Rwanda's President Paul Kagame delivers remarks during the announcement of the Formula 1 African Grand Prix at BK Arena in Kigali on October 13, 2026.
Formula One’s decision this week to bring a Grand Prix to Rwanda in the early 2030s could be an important moment for Africa. The continent deserves more prominence on the global sporting calendar.
But the 10-year agreement between Formula One and Rwanda also brings significant human rights risks.
The Rwandan government’s repression means journalists and others who challenge the government’s relentlessly positive image of the country may be at risk prior to, during, and after race weekends. The Rwandan government has long targeted independent media and political opponents both within Rwandan and abroad, including through torture, unlawful military detention, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Human Rights Watch has also documented how Rwanda’s authorities routinely round up and detain homeless people and street venders before large events. People detained in the capital Kigali are held in a large warehouse—labeled a “transit center”—until foreign visitors have left. For example, some of the city’s poorest and most marginalized people were locked up prior to an international conference in 2021.
Rwanda, like other countries, has also used past high-profile sports deals and races to distract from its abysmal human rights record, a tactic known as “sportswashing.” Rwanda is currently the power behind the abusive M23 rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and its military forces have been implicated in unlawful displacement, large-scale forced recruitment and arbitrary detention campaigns, and deaths of civilians in violation of international humanitarian law.
Human Rights Watch wrote to Formula One on February 24 to ask how it is addressing the risks of sportswashing and of human r
