In December 2019, several British politicians wrote to the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to raise the issue of a Tech company, Huawei, allegedly engaging in severe human rights violations in China. The letter comes as the UK Government is considering the development of its core strategic 5G infrastructure. Huawei was one of the main candidates to assist with this.
The letter alleges that Huawei has been complicit in the human rights violations in Xinjiang, China. It states that “Huawei provides the Xinjiang public security bureau with technical support and training. The company’s work with Xinjiang’s public security apparatus also includes providing a modular data centre for the public security bureau of Aksu prefecture in Xinjiang and a public security cloud solution in Karamay. In early 2018, the company launched an ‘intelligent security’ innovation lab in collaboration with the public security bureau in Urumqi. According to reporting, Huawei is providing Xinjiang’s police with technical expertise, support and digital services to ensure ‘Xinjiang’s social stability and long-term security’.”
This photo taken on May 31, 2019 shows a watchtower on a high-security facility near what is ... [+]
The letter continues that “the corporation has developed the Xinjiang public security cloud which makes the control and repression of Uighur Muslims possible; it has a partnership with the Xinjiang Broadcasting and Television Network to allow the state propaganda organs to be as effective as possible; and in one recent press release, a Huawei director said: ‘Together with the public security bureau, Huawei will unlock a new era of smart policing and help build a safer, smarter society. The ASPI reports show that Huawei is implicated in the creation of the world’s most far-reaching surveillance state.”
The repression of the Uighur Muslims refers here to the situation of the estimated one million (if not more) Uighur Muslims detained in so-called “re-education camps” which are designed to strip them of their religious and ethnic identity and replace it with absolute loyalty to the state.
Those British politicians who signed the letter call upon the UK Government to investigate the allegations into the involvement of Huawei in the mass persecution of Uighur Muslims. It also calls for the government to investigate the issue of surveillance and its risk to security in the UK, if Huawei was to assist with 5G infrastructure in the UK. They ask for a due diligence check to be performed to investigate Huawei's alleged human rights violations and their co-operation with those abusing human rights.
It is noteworthy that in early February 2020, Lord Hogan-Lowe, peer at the UK House of Lords, will introduce a bill, the Public Contracts (Modern Slavery) Bill, which is aimed at ensuring that the UK conducts due diligence on all public procurement contracts. The bill has a long way to go before it could become law. While it works its way through Parliament, the UK Government needs to step up and conduct such due diligence before engaging with Huawei. The issues raised in the letter cannot be dismissed without adequate checks are carried out.
The Huawei case raises concerns and should be taken seriously by the UK government and by any other governments who consider working with the corporation. Its mere involvement in human rights violations in China, if proven, should remove Huawei from being a considered for public contracts. The potential security risk of engaging Huawei in building 5G infrastructure, may be one of the biggest surveillance threats in recent years. While Huawei may be offering progress with technology, we should not trade it for our security and human rights values.
2020-01-06 08:19:00Z
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2020/01/06/when-a-tech-company-engages-in-severe-human-rights-violations/
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