A new report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) on October 17, 2023 titled "Dahua's Link to Human Rights Abuses in Eastern Turkistan" shows that Dahua is actively involved in the Chinese government's mass surveillance programs targeting Uighurs and other Turkic peoples. The company provided, developed and directly managed public surveillance systems and facial recognition equipment for the government in the Uyghur region.
According to research in the report, Chinese authorities use Dahua cameras to track, monitor and target Uighurs. The police in the Uyghur area are using Dahua surveillance cameras to detain and arrest Uyghurs. The camera network is set to send an alert to the police if Uighurs are detected in the surveillance footage.
This technology enables Dahua cameras to detect facial features of Uyghurs and send signals and messages to the 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 in Uyghur. Those who use Dahua surveillance technology face serious security and ethical risks today, yet Dahua surveillance technology continues to be used in government and public spaces with impunity.
According to this report, Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co., Ltd. (浙江大花报电影院世界市方法) is a monitoring hardware and software company located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
Research results in the report show that Dahua produces security products, including video surveillance cameras, intelligent police 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 hi-tech surveillance of the Uyghur region.
In 2017, Dahua opened an industrial park in the west of Urumqi, including a research center and a production center. In addition, Dahua has five subsidiaries in the Uyghur region. Two of them are in Kashgar, and there is one company in Hotan, Shihanze and Sanji.
An investigation by video surveillance research firm Internet Protocol Video Market (IPVM) revealed that Dahua and Hikvision have received 7 billion yuan ($1 billion) in public-private partnership surveillance projects in the Uyghur region. In 2019 and 2020, several Dahua documents revealed that the projects included software that could track Uighurs using facial recognition.
Dahua has the world's second largest surveillance technology market share after Hikvision. Its global market is still growing, and Dahua has supplied video surveillance equipment to more than 180 countries and regions. Dahua has more than 200 offices in various parts of China. It now has 57 branches and more than 130 parts centers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Surveillance equipment manufactured by Chinese companies such as Dahua and Hikvision has been criticized and banned for participating in the genocide in the Uyghur region.
The report also shows examples of how many countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands have imposed trade restrictions on Dahua due to security threats and human rights violations.
According to the data in the report, 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 publishing the report titled "Dahua's Relationship with Human Rights Violations in East Turkistan", China aims to warn the countries and governments importing this surveillance technology and system about 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 emphasized that human rights organizations and policymakers are concerned that restrictions on the use of these companies' products are only applied at the federal level, and not enforced at the city and state levels.
Mr. Omar made recommendations to tax payers of all countries and governments and democracies to block China's high-tech surveillance system, which is involved in the genocide of the Chinese Uyghurs and plays a major role in high-tech gross human rights abuses. 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 is marking the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, they hope that dictatorial governments like China will warn other countries about the dangers of the products of companies like Dahua.
The report, "Dahua's Relationship to Human Rights Abuses in East Turkistan," was prepared by leading human rights researcher, Nazgum Yadav, who is an advocacy partner for the Alliance to End Uyghur Forced Labor and content director for USAHello.
Uyghur Human Rights Project Director Omar Kung said that with the release of their new report, the project has started to attract a lot of attention from the press and the human rights community.
Farmers say that hundreds of thousands of acres of paddy fields have been destroyed in Bago, where the flood occurred
Thanap, Bago Division, which was flooded after heavy rains Dai Oo Farmers said that hundreds of thousands of acres of rain-fed paddy fields in Kawa and Bago townships were destroyed.
One township was destroyed by at least 20,000 acres, said a person helping farmers in Bago, who did not want to be named for security reasons.
"Thana Pin Township lost about one-third, Kawa Township also lost about one-third, and I think the area surrounding Bagu, including Bagu Township, will be hundreds of thousands of acres. Some are saying four to five thousand. We have 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 the rain that started on the night of October 8 in Bago, the Bago River exceeded the critical water level by four feet. Therefore, he said, all rice-growing villages in the southern part of Bagu City and east and west of the Bagu River were affected by the floods.
"I've never seen such a devastation before."
A local farmer said that there could be at least 50,000 acres that will be lost due to flooding in Kawati Township, which has more than 184,000 acres of rainfed rice.
"In Bagot, as far as we know, there are more than 2800,000 cultivated acres, of which Kaw Township has about 184,350 acres. At least 50,000 acres will be damaged."
The Sittaung River's water could not flow well into the sea, but only rolled into the creeks that flowed into the Bago River. An irrigation expert, who did not want to be named, said it is a cause of trouble for farmers who rely on the Bago River.
Ko Zaw Myo, a farmer from Thanapin Township, whose nearly 20 acres of land was destroyed, said that if he is unable to pay the debts he borrowed for the cost of farming, he will go from being a farm owner to living as a renter.
"When the rice is about to be harvested, the rice is submerged in water. Farmers have to take loans from others and invest in the farm. They have to invest in this farm after taking a loan from the government. When it sinks, they will not be able to pay their private debt. There is almost no interest in paying the loan. They will go from being a farm owner to living as a renter."
The 75-year-old farmer U San Kon said that rice has been drowned twice this year.
"It's a loss for the farmers. The first time they planted it, it got flooded, the next time they planted it, it got flooded, and it got flooded twice. Both times, the first one also ran out. They had to borrow money from the outside, and they already have a lot of debt."
U San Koon has 50 acres. About 30 acres were submerged. He said he had never experienced such damage in his lifetime. So he said he no longer wants to farm.
Chaff for 2023 rain rice and 2024 spring rice magic dirt sand The agriculture, military council of the military council said that 100 baskets of rice with 14% moisture and lead free is set as the reference price of 750,000 Kyats. The leading group for the protection of farmers' rights and promotion of interests under the Ministry of Livestock and Irrigation made a statement on October 10.
"There are hundreds of thousands of acres of rice fields that have been flooded."
After the coup, gasoline, Ko Whakhai, a farmer in Thanapin Township, said that because the prices of diesel and fertilizer have risen exponentially, the input cost of one acre of land is about 800,000 Kyats, so the reference price set by the Department of Agriculture is not even enough for the capital invested.
So he said it should be around 15 lakhs to cover the cost of planting for farmers.
"It can cost about 750,000 to 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 the farmers. That's why the price of rice should be around 15,000 VND."
Ko Zaw Myo, a farmer from Thanapin Township, said that the submerged rice can no longer be used.
"Until now, the water is still inundated. This rice can't be eaten by humans, let alone eaten by birds and animals. What to do? The water has not receded yet. After a while, this rice will rot. When it rots, the birds and animals will not be able to eat it. It has become a complete defeat."
Farmers say that the remaining rice that is about to be harvested will yield only more than twenty baskets of rice per acre due to the rain and wind.
According to local farmers, there are hundreds of thousands of acres of rice fields that have been flooded in Bago Division, RFA continues to investigate to find out the exact list.
There are more than 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.