UK: Questions raised over Chinese CCTV firm

London: UK MPs and parliamentarians called for blacklisting Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controlled Hikvision after its role in aiding human rights violations was brought to light, according to media reports.

An advocacy group Big Brother Watch had demanded that the UK prohibit the sale and usage of CCTV systems made by Hikvision, which is partially controlled by the Chinese government, reported Asian Lite International. Due to security concerns and alleged evidence of their use in so-called "re-education" camps in Xinjiang, where China is accused of imprisoning an estimated 1 million Uyghurs and subjecting them to abuse, torture, and forced sterilization, the campaigners said, the manufacturer should be prohibited from doing business in other countries.

Big Brother Watch discovered that the majority of public institutions--including 73 percent of UK councils, 57 percent of secondary schools in England, six out of ten NHS Trusts, universities, and police departments--use CCTV cameras made by Hikvision or Dahua, reported Asian Lite International.

Hikvision cameras are reportedly seen in operation on the front of the Home Office and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) buildings in central government, according to Big Brother Watch.
This is not the first time that concerns have been raised regarding China's use of Hikvision to undermine human rights.

Researchers have lately drawn attention to an interrogation strategy created by Hikvision that combines behaviour analysis methods with facial recognition cameras to identify detainees.
The Hikvision solution is intended to improve and record interrogation sessions, monitor prisoners' vital signs while they are under close observation, and automatically alarm if they make any "vigorous motions," according to the video surveillance information company, reported Asian Lite International. (ANI)