Brussels [Belgium], November 13 (ANI): Thousands of staff employed at the European Unions institutions have rejected the use of Chinese video surveillance provider Hikvision technologies in light of the company’s association with China’s human rights abuses and specifically the oppression of millions of Uyghurs.

President Cristiano Sebastiani of the leading European Institution Trade Union, RenouveauDemocratie, representing thousands of staff employed in the European offices, wrote a letter to Johannes Hahn, Commissioner in charge of Budget and Human Resources for the EU Institutions on Wednesday regarding the thermal imaging systems used by the European Commission and the European Parliament, produced by the Chinese technology giant Hikvision, according to a press statement.

The Hikvision cameras have been placed at entrances throughout the European Parliament and installed in the European Commission’s main offices, the Berlaymont and Charlemagne buildings, the statement noted.

The Chinese company Hikvision has been accused of being linked to the oppression of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in East Turkistan, China’s Xinjiang province, including providing surveillance equipment used in the brutal “re-education camps”.

The Chinese government holds a 40 per cent controlling stake in Hikvision via the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.

A leaked German Foreign Ministry report estimates that 1 million Uyghur in China are being detained without trial. Ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups are also being imprisoned, the report said.

Sebastiani’ letter comes after German Member of European Parliament (MEP) Reinhard Butikofer, head of the European Parliament delegation to China, denounced that the use of Hikvision technology by the European institutions as “extremely worrying” since “Hikvision is a technology company which is deeply complicit in the terrible oppression of the Uighur people in Xinjiang which borders on genocide” and that the European institutions should “immediately create transparency and draw the adequate consequences: i.e. sever any direct or indirect business relationship with Hikvision.”Also, Charlie Weimers, Swedish MEP from the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, said that: “The EU should have no dealings whatsoever with a Chinese firm that is alleged to be involved in some of the most abhorrent human rights abuses in the world” and that “Nobel Prize winners should adhere to a higher standard.”Svenja Hahn, German MEP from the Renew Europe group, addressed a letter to President European Parliament David Sassoli, saying that she found “it outrageous that European taxpayers’ money has been used to purchase monitoring equipment from a company that with their products enables mass surveillance, oppression of minorities and massive breaches of human rights”.

The use of Hikvision technology by the European institutions has provoked strong reactions from EU institutions staff as well and they have expressed their discontent at having to come face to face with a company accused of contributing to human rights violations in China.

Concerning the management of personal data, the spokesperson of the European Parliament confirmed that “the equipment is neither connected to the Parliament’s computer network nor records any data”. (ANI)

With just seven weeks to go until an abrupt change to trade terms with Britain, there is mounting concern at continued uncertainty over the final details of what procedures will govern the movement of vital supplies in and out of Ireland on January 1st.

                                                    <p class="no_name">Talks between Britain and the <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_organisation=European+Union" rel="nofollow">European Union</a> broke off after a week of intense negotiations in London that were overshadowed by turmoil in Downing Street, in which senior aides to British prime minister <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_person=Boris+Johnson" rel="nofollow">Boris Johnson</a> resigned and there was speculation about the position of chief negotiator <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_person=David+Frost" rel="nofollow">David Frost</a>. </p>
                                                    <p class="no_name">At one point chief EU negotiator <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_person=Michel+Barnier" rel="nofollow">Michel Barnier</a> took a break from negotiations and posted an image of himself “looking for level playing fields” in a London park.</p>
                                                    <p class="no_name">Pressure is now mounting for a breakthrough as the EU’s national leaders prepare to gather for a video conference on Thursday, with disagreements over fish and how to ensure fair competition between British and EU companies persisting as a stumbling block.</p>
                                                    <h4 class="crosshead">Dissolve</h4><p class="no_name">Hundreds of billions of euro in trade ride on whether the EU can strike a deal with its former member. Without one, the legal underpinnings of relations built up over decades would dissolve overnight and tariffs would automatically come into force, an economically damaging outcome that the EU side is concerned is becoming harder to avoid.</p>
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                                                                                                                    <p class="no_name">In briefings to businesses on the complex customs declarations requirements that will be required irrespective of whether a deal is reached or not, the British government has been unable to explain the special arrangements that will be in place for goods moving into <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_location=Northern+Ireland" rel="nofollow">Northern Ireland</a> from January, saying that it would “become clearer in the next week or so”. A significant amount of work remains to be done on the issue, The Irish Times understands.</p>
                                                    <p class="no_name">Britain has asked the EU to allow a grace period for export declarations for goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland to avoid potential disruption to food supplies, a proposal backed by rival parties in the North as well as industry figures increasingly desperate for certainty.</p>

                                                    <h4 class="crosshead">Rigorous checks</h4><p class="no_name">It comes after supermarkets have warned the range of products they stock could be greatly reduced because of the need for rigorous checks on agri-food products from Britain, and the North’s Department of Agriculture admitted infrastructure needed for checks will not be ready on time.</p>
                                                    <p class="no_name">Yet even if a grace period for declarations is granted, Britain still accepts that consignments would nevertheless be subject to the checks and controls required, The Irish Times understands.</p>
                                                    <p class="no_name"><a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_person=Seamus+Leheny" rel="nofollow">Seamus Leheny</a> from the <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_organisation=Freight+Transport+Association" rel="nofollow">Freight Transport Association</a> in Northern Ireland said a grace period would be “not just welcome, it’s required, it’s needed because, especially for food, we just aren’t ready.”</p>
                                                    <p class="no_name">Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that the proposal was a “workable solution”, after the North’s cross-party leadership wrote to the European Commission emphasising supermarkets’ concerns that there was a “real threat to the continuity of the supply” of food and other products.</p>
                                                    <p class="no_name">Responding to the letter, a European Commission spokesman said it was taking the warnings “very seriously”, and discussions were continuing with the UK.</p>

Brussels [Belgium], November 13 (ANI): Terming Turkey and Pakistan as countries of concern amid rising terrorists attack in Europe, French Member of European Parliament (MEP) Nicolas Bay has asked European Union (EU) to stop “showering” Ankara and Islamabad with subsidies and customs facilities, rather put sanctions against them.

“During the European Parliamentary plenary of November, 11 French MEP Nicolas Bay from the Identity and Democracy Group had strong words against European aid to Pakistan and Turkey in light of threats coming from both countries. MEP Bay’s comments were made in the context of a debate on the ‘fight against terrorism, freedom of expression and education’,” a press statement read.

Speaking to the European Commissioner Ylva Johansson responsible for Home Affairs, Nicolas Bay was critical of the support being given by the European Commission to the countries of concern. “You are showering countries like Pakistan and Turkey with subsidies and customs facilities. We want to sanction them!”Linking terrorism threats to migration, MEP Bay gave the stark warning that the latest terrorist attacks in Paris had all been committed by migrants arriving in Europe.

Highlighting that over the last year’s terrorist attacks had taken place across Europe in Vienna Madrid, London, Paris, Nice, Milan, Berlin, Amsterdam, Toulouse, Stockholm and St Petersburg, the parliamentarian recognised that “No victim should be forgotten!””The last three attacks in France were perpetrated by people of immigrant backgrounds: It was a Pakistani who attacked journalists in Paris; it was a Chechen who slit the throat of a teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine; it was a Tunisian, freshly arrived via Lampedusa, who murdered three people in a church in Nice.”Bay pointed out that since the Madrid attacks in 2004, 450 people had been killed by Islamist terrorists in Europe and that Europe was losing its identity.

“They attack us for who we are, not what we do. We cannot fight this battle if we refuse to name the enemy,” he said.

Bay singled out both Turkey and Pakistan as countries of concern during his intervention: “Erdogan is also moving forward because the European Union does not dare to act, he is waging war on Armenia, and in Libya by deploying jihadists from the ranks of Da’esh, he is threatening our continent with migratory subversion, he is converting the Basilica of Saint Sophie into a mosque.”Bay further critiqued the Commission for its financing of Islamist organisations stating that EUR5.6 million had been given towards Muslim Brotherhood networks. “In total, over the last 5 years, the European Union has paid 36.5 million euros directly to Islamist organisations or projects in which they were involved.”The debate comes in the aftermath of the recent terrorist attacks that took place in France and Austria. President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, prior to the debate had opened the European Parliament stating that it was “a shared responsibility to fight all types of extremism”. (ANI)