UK: Concerns raised over Chinese surveillance camera firm

By SYLVIA HUI
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — An independent monitor of Britain’s use of surveillance cameras has asked for the government to clarify its positions on buying equipment from a Chinese company accused of involvement in “appalling human rights abuses.” Fraser Sampson, the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner, said he raised concerns with senior Cabinet officials after Hikvision failed to answer questions about the extent of its role in China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in western Xinjiang province. Sampson said Tuesday that the company’s cameras and facial recognition technology have been implicated in “systematic human rights abuses” against Uyghurs. He says Sampson said all branches of the British government should rule out contracts with Hikvision.