Human Rights Violations and Sportswashing Narrative in the United Arab Emirates

EMILIE BIDALET* and VICTORIA FOLEY** ∙ February 13, 2026 ∙

Authoritative regimes, like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), determined to reshape their international image, are investing heavily in sports by sponsoring renowned teams and hosting major competitions,[3] all while distracting from their human rights violations[4], a practice known as sportswashing, in which sports is used to “project a positive image […] in order to increase their credibility and status on the world’s stage.”[5]

Behind the Sponsorships: The Sportswashing Agenda

In Europe, Emirati influence in soccer has become significant, both through club ownership and major sponsorships deals. Manchester City, owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the Abu Dhabi royal family, stands as one of the most visible examples of this influence.[6] The Dubai-based airline Emirates promotes its slogan on the shirts of Arsenal, AC Milan, and Real Madrid, while Etihad Airways sponsors Manchester City and lends its name to the Club’s Stadium. Beyond soccer, the UAE’s visibility extends to other major disciplines with the UAE cycling team competing in the Tour de France,[7] backed by vast financial resources and offering some of the highest ever salaries in the field.[8]

Domestically, the UAE government has launched the “National Sports Strategy—2031” a plan said to “promote sustainable growth and prosperity in the country’s sports sector.”[9] Although the strategy is ostensibly focused on domestic sports, it has also enabled the UAE to host major international events, showcasing the country’s impressive sporting infrastructure for sports popular in Europe, including cricket, equestrian showjumping, Formula 1 and basketball.[10] Under a multi-year partnership with the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT), Abu Dhabi hosted major events such as the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers game in October 2025 in a place described as a “‘vibrant multicultural hub with a demonstrated track record of hosting world-class sporting events.’”[11] The New York Knicks’ official Instagram, followed by more than four million people, shared over ten promotional posts featuring players “ready for everything @visitabudhabi has to offer.”[12] The images show ridding camels, sampling local food, relaxing at the beach, exploring the desert, and visiting the Ferrari World amusement park. Players, who have strong fan communities built through sporting achievements, unwittingly become ambassadors of a campaign seeking to rebrand the UAE’s international image.

The Grim Reality Behind the Polished Image

In 2025, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked the UAE 164 the out of 180 countries in its annual press freedom index.[13] RSF observed that the government blocks independent journalism both local and foreign, and systematically targeting dissenting voices.[14] The UAE’s National Media Council exerts tight control over media outlets, suppressing any publication deemed critical of government decisions or a threat to “social cohesion,” a deliberately vague term that allows authorities to crack down broadly and arbitrarily.[15] Government surveillance also targets online activists, journalists, and social media users. Alarmingly, Ahmed Mansoor was arrested in 2017 and later convicted of “‘insulting the status and prestige of the UAE and its symbols’”[16] in relation to his human rights activities, which included communication via WhatsApp with organizations such as HRW and Amnesty International.[17] UN Special Rapporteurs have described his arrest “as a direct attack on the legitimate work of human rights defenders in the UAE.”[18] He was re-sentenced in July 2024, to a 15-year sentence and his appeal was rejected in March 2025, following a fundamentally unfair trial.[19] Other Emirati citizens have been forced into exile, fearing for their safety after signing petitions calling for democratic reforms. For over a decade, they have continued to denounce two successive unfair mass trials, designed to target dissent and suppress critical voices.[20] Hamad Al-Shamsi, a human rights defender speaking at a panel held at Columbia University, described a system in which civil society is stifled and dissent systematically silenced through mass trials that deny fundamental fair trial rights.[21]

Abuses are not limited to restrictions on freedom of expression; they also affect migrant workers, who make up over 80% of the country’s resident population—one of the largest foreign labor-receiving populations in the world.[22] The kafala system, a sponsorship scheme that ties migrant workers’ visas to their employers, prevents them from changing or leaving employment without permission. Many are also subjected to excessive recruitment fees and widespread wage theft, practices described as “endemic in the country.”[23]

The UNGPs: Following International Principles for All Businesses

The UAE’s rapid expansion in the sporting sector, with massive investments, attracts global businesses, companies, and sporting bodies. However, their involvement whether in the construction of infrastructure, co-hosting events, the hospitality sector, or other services during the preparation and staging of events exposes them to the risk of contributing to well-documented and widespread domestic human rights violations.

International businesses and sporting bodies participating in these projects should implement provisions on corporate responsibility as laid out in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)[24] which emphasize, “The responsibility for respecting human rights is a global standard of expected conduct for all business enterprises wherever they operate”[25] and stress that “‘activities’ are understood to include both actions and omissions.”[26] In practice, companies and sporting bodies that invest or organize events, like the NBA pre-games in the UAE, should conduct a risk assessment of potential human rights impacts and establish a monitoring body in line with the UNGPs principles to avoid contributing to or indirectly supporting human rights breaches and aiding in sportswashing.

While investment in sports can offer excellent conditions for competitors and deliver exciting events for the public, it should not overshadow serious human rights violations. Players have platforms to shine a light on abuses, but the burden cannot fall on them alone; fans also wield significant influence and can make a meaningful difference.[27] Importantly, sporting entities must make decisions aligned with their core values and put their commitment to human rights into practice. They should also consider how economically motivated choices might be perceived by fans, whose engagement remains key for sporting competitions.

* Barrister (unregistered), Called to the Bar of England & Wales by Inner Temple, assisting Rodney Dixon KC at Temple Garden Chambers.

** Notre Dame Law School, Class of 2026. Notre Dame, Indiana.

[1] Minky Worden, Director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch, during a panel held at NYU on 3 November 2025 discussion on Human Rights Violations, Armed Conflicts, and Sports-Washing rightly stressed that sportswashing is not a new phenomenon but a long-standing strategy employed by states. Among the notable events with significant impact, she mentioned the Beijing Olympics in China, the Sochi Games in Russia and the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and now Saudi Arabia being selected as the host of the 2034 World Cup while international human rights standards are not implemented and women’s and migrants’ rights are particularly at risk. See MONTREAL INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL SECURITY, https://migsinstitute.org/human-rights-violations-armed-conflicts-and-sports-washing/ (Nov. 6, 2025).

[2] Alarmingly, regimes that use sports-washing have been implicated in human rights violations both domestically and internationally. Recently, the UAE’s involvement in the conflict in Sudan, notably through supporting the Rapid Support Forces perpetrating atrocities against civilians, has been documented by UN experts and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights. See Mutasim Ali and Yonah Diamond, Breaches of the Genocide Convention in Darfur (April 2023—April 2024): An Independent Analysis, (April 2024) https://www.raoulwallenbergcentre.org/images/reports/International-Inquiry-Breaches-of-the-Genocide-Convention.pdf. See also Daniel Tester, Why is the UAE involved in Sudan’s bloody civil war?, MIDDLE EAST EYE (Nov. 4, 2025), https://www.middleeasteye.net/explainers/why-uae-involved-sudans-bloody-civil-war.

[3] Jonathan Grix and Donna Lee, Soft power, sports mega-events and emerging states: The lure of the politics of attraction, 27 GLOBAL SOCIETY 521, 536 (2013).

[4] MANCHESTER CITY NEWS, Owners, https://www.manchestercity.news/club/owners/ (last visited Oct. 13, 2025).

[5] TOUR DE FRANCE, UAE Team Emirates XRG, https://www.letour.fr/en/team/UAD/uae-team-emirates (last visited Oct. 13, 2025).

[6] DOMESTIQUE, Top 10 highest paid professional cyclists in 2025, https://www.domestiquecycling.com/en/top-10-highest-paid-professional-cyclists-in-2025/ (last visited Oct. 14, 2025).

[7] GOV’T OF UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, National Sports Strategy – 2031, https://u.ae/en/about-the-uae/strategies-initiatives-and-awards/strategies-plans-and-visions/sports/national-sports-strategy-2031#:~:text=The%20National%20Sports%20Strategy%20%2D%202031%20aims%20to%20enhance%20community%20sports,in%20the%20country's%20sports%20sector (last visited Oct. 13, 2025).

[8] While other states have often focused on hosting major global events, the UAE has gone further, investing in a plethora of sports, projecting a positive image to even a wider audience. See GOV’T OF UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, supra note 9.

[9] DEP’T OF CULTURE AND TOURISM OF UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, NBA and Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi announce multiyear partnership to host first NBA games in the United Arab Emirates, (Nov. 16, 2021) https://dct.gov.ae/en/media.centre/news/nba.and.department.of.culture.and.tourism.abu.dhabi.announce.multiyear.partnership.to.host.first.nba.games.in.the.united.arab.emirates.aspx. See also NBA, Knicks, 76ers to play 2 preseason games in NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2025, (Apr. 25, 2025), https://www.nba.com/news/abu-dahbi-games-release-76ers-knicks-2025.

[10] See NBA (@nba), Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/nba/ (last visited Oct. 14, 2025).

[11] REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS, United Arab Emirates, https://rsf.org/en/country/united-arab-emirates (last visited Oct. 13, 2025).

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] PEN INTERNATIONAL, Ahmed Mansoor, https://www.pen-international.org/cases/ahmed-mansoor (last visited Oct. 14, 2025).

[15] HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, UAE: Ahmed Mansoor’s 15-Year Sentence Upheld Prominent Emirati Human Rights Defender Serving Multiple Sentences, https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/03/07/uae-ahmed-mansoors-15-year-sentence-upheld (Mar. 7, 2025).

[16] UNITED NATIONS OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER, UN rights experts urge UAE: “Immediately release Human Rights Defender Ahmed Mansoor,” https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2017/03/un-rights-experts-urge-uae-immediately-release-human-rights-defender-ahmed?LangID=E&NewsID=21449 (Mar. 28, 2017).

[17] HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, supra note 17.

[18] GENEVA PRESS CLUB, Silencing dissent: mass trials in the United Arab Emirates, https://pressclub.ch/silencing-dissent-mass-trials-in-the-united-arab-emirates/?lang=en (last visited Oct. 14, 2025).

[19] MONTREAL INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL SECURITY, MIGS Supports Panel on the UAE’s Human Rights Abuses Amid Global Sportswashing, hosted by Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute, (Oct. 13, 2025) https://migsinstitute.org/event/migs-supports-panel-on-uaes-human-rights-abuses-amid-global-sportswashing-hosted-by-columbia-law-school-human-rights-institute/. For a recording of the event, please view the article aforementioned.

[20] INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION, United Arab Emirates, https://www.ilo.org/regions-and-countries/arab-states/united-arab-emirates#data (last visited Oct. 13, 2025). Furthermore, research has documented the risks faced by migrants working in construction, including: “excessive debt from recruitment fees”; “non-payment of wages or illegal deductions”; “denial of freedom of movement, association and assembly”; “minimal enforcement of labour laws”; and “limited or no access to legal or judicial remedies.” See Samentha Goethals, Joe Bardwell, Mariam Bhacker and Bahaa Ezzelarab, Business Human Rights Responsibility for Refugees and Migrant Workers: Turning Policies into Practice in the Middle East, 2 BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS J. 335, 336-337 (2017).

[21] AMERICANS FOR DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN BAHRAIN, Briefing paper: Migrant rights and the Kafala system in the United Arab Emirates, https://www.adhrb.org/2024/05/briefing-paper-migrant-rights-and-the-kafala-system-in-the-united-arab-emirates/ (May 27, 2024).

[22] UNITED NATIONS, Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf (last visited Oct. 13, 2025).

[23] Id. at Principle 11. Moreover, Principle 13 of the UNGPs state: “The responsibility to respect human rights refers to internationally recognised human rights and requires companies to: “(1) avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities and address such impacts when they occur; (2) seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts.” Id.

[24] Id.

[25] For example, the Newcastle United fans group in the United kingdom, a club bought by Saudia Arabia, has voiced on its website: “NUFCFAS will continue to highlight the gross human rights abuses carried out by the Saudi dictatorship, which owns 80% of our club,” stressing that “the Saudi dictatorship bought our club to use as a key part of the Saudi Vision 2030 project, in which sport and entertainment are used to divert attention away from the dictatorship’s many crimes.” See NUFC FANS AGAINST SPORTSWASHING, “About Us,” https://www.nufcfansagainstsportswashing.org.uk/about-us (last visited Jan. 6, 2025).