The World Liberty Congress (WLC) expresses profound concern over Formula 1’s announcement of a 10-year agreement to bring the African Grand Prix to Rwanda, a country whose government faces longstanding allegations of political repression, arbitrary detention, torture, and transnational repression.
Formula 1’s return to Africa after more than three decades is a historic milestone that millions of African motorsport fans have long awaited. But this achievement raises an equally important question: At what cost, and whose interests does it ultimately serve?
Under President Paul Kagame, the Rwandan government has pursued an ambitious strategy of international sports sponsorships and high-profile events, including partnerships with major European football clubs and international sporting organizations. Human rights organizations have repeatedly raised concerns that these investments serve to improve the government’s international reputation while diverting attention from documented abuses at home and allegations of serious violations in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is the fundamental danger of sportswashing: the prestige of international sport can be used to confer legitimacy on governments without requiring accountability for their conduct.
For political prisoners, persecuted journalists, opposition figures, and human rights defenders, these concerns are not abstract. They are lived realities. Many members of the World Liberty Congress know firsthand what it means to be imprisoned, silenced, forced into exile, or targeted beyond their country’s borders for exercising fundamental freedoms.
A government cannot purchase its way out of accountability through international sporting prestige.
The World Liberty Congress calls on Formula 1, the FIA, and their commercial partners to demonstrate that their commitments to human rights extend beyond public statements. This requires full transparency regarding the financial arrangements underpinning the Grand Prix, independent human rights due diligence, meaningful engagement with civil society and victims of repression, and clear safeguards to protect freedom of expression and independent reporting in connection with the event.
The World Liberty Congress also urges international sporting institutions to examine the broader implications of partnerships with governments facing credible allegations of serious human rights violations. Economic opportunities and sporting development should not come at the expense of fundamental freedoms.
The people of Rwanda deserve the opportunities, investment, and international recognition that major sporting events can bring. They also deserve the freedom to speak, organize, criticize their government, and participate in public life without fear.
Africa deserves Formula 1. Rwandans deserve freedom. And the world must never allow the celebration of one to obscure the denial of the other.
