PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Formula One in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and human rights (27 February 2023)

That this House expresses grave concerns over the role of Formula One and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile in sportswashing the appalling human rights records of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia; notes that Saudi Arabia executed 81 prisoners in one day in 2022, while Bahrain imprisons its population at the highest rate of any country in the Middle East and North Africa region, with an estimated 1,300 political prisoners; condemns F1’s refusal to engage with key stakeholders including human rights groups, such as the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy when awarding Bahrain the longest contract in F1 history, breaching F1’s own policy; urges the Government to support an an independent and impartial inquiry to assess the implications of F1 races in human rights violation, the adequacy and effectiveness of F1’s current human rights policy, or lack thereof, and its implementation and their responses to evidence of serious human rights violations in F1 host countries; further urges the Government to support calls for the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile to adopt a human rights policy consistent with the UN’s Guiding Principle on Business and Human Rights; further condemns the ongoing imprisonment of political leaders in F1 host nations including Bahrain; and calls on the Government to use all available leverage to make representations to Bahrain for them to immediately and unconditionally release political prisoners, including Hassan Mushaima, Dr Abdulajalil AlSingace, Sheikh Ali Salman, Abdulhali AlKhawaja, Ali AlHajee, Najee Fateel, Sayed Nizar Alwadaei and death row inmates Mohammed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa.

Sponsored by:
Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat)