Co-Chairs Call on U.S. Corporations to Reassess UAE Partnerships Amid Sudan Atrocity Concerns

Washington, D.C.- The Co-Chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Congressmen James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ), have sent letters to four U.S. corporations in the entertainment and sports industries, urging them to reconsider business relationships with entities tied to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), citing credible reports of the UAE’s involvement in supporting armed actors responsible for mass atrocities in Sudan. Letters were sent to senior leadership at The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery, the National Basketball Association, and the National Football League. The letters call for a reassessment of corporate engagements that may risk enabling or obscuring human rights violations.

The letters, dated April 27, 2026, stressed the urgency of corporate accountability in the context of Sudan’s ongoing crisis, as the African country is facing one of the gravest humanitarian catastrophes in the world today. The Co-Chairs note that the U.S. government and independent investigations have found that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, with the RSF additionally implicated in acts of genocide.

PDF copies of the letters are available here, here, here and here.