Human rights: NBA's links with Abu Dhabi (UAE) denounced by Human Rights Watch (NGO)

The pre-season games organised by the National Basketball Association in Abu Dhabi (UAE) in October 2024 (two games between the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets) "are part of the Emirati government's efforts to distract from the many human rights violations it is committing at home and abroad," said the the NGO, Human Rights Watch, in a statement on 19/11/2024.

"The NBA should be aware that the UAE hosts high profile sporting, entertainment, and cultural events to promote a public image of openness and tolerance at odds with the government's rampant systemic human rights violations. The Association is risking 'sportswashing' the UAE's egregious human rights record, especially as it fails to speak out about the UAE's ongoing abuses," added the NGO.

Human Rights Watch also denounced the agreements entered into by certain sports organisations with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) on the occasion of the NGO's publication of a report entitled "The Man Who Bought the World: Rights Abuses Linked to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Its Chairman, Mohammed bin Salman…