NBA: Suspend Your Partnerships with the UAE and #SpeakOutOnSudan

Statement from Refugees International:

“As the Emirates NBA Cup finals approach on December 17, we call upon the NBA to suspend its partnership with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) until it stops fueling mass atrocities in Sudan.

Even as the government owned Emirates prominently sponsors the NBA’s marquee in-season tournament, the UAE is also sponsoring mass atrocities in Sudan – including likely genocide – by providing arms, money, and diplomatic cover to one of the warring parties, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF is a paramilitary group stemming from the infamous janjaweed militias that perpetrated the genocide in Darfur 20 years ago. Multiple independent reports and monitors have verified ongoing atrocities committed by the RSF today.

Millions of people in Sudan today are facing famine, mass atrocities, and the largest forced displacement crisis in the world. Fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023 has been marked by indiscriminate attacks on civilians, bombing of hospitals, and widespread sexual violence. In December 2023, the U.S. government determined that the RSF and SAF had committed war crimes and that the RSF had committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

The UAE is fueling some of the worst violence by directly providing weapons to the RSF. Several independent journalistic and human rights investigations have implicated the UAE in the provision of weapons in violation of an existing United Nations Security Council arms embargo. The UN Panel of Experts on Sudan has found these charges credible, citing on-the-ground witnesses. 

The NBA’s partnership with the UAE risks making it complicit in UAE efforts to divert global attention from its illicit support of atrocities in Sudan.

It is time for the NBA to reconsider its partnership with the UAE.

Rather than validating the UAE through sponsorship, the NBA should use its platform to urge the UAE to end its fueling of atrocities and should Speak Out On Sudan.”

To learn more about the role of the UAE in Sudan, watch this video and visit www.speakoutonsudan.org

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Etant Dupain at edupain@refugeesinternational.org.