Chinese Surveillance Cameras Linked to Human Rights Abuses Continue to Guard Europe’s Democratic Symbols
A recent investigation by The Guardian revealed a striking and troubling fact: surveillance cameras produced by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua are currently used to guard some of Europe’s most important symbols of democracy — including one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta at Salisbury Cathedral and the Parthenon in Athens.
This issue is not merely symbolic. Hikvision and Dahua equipment has repeatedly been shown to contain critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities. In Ukraine, hacked surveillance cameras were used to broadcast missile strikes and air defence activity in real time on public platforms. These broadcasts served a dual purpose: enabling military analysis of strike effectiveness and acting as a tool of psychological intimidation against civilians. Ukrainian authorities have opened criminal investigations into several such incidents.
At the same time, both companies are directly linked to serious human rights violations. According to the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), Hikvision and Dahua developed and supplied surveillance technologies used in China’s Xinjiang region to identify, track, and repress Uyghurs — actions widely recognised as contributing to crimes against humanity and genocide. For these reasons, the United States and the United Kingdom have already restricted or banned the use of this equipment at sensitive government and critical infrastructure sites.
The contradiction is stark: technologies associated with repression, mass surveillance, and wartime harm remain embedded in the protection of Europe’s democratic heritage. The World Uyghur Congress, together with the Ukrainian civil initiative Don’t Fund Russian Army, is calling for the removal of this equipment from Salisbury Cathedral, the Parthenon, and other symbolic sites.
This case raises urgent questions about security, ethics, and responsibility. We call on journalists, policymakers, civil society, and cultural institutions to reassess the continued use of such surveillance systems and to prevent technologies linked to repression and war from guarding the very symbols of freedom and democracy.
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