IPVM reveals as-yet unreported details about Hikvision\u2019s activities in Xinjiang – a region of China where massive human rights abuses are being alleged – including:<\/p>\n
Xinjiang & Sanctions Background<\/strong><\/p>\n Chinese authorities are accused of building a highly intrusive \u201csurveillance state\u201d<\/a> in the historically Muslim region of Xinjiang while sending up to one million civilians<\/a> to political re-education camps as part of a heavy-handed crackdown on terrorism and separatism.<\/p>\n In response, the US is considering Magnitsky sanctions<\/a> on Chinese officials and \u201centities assisting [Xinjiang] officials in mass detentions and surveillance of ethnic minorities\u201d such as Hikvision and Dahua, which IPVM revealed to have won over $1.2 billion<\/a> in large-scale surveillance projects in Xinjiang since 2016. If passed, these sanctions would freeze all of Hikvision and Dahua\u2019s US assets and ban US entities from doing business with them, effectively ending their US operations.<\/p>\n Pishan County: Hikvision Wins Another Re-education Camp and Mosque Surveillance Contract<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2017, Hikvision won a $53m contract<\/a> to build a mass facial recognition system (\u201c\u76ae\u5c71\u53bf\u793e\u4f1a\u9762\u9632\u63a7\u4f53\u7cfbPPP\u201d) in Xinjiang\u2019s Pishan County.<\/p>\n While IPVM already listed this project in its original database<\/a>, a bidding tender for the project<\/a>includes the installation of a “surveillance system for the justice bureau\u2019s Education through Transformation center” or \u201c\u53f8\u6cd5\u5c40\u6559\u80b2\u8f6c\u5316\u57fa\u5730\u76d1\u63a7\u7cfb\u7edf\u201d in Chinese. This is the exact term used by Chinese authorities to call the re-education camps \u2013 the idea being that detainees are \u201ctransformed<\/a>\u201d through mandatory political \u201ceducation\u201d.<\/p>\n The tender specifies a Private-Public Partnership between Xinjiang authorities and Hikvision, meaning Hikvision will construct and operate the project during a concession period with government support under the \u201cDBFOT\u201d or Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer model.<\/p>\n Pishan County is the second contract supplying a re-education camp won by Hikvision. AFP journalist Ben Dooley was the first to reveal<\/a> that Hikvision had won a contract to supply 6 panoramic cameras to a different re-education camp in Moyu County. Dooley notified IPVM on Twitter about the Pishan project\u2019s possible inclusion of a re-education camp, which has now been confirmed by IPVM. Indeed, the Pishan surveillance project won by Hikvision was also listed in a database of re-education camp tenders<\/a> compiled by prominent Xinjiang scholar Adrian Zenz<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pishan: Mosque Surveillance Included<\/strong><\/p>\n Similar<\/a> to the mandatory installation of facial recognition cameras in mosques in Hikvision\u2019s Moyu County project, the Pishan project also includes<\/a> a video surveillance system for mosques (\u201c\u6e05\u771f\u5bfa\u89c6\u9891\u8054\u7f51\u7cfb\u7edf\u201d) and a video conferencing system.<\/p>\n James Leibold<\/a>, an Australian university professor and Xinjiang expert, previously told<\/a> IPVM the use of sophisticated cameras at places of worship represented a \u201cchilling effect\u201d on religious freedom by tracking and possibly flagging for detention those who regularly attend services.<\/p>\n Moreover, video conferencing systems provided by Hikvision would effectively eliminate the need for local imams to deliver unvetted sermons to their own communities, although this is not specified. The Moyu contract examined by IPVM specified that the system would allow attendees to watch sermons filmed in a studio run by the Chinese government\u2019s Ethnic Affairs Commission<\/a> on TV screens inside the mosque. Such a system was also deployed in Hikvision\u2019s Moyu County project<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yutian County: Hikvision Wins Another Mosque Surveillance Contract<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2017, Hikvision won a $58m contract<\/a> to build a \u201cSafe City\u201d in Yutian County (\u201c\u65b0\u7586\u4e8e\u7530\u53bf\u5e73\u5b89\u57ce\u5e02PPP\u9879\u76ee\u201d).<\/p>\n The original tender<\/a> for this contract also calls for a mosque surveillance and video conferencing system. No further details about this project are publicly available.<\/p>\n Hikvision Cited as Main Partner in IJOP Construction<\/strong><\/p>\n Human Rights Watch says a big-data based surveillance program called the Integrated Joint Operations Platform<\/a> is used to extensively spy on Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, with officials using the system to log information about civilians\u2019 \u201cideological situation\u201d. HRW reported concerns that individuals flagged in the IJOP are sent off to the re-education camps.<\/p>\n The IJOP is being built by the CETC, which is Hikvision\u2019s state-owned parent company<\/a>. Hikvision has traditionally distanced itself from the CETC but new evidence shows it works closely with the group in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n A local IT company based in Xinjiang\u2019s capital of Urumqi called Xinjiang Yuanjian Communication Technology recently posted a job advertisement for a technician and project manager<\/a> that included a description of its own activities. This description says the company works directly with both Hikvision and the CETC to build the IJOP:<\/p>\n Our company cooperates with China Electronics Technology Group Corporation and Hangzhou Hikvision<\/strong> Technology Co., Ltd. to be responsible for the construction, implementation and operation and maintenance of the overall project. [emphasis added]\n<\/blockquote>\n The company references the IJOP directly, writing:<\/p>\n In 2016, according to the requirements of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, the maintenance of social stability in Xinjiang required the accelerated construction of the \u2018integrated joint operational platform<\/strong>\u2019 in 60 pilot counties in Xinjiang. [emphasis added]\n<\/blockquote>\n The company further notes that \u201cin recent years, the terrorism and stability situation has been extremely severe\u201d and that it works on big data-based facial recognition systems, video surveillance systems for mosques, and numerous other technologies.<\/p>\n Not Hikvision\u2019s Only IJOP Connections<\/strong><\/p>\n This is not the first time Hikvision has been tied to the IJOP. Human Rights Watch itself has previously stated<\/a> that Hikvision won a contract<\/a> for the second stage of the construction of the IJOP. HRW said the contract included WiFi probes or \u201csniffers\u201d that track the unique addresses of networked devices. This allows the cameras to potentially track people via their smartphones or other personal electronics.<\/p>\n IJOP “Terrifying” And “Race-Based As Apartheid”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\n