A group of 67 lawmakers called on the British government to ban the sale and use of Chinese surveillance equipment in the country.
Due to its implications for human rights abuses in China, bans have been proposed for the widely used Chinese CCTV brands Hikvision and Dahua.
Ministers also called for an “independent national review of the impact of modern CCTV in the UK on size, capacity, ethics and rights”.
The move was backed by a cross-party group that included Sir Ed Davy, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, and four former Conservative ministers.
“CCTV in China has no place to watch the streets of Britain. Hikvision and Dahua are closely linked to the genocide in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and low-cost high-tech cameras are normalizing intrusive UK surveillance. “Masu,” said Jake Hurfurt, Head of Studies and Research for Big Brother Watch.
According to a recent survey by campaign group Big Brother Watch, 73% of UK councils, 57% of UK secondary schools, 6/10 of NHS trusts and universities and the police in the UK use CCTV cameras made by companies.
According to the Civil Liberties Campaign Group, several government departments, including the Home Office and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, have used Hikvision cameras visibly in front of buildings.
MP’s announcement follows a six-month survey by Big Brother Watch, which includes thousands of freedom of information requests.
Both companies, partly owned by the Chinese state, have evidence of security and usage problems in so-called “education” camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where an estimated 1 million Uyghurs are housed and submissive. . Torture. Violence, torture, sterilization.
Last year, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee called on Britain to comply with the ban on Chinese surveillance companies.
A 2021 Foreign Affairs Task Force report recommended that equipment made by Hikvision and Dahua should not be allowed to operate in the UK.
However, so far, the Commission’s recommendation to ban UK companies has not been implemented.
“Previously, Hikvision and Dahua were found to provide ethnic profiling tools for CCTV cameras in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the two companies signed several contracts to provide surveillance equipment to centralized cities and camps in the region. “I did,” he told Big Brother Watch.
He pointed out security holes found in Hikvision products. It turns out that one of the company’s main remote viewing software tools is directly connected to a server in China.
Hikvision fired back, accusing anti-CCTV “outside groups” of “demonizing” the company.
In the past, Dahua has adhered to “all applicable regional, national and international laws, regulations and customs” and “has never and never will design solutions for specific ethnic groups.”
This move will occur on Monday when Congress resumes discussions on the procurement bill.
Amendments to the bill supported by Big Brother Watch will allow potential providers to remove concerns about human rights abuses.
The government rejected a recent proposal by Biometrics and CCTV Commissioner Fraser Sampson to include providers’ human rights records in rules governing the use of CCTV by police and local governments.
As of 2022, London is one of the most closely monitored cities, known for its rigorous policing of public spaces, with 13.35 CCTV cameras per 1,000 inhabitants.
Source: Metro
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