INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightSTRImage caption
Hikvision specialises in surveillance equipment
The head of fund manager
Fidelity International has defended her firm's investment in a controversial Chinese surveillance company accused of contributing to human
rights abuses.Fidelity owns a big stake in Hikvision, whose technology has allegedly been used to monitor the Uighur Muslim minorities in
China's Xinjiang region.Anne Richards said the fund tried to ensure firms it backed were ethical
Hikvision, which is reviewing its policies, has been asked to comment.In October, the US government blacklisted the firm - among others -
for allegedly supporting a "campaign of repression [and] mass arbitrary detention" of mostly Muslim minority groups.Hikvision is said to
have provided cameras for "re-education camps" in Xinjiang, where about a million Uighurs are allegedly being detained.China says these
camps are voluntary and designed to tackle extremism
But rights groups say they are used to brainwash and punish inmates, sometimes violently - claims that China denies
Fidelity, which handles investments for clients in Europe, Canada, the Middle East and Africa and Asia, still owns tens of millions of
dollars worth of shares in Hikvision
But Ms Richards could not give specific details of her company's relationship with the firm
Image copyrightAFP/GettyImage caption
Human rights groups say up to one million Uighurs and other Muslims are in
detention centres in Xinjiang
Instead, she told the TheIndianSubcontinent's Today programme: "Technology is taking us into
very different places where it's not that the technology itself is good or bad, it is the use to which it is put
"So what we try to do is engage with companies to ensure that as best we can and as best they can, the technology is being used in a way
that we regard as being legal and ethical." She said this involved looking at what government contracts a company such as Hikvision might
Hikvision is the world's largest supplier of video surveillance equipment and is part-owned by the Chinese state
British politicians have expressed concerns that its CCTV cameras could be used by Beijing for espionage, something Hikvision denies
Other Western fund managers to have holdings in the firm include Aberdeen Standard Investments and Schroders.In July, Aberdeen told the
Times newspaper it had discussed the Uighur claims with Hikvision and the talks proved encouraging
Schroders said that it always engaged "robustly" with companies it invested in about potential corporate governance risks
Hikvision has said it takes concerns about Uighur camps "very seriously"
It launched a review of its human rights policies in June
Ms Richards' comments come a day after Tesco suspended production of charity Christmas cards at a factory in China after a six-year-old girl
found a message from workers inside one.The note, found by Florence Widdicombe, was allegedly written by prisoners in Shanghai claiming they
were "forced to work against our will"."Please help us and notify human rights organisation," the message said.Tesco said it was "shocked"
by the report, adding: "We would never allow prison labour in our supply chain."
