TAKE ACTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

ASK THE NBA: HELP STOP RISING VIOLENCE IN THE DRC

People in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are experiencing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, as M23, an armed group backed by Rwandan forces, advances further into eastern DRC.

The conflict is rapidly escalating — since January, over 400,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes and more than a thousand have been killed.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has a relationship with the Government of Rwanda, despite its ongoing human rights violations. When Amnesty wrote to the NBA asking what efforts they made to ensure they were not linked to any human rights violations, the NBA gave an insufficient response.

For this reason, we’re mounting a campaign to ask the commissioner of the NBA to conduct thorough due diligence around its partnership with the Rwandan government. The NBA has responsibility under the UN Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Businesses in Conflict Affected Contexts to make sure it is not linked to human rights violations indirectly, and it must re-evaluate its partnership. Send a letter to Commissioner Silver today to demand the NBA follow its human rights due diligence obligations.

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Dear Commissioner Silver,

I am writing to bring your attention to the severe human rights violations currently being committed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the March 23 Movement (M23), an armed group supported by the government of Rwanda, according to the US State Department, the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC and international human rights organizations.
 
The Rwandan government’s support to the M23 should prompt the NBA to reexamine its policies on how it collaborates with the Rwandan government as part of the Basketball Africa League – including millions of dollars of sponsorship revenue it receives to promote ‘Visit Rwanda’.

Amnesty International and other organizations have documented human rights abuses committed by the M23 in eastern DRC including extrajudicial executions, sexual violence and forced recruitment that may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity. In addition, the United Nations has reported that minerals illegally extracted from eastern DRC have contributed to Rwanda’s state budget.

We call on the NBA to conduct the necessary heightened due diligence in line with 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 the illegal extraction of resources in the DRC: https://www.undp.org/publications/heightened-human-rights-due-diligence-business-conflict-affected-contexts-guide
 
Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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