When You Watch the Tour de France, Think Sudan War

Click to expand Image UAE Team Emirates - XRG Pro Cycling team during the team presentation of the 109th Giro d'Italia in Burgas, Bulgaria, on May 6, 2026. © 2026 Hristo Rusev/NurPhoto via AP Photo As the Tour de France wraps up this weekend, all eyes will be on the UAE. The leading team’s principal sponsors are state-owned United Arab Emirates companies. But, while fans watch the race through the French countryside, human rights abuses perpetuated by the United Arab Emirates are unfolding elsewhere, out of public view. Sponsoring elite athletic competition is an attempt to use sportswashing to deflect attention from the UAE’s rampant systemic rights violations. By sponsoring NBA games and F1 races, the UAE’s government deters scrutiny about its treatment of migrant workers, who face widespread abuses, and its unjust jailing of political dissidents. Seeing the UAE connected to a Tour de France victory would be another welcome advertisement for the UAE's rulers, as a growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE provides support to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan. This abusive warring party has carried out atrocities that amount to crimes against humanity. Since fighting e