The 67 MPs called for "a ban on the sale and use of Hikvision and Dahua surveillance equipment in the UK, and condemned their use of technology in human rights abuses in China". MPs also want the government to conduct an independent national review of video surveillance use in the UK. Madeleine of Big Brother Watch.
"No democracy should have this kind of surveillance technology on its streets," said Madeleine Stone. British lawmakers made the call as parliament industry email list resumed discussions on the Procurement Bill on Monday. Amendments to the bill, backed by Big Brother Watch, would allow potential suppliers to be excluded from government procurement over concerns of human rights abuses. Recently, the British government appointed biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner (biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner) Fraser.
Fraser Sampson's suggestion that suppliers' human rights records must be taken into account in rules regulating the use of monitors by police and local authorities has been rejected by the government. Professor Sampson told the BBC after the government rejected the suggestion: "The police and other emergency services, local authorities and the government itself, who we have full confidence in, must also trust the surveillance partners with which they cooperate."