House of Lords Pushes Legislation Targeting China’s Hikvision and Forced Organ Harvesting

Undated file photo of the UK's Houses of Parliament in London. Stefan Rousseau/PA

The UK’s upper house of Parliament on Wednesday pushed a number of amendments to legislation in a bid to buttress the UK’s public supply chain against human rights abusers and national security threats.

During the third reading of the Procurement Bill, the House of Lords voted to pass an amendment targeting forced organ harvesting by 191 votes to 169.

A separate amendment, which would accelerate the removal of security cameras such as Hikvision and Dahua, was passed by 178 votes to 158.

The bill will soon go to the House of Commons for further scrutiny.

Forced Organ Harvesting

One adopted amendment, if it becomes law, will give ministers discretionary power to exclude a supplier if a contracting authority determines it or a connected person is found to be involved or have been involved in forced organ harvesting and unethical activities relating to human tissue.

The text does not name any country or individual. During the debate, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, who introduced the amendment, cited the “explicit” evidence of “state-sanctioned and widespread” killing by forced organ harvesting in China, arguing there is a “strong reason” to add forced organ harvesting to the exclusion list.

An independent people’s tribunal chaired by the prominent British barrister and judge Sir Geoffrey Nice KC in 2019 found that adherents of the spiritual practice Falun Gong had been and continued to be the main group of victims killed for their organs. Evidence also pointed to forced organ harvesting from the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in recent years.

In April this year, a new study identified 71 Chinese-language publications on organ transplants where physicians had carved out hearts and lungs from people for transplant without first conducting a test to establish brain death—revealing that patients were killed for their organs.

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, chair of the China Tribunal, delivers the tribunal's judgment in London on June 17, 2019. Justin Palmer

Representing the government, Cabinet minister, Baroness Neville-Rolfe opposed Hunt’s amendment on Wednesday, arguing the Procurement Bill is not the right bill to deal with the issue.

Neville-Rolfe said the proposal would add a significant burden for contracting authorities. She also said the inclusion of “unethical activities relating to human tissue” makes the legislation too broad to implement.

Hunt argued the bill is the most suitable to “place values” because it “sets the parameters under which billions of pounds are going to be spent by government and government agencies over the next decade.”

He also said the minister could have proposed an alternative version to address the government’s concern on technicality issues.

According to Hunt, the minister previously told him forced organ harvesting would be covered under “professional misconduct” as grounds for exclusion, but Hunt argues that the practice is “so appalling” that it deserves to be listed alongside other grounds for discretionary exclusion in the bill, such as labour market conduct and environmental misconduct.

Last year, Hunt successfully pushed for a provision in what is now the Medicines and Medical Devices Act, requiring proof of consent for the use of human tissues obtained from overseas.

He also worked with the government to legislate against organ tourism, banning UK citizens and residents from buying organs abroad.

Security Cameras

Peers also adopted an amendment proposed by Lord Alton of Liverpool, which compels the government to publish a timeline for the removal of physical technology or surveillance equipment from the government’s procurement supply chain where there is established evidence that a provider has been involved in modern slavery, genocide, or crimes against humanity.

Alton said the legislation is about committing the government to the removal of all Hikvision and Dahua cameras from the public sector supply.

A Hikvision camera is presented at an electronic mall for sale in Beijing, China on May 24, 2019. Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Images

Hikvision and Dahua, two world-leading surveillance camera manufacturers ultimately owned by the Chinese Communist Party, are the main suppliers of surveillance cameras in Xinjiang, where the Uyghur Tribunal—also chaired by Nice—found genocide had been taking place.

The cameras have also been found to have backdoors and vulnerabilities, sparking security concerns.

The UK government said last week that it had told its departments to stop installing new Chinese surveillance cameras into sensitive sites, citing security considerations, and advised them to consider replacing the existing ones before the maintenance schedule and do the same with non-sensitive sites.

The departments were also advised not to connect the cameras to departmental core networks.

Alton welcomed the government’s decision, but said the process may take “several years.” He also said that the minister previously told him there are a million Hikvision cameras in the UK.

If Alton’s proposal becomes law, the government would have to publish a removal timeline within six months.

Neville-Rolfe argued that the national security ground in the exclusion list and the new centralised debarment list would address the issue of Chinese cameras and said the government will keep the risk under review and take further steps if they become necessary.

She also contended that the bill should be about future procurement, not existing equipment, kits, or contracts.

It’s unclear if the government intends to seek the removal of the provision in the House of Commons.

Two other amendments—one aimed at labelling products from countries accused of modern slavery or genocide and the other one seeking to limit the UK’s dependency on its adversaries—were withdrawn on Wednesday and could be reintroduced when the bill is in the House of Commons.