At least five Government departments—including the Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Energy Security and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs—use CCTV equipment made by the Chinese state-owned surveillance firm, Hikvision. They are being used months after Ministers ordered to remove them from ‘sensitive Government sites’ owing to security concerns raised by rights groups and Parliamentarians.
Jake Hurfurt, head of research & investigations at Big Brother Watch, said: “Chinese state-owned CCTV has no place in the UK. These cameras should not be watching over any British streets, let alone the heart of our Government.”
Apart from Government buildings, Hikvision cameras were also found at the royal Sandringham estate.
Hikvision has been under fire for its links to the CCP’s ethnic persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, China. It is alarming that these rights-abusing cameras are being used widely.