A new report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) dated October 17, 2023 titled “Dahua’s Connection to Human Rights Violations in East Turkestan” shows that Dahua is actively involved in the Chinese government’s mass surveillance programs targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples. The company directly supplied, developed and managed public surveillance systems and facial recognition equipment for the Uyghur region government.
According to the report’s research, Chinese authorities use Dahua cameras to track, surveil and target Uyghurs. Police in the Uyghur region use Dahua surveillance cameras to stop and arrest Uyghurs. The camera network is set to send an alert to police if Uyghurs are detected in surveillance footage.
This technology allows Dahua cameras to detect the facial features of Uyghurs and send signals and messages to police called “Uyghur Alerts”.
The report concluded that Dahua was directly involved in the development and operation of surveillance technology currently used by the Chinese government. Dahua not only provided mass surveillance equipment, but also actively participated in the genocide of the Uyghurs. Those who use Dahua surveillance technology today face serious security and ethical risks, but Dahua surveillance technology continues to be used with impunity in government and public spaces.
According to this report, Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co., Ltd. (浙江大花报电影院世界市方法) is a surveillance hardware and software company located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
The research results presented in the report show that Dahua manufactures security products including CCTV cameras, intelligent policing platform equipment, alarms, systems and equipment related to security measures. Dahua received 1.38 billion yuan ($19.9 million) in subsidies from the Chinese government in the first three quarters of 2019, when China began mass surveillance of the Uyghur region through cutting-edge technology.
In 2017, Dahua opened an industrial park west of Urumqi, including a research center and a production center. Dahua also has five subsidiaries in the Uighur region. Two of them are in Kashgar and one each in Hotan, Shihanze and Sanji.
An investigation by video surveillance research firm Internet Protocol Video Market (IPVM) found that Dahua and Hikvision received 7 billion yuan ($1 billion) in public-private partnership surveillance projects in the region. Uighur. In 2019 and 2020, several Dahua documents revealed that the projects included software to track Uighurs using facial recognition.
Dahua has the second largest surveillance technology market share in the world after Hikvision. Its global market continues to grow, and Dahua has supplied video surveillance equipment to more than 180 countries and regions. Dahua has more than 200 offices in various regions of China. It now has 57 branches and more than 130 parts centers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Surveillance equipment made by Chinese companies such as Dahua and Hikvision have been criticized and banned for their part in the genocide in the Uyghur region.
The report also shows examples of many countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands that have imposed trade restrictions on Dahua due to security threats and human rights violations. the man.
According to the report data, the United States, Vietnam, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Brazil are among the countries with the largest number of Dahua camera networks in the world.
Mr. Omar Kang, Director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, who received our interview about the report, said: “The number of Chinese Hikvision and Dahua cameras in the United States alone is actually more than 600,000.”
Mr. Omar Kung also explained that by releasing the report titled “Dahua’s Relationship to Human Rights Violations in East Turkestan”, China aims to warn countries and governments that import this technology and system monitoring its dangers.
Data from the report revealed that even after the ban, nearly 3,000 Hikvision and Dahua cameras were found in the US federal government building.
The report highlights that human rights organizations and policymakers are concerned that restrictions on the use of these companies’ products are only enforced at the federal level and not at the city and city levels. States.
Mr. Omar recommended that taxpayers of all countries, governments and democracies block China’s high-tech surveillance system, which is implicated in the genocide of Chinese Uyghurs and plays a major role in gross human rights violations. man through high technology. He said:
Mr. Omar said that although it is a coincidence that the release of this report coincides with the summit in Beijing, China, which marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, they hope that the Dictatorial governments like China will warn other countries about the dangers of products from companies like Dahua.
The report, titled “Dahua’s Relationship to Human Rights Violations in East Turkestan,” was prepared by renowned human rights researcher Nazgum Yadav, the Alliance’s advocacy partner to bring Ending Uyghur Forced Labor and Director of Content for USAHello.
The director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, Omar Kung, said that with the release of its new report, the project has started to attract a lot of attention from the press and the rights community of man.
Farmers say hundreds of thousands of acres of rice fields have been destroyed in Bago, where the flooding occurred.
Thanap, in Bago division, which was flooded after heavy rains. Dai Oo Farmers said hundreds of thousands of acres of rainfed rice fields in Kawa and Bago townships have been destroyed.
At least 20,000 acres of commune were destroyed, said a person helping farmers in Bago, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
“Thana Pin township lost about a third, Kawa township also lost about a third, and I think the area surrounding Bagu, including Bagu township, will be hundreds of thousands of acres .Some say four to five thousand. We lost about twenty or three hundred thousand per township. In total, in my opinion, this flood will damage hundreds of thousands of acres.
Due to rains that began on the night of October 8 in Bago, the Bago River rose four feet above the critical water level. As a result, he said, all rice-growing villages south of Bagu City and east and west of the Bagu River were affected by the floods.
“I have never seen such devastation before.”
A local farmer said at least 50,000 acres could be lost to flooding in Kawati municipality, which has more than 184,000 acres of upland rice.
“In Bagot, to our knowledge, there are over 2,800,000 acres under cultivation, of which approximately 184,350 acres are in Kaw Township. At least 50,000 acres will be damaged.”
The water from the Sittaung River could not flow into the sea, but only into streams that flowed into the Bago River. An irrigation expert, who wished to remain anonymous, said it was a cause of problems for farmers who depend on the Bago River.
Ko Zaw Myo, a farmer in Thanapin Township, whose nearly 20 acres of land was destroyed, said that if he is unable to pay the debts he borrowed to finance his farming activities, he will move from the status of agricultural owner to that of tenant. .
“When the rice is about to be harvested, it is immersed in water. Farmers have to take loans from others and invest in the farm. They have to invest in that farm after taking a loan from the government. When it sinks, they “They will not be able to pay their private debt. There is almost no interest in repaying the loan. They will move from the status of agricultural owner to that of tenant. “
U San Kon, a 75-year-old farmer, said the rice had been drowned twice this year.
“It’s a loss for the farmers. The first time they planted it it flooded, the next time they planted it it flooded, and it flooded twice. Both times, the first one also ran out. They had to borrow money from outside, and they already have a lot of debt.”
U San Koon owns 50 acres. Around 30 hectares were submerged. He said he had never suffered such damage in his life. So he said he didn’t want to farm anymore.
Straw for 2023 rain rice and 2024 spring rice magic sand The military and agricultural council of the military council said that 100 baskets of rice with 14% moisture and lead-free are set as a reference price of 750,000 kyats. The leading group for protecting farmers’ rights and promoting interests under the Ministry of Livestock and Irrigation made a statement on October 10.
“Hundreds of thousands of acres of rice fields were flooded.”
After the gas coup, Ko Whakhai, a farmer in Thanapin Municipality, said that due to the exponential increase in diesel and fertilizer prices, the input cost of an acre of land is around 800,000 kyats, therefore the reference price set by the Ministry of Gasoline. Agriculture is not even enough for the capital invested.
So he said it should be around 15 lakhs to cover the cost of plantations for farmers.
“It can cost around 750,000-800,000 VND until the house is finished. That’s why when the weather is bad and the water is high, some fields are finished at the lowest level. If “That’s the case, it’s a loss for farmers. That’s why the price of rice should be around 15,000 VND.”
Ko Zaw Myo, a farmer from Thanapin township, said submerged rice could no longer be used.
“So far, the water is still flooded. This rice cannot be eaten by humans, much less eaten by birds and animals. What to do? The water has not yet receded. At the end of “One moment, this rice will rot. When it rots, the birds and animals will not be able to eat it. It has become a total defeat.
Farmers say the remaining rice that is about to be harvested will only yield more than twenty baskets of rice per acre because of the rain and wind.
According to local farmers, hundreds of thousands of acres of rice fields have been flooded in Bago division, RFA continues to investigate to know the exact list.
There are over 26,000,000 acres of rice planted in Bagotai in 2023-24. On October 17, the military council announced that only more than 500,000 acres had been harvested as of October 15.
