United Arab Emirates

A UAE-based company’s apparent hiring of Colombian private military contractors, who transited through UAE military bases, adds to a growing body of evidence that the UAE provides military support to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have repeatedly carried out heinous atrocities in Sudan. The UAE continues to cultivate high-profile sports partnerships to launder its image globally despite backing the RSF in Sudan. The UAE has long promoted a public image of tolerance and openness while restricting scrutiny of its systemic human rights violations and fossil fuel expansion. In 2025, a series of UAE court rulings upheld the unfair convictions and abusive sentences of 83 human rights defenders and dissidents in the country's second-largest mass trial. Migrant workers in the UAE face widespread abuses, including wage theft and inadequate protection against dangerous heat-related health risks.