In light of severe human rights abuses currently being committed by the Rwanda-backed March 23 Movement (M23) armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Amnesty International is urging the National Basketball Association (NBA) to review its partnership with the Rwandan government.
Rwanda’s government is a key partner in the NBA’s Basketball Africa League (BAL). Rwanda pays millions of dollars in sponsorship revenue to the NBA to promote its “Visit Rwanda” tourism campaign at BAL, including on all BAL player jerseys. In addition, the first four BAL Finals were held in the Rwandan capital Kigali.
At the same time, however, Rwanda has backed the M23 armed group which has committed human rights abuses including summary killings, sexual violence, torture, and forced recruitment in eastern DRC, which may amount to war crimes. Further, the United Nations has reported that Rwanda has benefited from minerals illegally extracted and imported from eastern DRC.
“The NBA, including Commissioner Adam Silver, cannot ignore the horrific atrocities being committed in eastern DRC by the Rwanda-backed M23,” said Kate Hixon, Director of Africa Advocacy at Amnesty International USA. “It’s time for the NBA to reexamine its policies on how it collaborates with the Rwandan government, including conducting fresh, heightened due diligence to make sure that the funding it receives from the Rwandan government is not linked to illegal mineral extraction or used to divert attention from human rights abuses.”
In January and February 2025, the M23, which first took up arms against the DRC government more than a decade ago, captured the major cities of Goma and Bukavu in eastern DRC. Since then, Amnesty International and other organizations have documented serious crimes committed by the M23 against civilians in eastern DRC.
An Amnesty International report released in late May 2025 documented how the M23 arbitrarily detained, tortured, and killed civilians in a network of detention centers in Goma and Bakavu.
Survivors of the detention centers who spoke to Amnesty recounted how they witnessed fellow detainees die in M23’s captivity, likely from torture and harsh detention conditions. In two cases, M23 soldiers beat people to death with hammers. In another, M23 soldiers shot and killed an unarmed, arbitrarily detained man who they accused of having weapons.
Amnesty International also published research in March 2025 detailing “rampant human rights abuses” by M23 soldiers in eastern DRC. The M23’s abuses included raiding hospitals and abducting patients from hospital beds and torturing them. They also gang-raped women and detained human rights defenders, journalists and civil society activists, some of whom were threatened or tortured.
Furthermore, in January 2025, Amnesty International documented how M23 and the DRC army indiscriminately fired rockets into crowded civilian areas in 2024, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds more.
“The NBA cannot let itself be used to sportswash the absolute horror of the Rwanda-backed M23’s atrocities in eastern DRC, no matter how lucrative its sponsorship deals may be,” said Hixon. “The ample evidence of potential war crimes linked to Rwanda’s government should trigger a review of the NBA’s relationship with Kigali. Is the current partnership really the best way for basketball to inspire and connect people around the world?”
Amnesty International raised its concerns to Commissioner Silver in a letter on February 14, 2025. The letter specifically called on the NBA to conduct additional due diligence in line with standards outlined in the United Nations Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Businesses in Conflict Affected Contexts to ensure that funding received by the NBA is not linked to illegal resource extraction in the DRC.
Silver’s deputy, Mark Tatum, responded with a February 28, 2025 letter which did not mention Rwanda, DRC, or the M23. Tatum’s letter stated that the NBA follows U.S. State Department guidance abroad, and that they would review their efforts in other countries accordingly if American policies were to change regarding business activities in and relating to those markets.
In fact, the U.S. stance toward Rwanda had already changed. On February 20, the State Department called on Rwanda to stop supporting the M23 and for all Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) troops to withdraw from DRC. The U.S. also imposed sanctions on James Kabarebe, Rwanda’s Minister of State for Regional Integration and Rwanda’s government liaison to M23, who manages the RDF support to the group, for enabling the RDF and M23’s destabilizing activities in eastern DRC.
“The U.S. agrees that Rwanda supports the M23, which has committed war crimes in the last year and a half,” said Hixon. “What more will it take to persuade Commissioner Silver to review whether the NBA’s relationship with Rwanda is in line with its human rights responsibilities? Regardless, the NBA cannot pass the buck to the State Department on due diligence for its business partnership with Rwanda. Indeed, the NBA has not deferred to U.S. authorities on domestic human rights issues such as racial discrimination. If the NBA believes that Black Lives Matter, then it must not ignore the Black lives in DRC.”
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