UK finance giants HSBC, Legal & General and BlackRock have invested millions in Dahua Technology, a Chinese state-owned surveillance technology firm. This firm was one of the companies accused of being linked to the ethnic persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, China. British police forces are being warned about high-tech CCTV cameras made by this firm.
Its facial recognition technology could detect ethnicity, which could alert police of the presence of Uyghur Muslims. Human rights campaigners have criticised the decision of UK companies to invest in tech produced by firms presenting serious security and ethical concerns. Fidelity International and BlackRock Advisors UK hold 22 million and 3 million shares in Dahua, respectively.
‘The fact that British financial services are profiting from Chinese state-owned surveillance companies is deeply concerning. These are companies whose products are associated with serious human rights abuses, ethnic persecution in China and national security risks to the United Kingdom.
‘British money should be nowhere near companies implicated in genocide and modern slavery. The UK should follow the example of the US and push our financial sector to divest from these rights-abusing technologies.’ says Mark Johnson, Advocacy Manager for rights group Big Brother Watch.