Human rights groups are calling on the central government to ban four Chinese surveillance camera companies that sell them across the country because they are suspected of complicity in a campaign of repression.
• Read more: Quebec security firms show controversial Chinese surveillance camera manufacturer the door
Two of these companies, Hikvision and Dahua, Subject to reports of our Bureau of Investigation last year, and then Quebec had decided to ban them.
Hikvision, Dahua, Tiandy and Uniview cameras, available for sale nationwide, are believed to have been used for years in the repression of Uyghurs in China’s autonomous region of Xinjiang.
AFP
A guard tower photographed in 2019 at a high-security facility believed to be a re-education camp where mainly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, on the outskirts of Hotan in northwest China’s Xinjiang region.
Arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence, forced sterilization; The abuses suffered by this Muslim minority constitute “genocide,” Canada recognized in 2021.
Yet the country continues to welcome and sell products from these surveillance companies that help the Chinese government carry out these atrocities, a coalition of organizations including the Washington-based Center for Advanced Security Studies condemns.
In a more than 300-page report submitted to the Canadian government last May, the coalition is calling for these companies to be added to the Special Economic Activities Regulations (Canada) list, which would see them disappear from the Canadian market.
Radio silence
Since then, there has been zero silence from the central authorities. Public Services and Procurement Canada did not respond to our questions at the time of publishing these lines.
The debate is not new. Last year our Intelligence Bureau had informed this HiVision cameras pose a “danger” to national securityBecause China could use them to spy on Canada, according to the Canadian Defense Intelligence Service.
“Canada has an obligation to implement sanctions, which are clearly justified by our laws, mountains of evidence and a basic sense of right and wrong. The alternative is to continue to ignore our values so that China doesn’t smuggle more Canadians or tax exports. This is not foreign policy, this is our country. hostages, says Conor Healy, a consultant to the Uyghur Rights Project and director of the US research group IPVM.
EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL
A Uyghur woman stands in front of soldiers with her child and a young woman after an incident between Uyghurs and security forces on the streets of Urumqi, Xinjiang province, July 13, 2009.
A respecter of human rights
Tiandi and Uniview did not respond to our messages at the time of publishing these lines. Hikvision and Dahua have sent us statements saying they respect human rights.
“As a global company, Hikvision respects human rights and takes all concerns very seriously. Our Global Human Rights Policy applies to all aspects of our operations, including our branches and subsidiaries around the world. As a market leader, we recognize our responsibility to protect people and all kinds of “We strongly oppose forced labor, child labor and modern slavery,” Hikvision wrote to us.
“Dahua Technology is built on transparency and integrity, adheres to our industry’s highest security practices and complies with all applicable laws, regulations and business ethics in every market in which we operate. (…) Dahua has never developed and will not develop a product or solution to identify or target a specific race, ethnicity or national group, including the Uighur people of Xinjiang Province in China.
Cameras used to suppress Uyghurs
• “Dahua was installed in 2019 and 2020 and began operating surveillance technology that sends out “real-time Uyghur alerts” or alerts “when facial features of Uyghurs are detected” in surveillance footage. [de ses caméras].”
• “Hikvision is implementing several key projects in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, including using surveillance systems in mosques and detention centers.”
• “Survivors confirmed Hikvision’s participation in the camps [de concentration] […] Ovalbek Turdakun, “a Chinese national of Kyrgyz origin”, was detained in a camp for 10 years. […] He said there were Hikvision cameras “everywhere” in the camp, including the cells.
• “Durdagun described the cameras as virtual prison guards: if they see you talking, the camera sees it and the voice says ‘don’t talk’.”
• “Diandi has also developed a “police solution”. […] This includes “table”. [intelligente] Use “tiger chairs”. “Tiger chairs” are used to torture Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims or are detained in concentration camps.
Source: Report submitted to the Canadian government on May 16, 2024 by the Uighur Rights Project, C4ADS and the Human Rights Action Committee.
Cameras used across the country
HiVision
- Sold under the names Hikvision and Ezviz
- Available online at safety equipment sites and Amazon
Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. Ltd.
- 20 distributors and 21 registered brands in Canada
- Alarm system companies and sold through Amazon
Tiandi Technologies Co. Ltd
- Anabon Security and Canadiantek and distributed online
- Stores and warehouses in Toronto and Vancouver
Zhejiang Uniview Technology Co. Ltd.
- Sold under variations of the UNV brand and distributed mainly by defense companies
- Sales offices are located in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver
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