ICCL calls for immediate removal of Hikvision cameras from Oireachtas

Peter Finnegan,
Secretary General, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission

Cc.

Leo Varadkar TD                      Regional Technical Group & Aontú
Micheál Martin TD                  Rural Technical Group
Mary Lou McDonald TD         Independent Technical Group   
Eamon Ryan TD                       Solidarity/People Before Profit
Ivana Bacik TD                         Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD, Ceann Comhairle, Dáil Éireann
Catherine Murphy TD             Senator Jerry Buttimer, Seanad Éireann Cathaoirleach
Roisin Shortall TD                   Maurice Buckley, Chairman, Office of Public Works         

10 February 2023

Hikvision CCTV and the Houses of the Oireachtas

Dear Mr Finnegan,

1. I write on behalf of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), Ireland’s oldest independent human rights organisation, about the use of Hikvision surveillance cameras inside and outside the Oireachtas.
   
   
2. The use of these devices on any Government premises raises two concerns:
   
   a. As explained below, Hikvision is implicated in grave human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
   
   b. Further, Hikvision has been banned from several jurisdictions and institutions because of serious national security concerns.

Grave human rights concerns

3. Hikvision’s annual report[1] attests that it is under contract to operate Chinese state surveillance of Uyghurs, which the United Nations fears are “crimes against humanity”.[2] By way of example, Hikvision facial recognition cameras monitor Uyghurs in almost 1,000 mosques in Xinjiang.[3] This surveillance system operated by Hikvision targets Uyghurs based on racial attributes and flags them for detention at mass internment camps.[4]
   
   
4. The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission should not procure equipment from grave human rights violators. This applies to all State properties.

National security concerns

5. We draw to your attention that the Chinese Communist Party is a controlling stakeholder in Hikvision.[5] This is significant because Italian investigators have discovered Hikvision devices reporting back to locations in China.[6] This was not an isolated incident: a separate investigation revealed that each Hikvision camera installed in Rome’s Fiumicino airport sent data 11,000 times per hour to China.[7]
   
   
6. In addition to the risk that cameras inside the Oireachtas may be reporting back to China, security researchers regularly find new security vulnerabilities that allow hackers to seize full control of various types of Hikvision cameras:[8] Hackers can record what the cameras see and, potentially, what they hear.[9]
   
   
7. ICCL has directly observed Hikvision cameras inside the Oireachtas Buildings and about its grounds. The cameras are positioned at locations where they can capture video of TDs, Senators and staff, and their private conversations. They may also capture what was said.
   
   
8. The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission is therefore likely to be in violation of its duty, including under Section 42(1)(c) of the Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 to protect human rights of all service users. We also note that the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission’s 2022-2024 Strategic Plan specifies “safety and security” are a key focus.[10] 

Hikvision cameras in the Oireachtas

9. Other jurisdictions have taken action. The Norwegian pension fund divested from Hikvision because of human rights concerns.[11] The Australian[12] and Scottish[13] governments have decided to remove Hikvision cameras from all government buildings. Denmark,[14] the United Kingdom[15] and the United States[16] banned Hikvision. In 2021, the European Parliament removed Hikvision cameras.[17]
   
   
10. The Oireachtas welcomed Dolkun Isa, the President of the World Uyghur Congress, in February 2022.[18] The same month the Seanad accepted the findings of an independent report into the oppression of Uyghurs by China’s government.[19] But as Irish Senators condemned this discrimination, they were doing so in a building that is under the watchful eye of Hikvision cameras. Those cameras are still in use.
    
    
11. Three questions arise:
    
    a. Did the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, or the Office of Public Works, conduct the necessary security risk assessment, human rights risk assessment and data protection impact assessment of Hikvision cameras?
    
    b. If so, will those assessments be made public, in view of the acute security and privacy concerns associated with these devices?
    
    c. Will the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission now urgently remove all Hikvision cameras and equipment?

Sincerely,