"Your article also drew attention to the incongruence of Hikvision’s actions and their words. They may state in their 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance Report that they “avoid actions that impede human rights …and that they operate within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” but their actions de facto contradict these principles."
February 28, 2024
Jane Skrypnek, Provincial Reporter, Black Press
Dan Ebenal , City Editor, Greater Victoria News
Katherine Engqvist, Bureau Chief, Greater Victoria News
Dear Ms. Skrypnek, Mr. Ebenal and Ms. Engqvist,
I am writing on behalf of CJPME (https://www.cjpme.org/) to express my appreciation for the article, “B.C. Group protests global company supplying surveillance cameras to Israel”
which Victoria News published online on February 27.
Too often, journalists and Canadian news media fail to provide a variety of perspectives when it comes to reporting on the occupation of Palestine and the war on Gaza. However, your article was an excellent example of well-rounded reporting. Not only did the article provide the perspectives of the protestors and also that of a well-recognized human rights organization, Amnesty International, but you also reached out to interview representatives from Hikvision.
Your article also drew attention to the incongruence of Hikvision’s actions and their words. They may state in their 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance Report that they “avoid actions that impede human rights …and that they operate within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” but their actions de facto contradict these principles.
The evidence is mounting that the Hikvision cameras are part of the Israel’s "technological library of occupation"– a laboratory that impedes Palestinian’s rights to freedom of movement, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the right to equality and nondiscrimination.”
The Amnesty International report stated that the surveillance cameras supplied by Hikvision have been installed at checkpoints and Palestinian residential areas in Hebron City and East Jerusalem. These cameras keep Palestinians under constant monitoring. Combined with facial-recognition technology and connected to Israel’s police-run Mabat 2000 surveillance network, these tools can be deployed by Israeli police to restrict the freedom of movement of Palestinians, control their daily activities, and crack down on gatherings and demonstrations.
One of the means for dismantling the occupation and what Anthony Lowenstein calls the “Palestine Laboratory” will be for countries like Canada and companies like Hikvision to stop contributing to it through arms sales, technological development, etc..
I hope that Victoria News and Black Press will continue to publish articles that help Canadians both understand and challenge the international complicity in the ongoing and brutal occupation of the Palestinian people.
Sincerely,
Debbie Hubbard
CJPME:Okanagan
803-1329 Ellis Street
Kelowna, V1Y9X5