Formula 1 is facing a lawsuit accusing it of violating Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines after the sport secured a deal earlier this year that reduced its contract to hold races in Bahrain extended to 2036.
The complaint, which was lodged through the UK Government’s UK National Contact Point (NCP) and deals with responsible business conduct issues, was heard by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (Bird) and two alleged Bahraini torture survivors, Najah Yusuf and Hajer, delivered to Mansur. Yusuf was arrested and ill-treated in prison after peacefully criticizing F1 in Bahrain in 2017 and Bird claims Mansoor was also arrested and ill-treated at the same time.
Bird has campaigned for F1 to uphold its commitment to respect human rights issues when hosting races. The advocacy group says it has not received a satisfactory response to its calls for F1 to investigate human rights issues in Bahrain and believes the repression surrounding the race has only gotten worse.
In February, F1 agreed with Bahrain on a new deal to host the race until 2036, the longest deal in the sport’s history, prompting Bird to pursue a formal legal approach.
The complaint states: “Formula 1 has failed to work with human rights actors, including human rights organizations, lawmakers from across Europe, victims affected by Formula 1 racing and those who have faced reprisals for their human rights work.”
She accuses F1 of failing to conduct a due diligence process to assess human rights before awarding the new contract and claims that “disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture” continue to occur in Bahrain.
Anti-F1 graffiti in Barbar village west of Manama, the capital of Bahrain, in 2012. Photo: Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters
The complaint specifically accuses F1 of complicity in the sports laundering, noting that the regime used the event to promote a public demonstration of unity within the kingdom against oppression. F1 is alleged to be compounding this repression, stating: “The race has been responsible for a significant increase in human rights abuses as the government steps in to deter and quell protests surrounding the race.”
The intention of legal action by the UK NCP is to force the matter onto the OECD, which can then take action against F1. Part of the impetus behind the sport enacting a human rights policy stemmed from an earlier complaint by the NCP and Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at Bird, hoped that too would provoke action from F1.
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“It appears that Formula 1 has made the decision to disengage itself from all interest groups in violation of its own policies and has alienated itself from any experts trying to warn it of the serious human rights risks posed by its activities in Bahrain represent,” he said.
“Our repeated attempts to engage with F1 have fallen on deaf ears, particularly since 2021, only to later learn they were busy winning the regime the longest contract in motorsport history following the horrific human rights abuses in Bahrain forgive. We are now escalating the matter by taking it before the UK NCP.”
Next year Bahrain will hold next season’s inaugural race and its only pre-season test, but criticism of the regime is mounting. The group Human Rights Watch will release a report next week entitled You Cannot Call Bahrain a Democracy: Bahrain’s Political Isolation Laws. It will document the Bahrain government’s use of political isolation laws and other tactics to keep activists and opposition figures from public office and life, in what it says are further human rights abuses.
“Bahrain has spent the last decade cracking down on peaceful opposition, and the political isolation laws are another example of government repression expanding into new realms,” said Joey Shea, Middle East and North Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These draconian laws have made a mockery of Bahrain’s upcoming general election, which cannot be free or fair by making political opposition essentially illegal.”
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F1 has been raised but is yet to comment on the complaint. However, it has previously set out its position on Bahrain. “We have always made it clear to all race organizers and governments we deal with around the world that we take violence, human rights abuses and oppression very seriously.
“Our human rights policy is very clear, stating that the Formula 1 companies are committed to respecting internationally recognized human rights in their operations worldwide and have made our position on human rights available to all our partners and host countries committed to respecting human rights.” Commit to human rights, made clear the way their events are hosted and conducted.”
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