The Department for Work and Pensions announced they will be making changes to their security systems by removing security cameras manufactured by Hikvision, a Chinese technology company that has been under heavy scrutiny by UK authorities following their participation in the imprisonment and torture of Uyghur Muslims in China. The move mirrors that taken by the Department of Health, which banned these cameras earlier this year.
Big Brother Watch was informed via a letter by DWP that the department is undergoing a capital investment programme which will involve the removal of any security equipment made in China.
In response to the announcement, Big Brother Watch commented:
“The decision to strip out Chinese state-owned CCTV from the Department for Work and Pensions is an enormously welcome development that could not come soon enough, given the role Hikvision plays in the ongoing brutal repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. These surveillance companies have no place in the UK and it is an outrage that taxpayers’ money is funding companies so closely linked to genocide.”
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