two human rights organizations are calling on candidates in the upcoming Greater Manchester mayoral by-election to promise they will challenge the United Arab Emirates over its human rights record if they take office.

Human Rights Watch and FairSquare made the appeal Friday in a joint letter addressed to the candidates.

The UAE has invested billions of pounds in Manchester, including in its Premier League club, Manchester City.

Joey Shea, who serves as senior Saudi Arabia and UAE researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the financial links between Manchester City Council and Emirati officials have provided the UAE government with reputational cover as it supports forces responsible for atrocities in Sudan.

Candidates for mayor, Shea said, should not remain quiet about the UAE’s record simply because of the investment flowing into Manchester.

The city council maintains a close financial relationship with senior Emirati officials, chiefly through its ownership stake in the Manchester Life Development Company, a joint venture controlled ultimately by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who serves as the UAE’s vice president and deputy prime minister.

That venture, according to the letter, has provided reputational advantages to the Emirati government within Manchester.

A Human Rights Watch report published in May 2026 builds on a growing body of evidence showing the UAE has supplied military backing to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, which is battling the Sudan Armed Forces for control of the country.

The RSF has been linked to extensive war crimes and crimes against humanity, including an ethnic cleansing campaign carried out in Darfur.

According to HRW, Colombian private military contractors traveled through Emirati military installations before being sent to Sudan to assist the RSF.

The group described this as additional evidence that the UAE is contributing to the RSF’s capacity to commit war crimes.

Investigators with the organization said they identified Colombian fighters present during abuses carried out by the RSF as it seized El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, in October 2025, following an 18-month siege of the city.

Foreign fighters, believed to be mostly Colombian contractors, allegedly watched as RSF forces killed men and women, including disabled people, and abducted others for ransom, the group said.

Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in February 2026 added three Colombian citizens to the UK Sanctions List for their part in recruiting mercenaries from Colombia to fight alongside the RSF in Sudanese territory, including El Fasher.

The letter noted that the UAE hosts high-profile sporting, cultural and entertainment events meant to project an image of openness, one that conflicts with the government’s efforts to avoid scrutiny of widespread rights violations at home and abroad.

Such events, the letter said, are used to burnish the UAE’s image even as it cracks down on dissent domestically and contributes to abuses elsewhere.

The two organizations noted that Human Rights Watch has attempted before to raise these issues with Manchester’s civic leadership.

Back in 2016, the group asked Sir Richard Leese, then a top official on Manchester City Council, to jointly sign a letter demanding the UAE release political prisoners and look into torture claims.

Leese turned down the request, calling the Emirati government “exemplary business partners” and describing the abuses referenced in the letter as “alleged” and outside the council’s reach.

A separate FairSquare report from 2023 found that hardly any political figures in Manchester have spoken critically of the UAE, despite the city council’s continued commercial partnerships with entities connected to the Emirati government.

The letter urges mayoral candidates to pledge that, if elected, they will push the UAE to halt its backing of the RSF.

It also asks them to commit to reviewing UAE-linked investments in the city and region for human rights concerns, to raise those concerns directly with Emirati representatives, to meet with human rights defenders from the UAE, and to publicly address the country’s domestic record.

Alex Carlen, research and advocacy manager at FairSquare, said the next Manchester mayor needs to be prepared to confront the UAE over both its domestic repression and its support for the RSF in Sudan.

Carlen added that because local government has held extensive ties to the Emirati monarchy for years, voters deserve assurance that UAE money is not being used to obscure its human rights record.

The letter, Carlen said, gives every candidate a chance to clarify where they stand.

Earlier in July, the European Union blamed the UAE for the war in Sudan for the first time. On July 8, 2026, lawmakers at the European Parliament adopted a resolution addressing the civil war in Sudan.

(With files from HRW)