Tennis championships Wimbledon quickly jumped on board with everyone else in the rush to ban Russians and Belarusians from its tournaments. However, even as the tournament makes to ban Russia as human rights abusers, it still partners with companies that do business with Chinese companies that employ slave labor.
On Wednesday, Wimbledon announced that players from Russia and Belarus would not be allowed to play this year because of the war in Ukraine.
Wimbledon’s move will ban U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev, the player from Russia who is No. 1 in the ATP rankings and is currently No. 2; Russian player and No. 8-ranked Andrey Rublev; Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, a Wimbledon 2021 semifinalist and No. 4 in the WTA rankings; Victoria Azarenka, a past women’s No. 1 ranked player from Belarus and who is a two-time Australian Open winner; and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 2021 French Open runner-up.
“It is our responsibility to play our part in the widespread efforts … to limit Russia’s global influence through the strongest means possible,” the All England Club tweeted. “In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships.”
Meanwhile, as Wimbledon makes itself out as an advocate of human rights, the tournament still partners with at least two companies on a list of companies that do business with Chinese slave labor camps assembled by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).
On its sponsors and suppliers list, Wimbledon proudly lists car maker Jaguar and electronics company Oppo, both of which have been called out for using China’s Uyghur forced laborers in their supply chain.
ASPI identified both companies as still using materials sourced from Chinese forced labor camps as of April of last year. Along with its list, ASPI pleads with people to “not buy products made with the tears of modern-day Uyghur slaves.”
Activists protest Apple over China’s Treatment of Uyghurs (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
In fact, Wimbledon goes so far as to avoid mentioning China that it defines the tech company Oppo simply as its “Asian partner.” The company is based in China, not “Asia.”
Russia’s war in Ukraine is absolutely a crime, granted. But Wimbledon shouldn’t get away with taking the easy way out by banning a few Russian and Belarusian players to make it look like they are doing something about human rights. The tournament should also make the more challenging choice of holding its partners and sponsors to account for doing business with Chinese slave camps.
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