The United Arab Emirates' cycling team Emirates-XRG risks "sportswashing" the country's egregious human rights record, Human Rights Watch said today.
The team's principal sponsors are state-owned companies, and the team has stated openly that its aim is "representing an entire nation, the UAE." UAE Team Emirates is currently leading in the Tour de France, which began on July 4, 2026, and will end on July 26.
"Even as evidence of the UAE's military support to Sudan's abusive Rapid Support Forces mounts, UAE Team Emirates-XRG is prominently displaying UAE government logos in the world's biggest cycling races," said Joey Shea, senior UAE researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The team and its sponsors should use this high-profile opportunity to speak out about the UAE's relationship with a group responsible for mass killings, widespread sexual violence, and other serious violations in Sudan."
The UAE hosts high-profile sporting, entertainment, and cultural events to promote a public image of openness that is at odds with the government's efforts to prevent scrutiny of its rampant, systemic human rights violations at home and abroad. The UAE uses these high-profile events to burnish its image, despite maintaining a zero-tolerance policy toward dissent domestically and fueling human rights abuses abroad.
For over three years, a steady body of reporting by international media, United Nations experts, and human rights organizations has repeatedly documented the flow of weapons, personnel, and other support from the UAE to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is battling Sudan's military for control of the country.
The UAE's role has helped fuel a conflict and humanitarian catastrophe that has killed more than 150,000 people, forced 14 million people to flee their homes, and left more than 30 million in need of humanitarian aid. On June 18, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, issued a "stark warning" over the risk of atrocities as RSF forces are reportedly encircling the city of El Obeid.
For a decade and a half, Human Rights Watch has documented the UAE's intervention in foreign conflicts in support of abusive local armed forces. In a recent report, Human Rights Watch found that Colombian private military contractors, apparently hired by a UAE-based company, transited through UAE military facilities before being deployed to Sudan to support the Rapid Support Forces. This is further evidence indicating that the UAE is assisting or otherwise substantially contributing to the RSF's capacity to commit war crimes.
In 2017, UAE state-owned and government-linked entities began sponsoring what is now called UAE Team Emirates XRG.
In February 2017, UAE Team Emirates announced it had confirmed International Golden Group (IGG) as a new sponsor. In 2021, IGG's logo is displayed on the kit of UAE Team Emirates. In 2022, Road Bike Kit continues to list IGG as a sponsor of the team.
IGG was mentioned in a 2013 UN Security Council's Panel of Experts report on Libya as acting as a representative of the UAE armed forces in a deal that led to the delivery of munitions to Benghazi, under the control of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF).
Human Rights Watch's May 2026 report stated that the France 24 television network found that 81mm munitions made by Dunarit, a Bulgarian manufacturer, and captured by the Darfuri Joint Forces following clashes with a convoy of Colombians in Darfur in November 2024, had first been purchased in a deal where the end user was the UAE armed forces. The deal involved IGG.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG should take immediate steps to ensure that its participation in major races is not used to distract from the harm linked to the UAE government at home and abroad, Human Rights Watch said.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG has a responsibility to respect human rights throughout all its operations. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights sets out these responsibilities, including the expectation that businesses will adopt specific policies and conduct due diligence to identify any risks of contributing to human rights harm. Such harm may include helping a country's reputation in a way that helps distract from its human rights abuses.
Human Rights Watch wrote to UAE Team Emirates-XRG outlining its concerns and urging the team to develop a human rights risk mitigation strategy that includes speaking out about the UAE's abuses. Human Rights Watch asked whether the team had agreed to any clause that would restrict the freedom of its employees or riders to publicly speak out about UAE's abuses. UAE Team Emirates-XRG has not responded.
"As Sudan faces yet again the imminent risk of further atrocities, international cycling's top team risks sportswashing egregious abuses in Sudan by failing to speak out about the UAE abuses," Shea said.
