Xinjiang Safety Supervision Company wins award at Amazon event

With Amazon logo Behind him and in front of him, after celebrities from Shanghai’s booming venture capital industry, the executive on stage delivered his speech. His company Human Electronics helps the Chinese authorities track prisoners and detainees-remind guards of their movements, and even install heart rate monitors for them.

Artificial deployment of a “smart prison” system in Xinjiang, China, where there are more than 1 million Muslim minorities Locked.

However, this did not affect Renwei’s support of Amazon’s “Joint Innovation Center“November. The organizers of the event provided a platform for Ren Wei’s executives to give him an “investor roadshow”-style speech to some of China’s most prestigious investors. And Ren Wei was awarded the “Investor Roadshow” speech.Product Innovation Award“Rate it as one of the six “Outstanding Startup Companies”.

A detailed list of issues was sent, and Amazon declined to comment on the record. Human did not respond to a request for comment.

More and more multinational companies are under pressure to move their supply chains out of Xinjiang, because more and more evidence shows Mass detention with Compulsory labor There, as part of what the United States and other countries have recently called genocide. Congress is considering a bill banning imports from Xinjiang, which is contaminated by forced labor, and U.S. Customs has banned the import of tomatoes and cotton products in the region.

Amazon Turn off Its e-commerce business in China in 2019, but other parts of its huge empire are still working with Chinese customers, including its lucrative cloud computing subsidiary Amazon Web Services.

AWS and Shanghai local government and commercial organizations jointly operate a joint innovation center.The center promotes the development of startups by providing AWS cloud resources and technical support to startups, and helping them acquire talents and comply with government regulations. Event advertisement. It is not clear what benefits (if any) have been gained by artificial and other award-winning companies. The center’s website emphasizes that the companies it supports also benefit from Amazon’s resources and reputation.

Horizon Consulting, a geopolitical consulting firm based in Washington, DC, first noticed the artificial award and the Amazon event research it shared with BuzzFeed News.

Renwei’s technology Already used Among the prisons all over China, including Zhongjiazhuang Prison near Shihezi City.prison by The powerful Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps is a paramilitary and government organization. The United States imposed sanctions on it last year on the grounds that it was related to human rights violations in the region.

BuzzFeed News used satellite imagery to locate the prison in Shawan County, Xinjiang. An official photo The prison map released in 2016 shows an elaborate round front door made of iron and a lion statue on the left side of the entrance. Behind the gate, a road leads to a two or three-story building. A white wall and a row of trees ran along the road. A Google Earth image shows the shadow cast by the gate on the ground, a light-colored object about 2.5 meters high that looks to match a lion statue, and the same things as walls and trees. The roof of the building in the background also matches the photo.

In the past four years, the Chinese government has forced more than 1 million Muslim minorities, including Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Hui Muslims, and others, into large-scale detention camps.BuzzFeed News Survey last year Established Since 2017, the government has significantly upgraded its campaign, building hundreds of new buildings with signs of detention camps and prisons.Dozens of people were detained there before description Abuse, deprivation and daily humiliation, ranging from overcrowding and lack of food to beatings and even torture. The government stated that the detention camp system is for “educational transformation” and de-extremists.

Government data analyzed by the New York Times show During this period, Xinjiang’s prison population also surged-the region accounted for 21% of the country’s total arrests in 2017, but only 2% of the population. Muslim minorities account for about half of Xinjiang’s population. According to government data, courts controlled by the Communist Party of China convicted more than 99% of defendants.

Prisons in many parts of the world, including the United States, use data-driven systems to monitor and control prisoners.But in Xinjiang, the government’s movement specific goals Minorities have detained them because of religious customs, ties with foreign families, or other behaviors that are considered suspicious or threatening to the country.

Renwei description Its system serves as “an important platform for digital prisons to improve management capabilities through information technology.” It uses image processing, data encryption, cloud computing, “big data” and other methods to build a “personnel positioning system” that can be monitored remotely. The company saysThe data is collected in a central platform, which can be used by the authorities for “management decision-making.”

Ren Wei said that this improved efficiency and helped prison staff “realize new ideas for pre-prevention, mid-event control, and post-event verification.” Ren Wei said that when police are attacked and when detainees enter areas where they are prohibited, the early warning system will send out signals. Prisoners can be equipped with electronic devices to monitor their heart rate and other vital signs to “reduce the risk of law enforcement.” Renwei said the system helps prevent people from escaping or committing suicide.

High-tech surveillance is a hallmark of life in Xinjiang concentration camps and prisons.The two dozen people who were previously detained there have already Tell BuzzFeed News They are monitored in real time by cameras placed in the corners of the cell and even in the bathroom. The guards can punish them for minor violations, such as speaking their mother tongue instead of Mandarin.

Renwei has also been recognized by the Ministry of Public Security, China’s domestic security department. The company participated in a ministerial-level publicity meeting attended by the deputy minister and other government officials.

In addition to Shanghai venture capitalists, the audience on November 16, 2020 Amazon events Including executives from multinational giants such as Siemens and KONE Elevator, According to the press release About the event.

On the stage, human executives spent about 11 minutes reading a PowerPoint presentation describing various aspects of the business, and pointed out that the system can be used not only in prisons, but also in detention centers. Finally, he looked at the investors and asked them questions. ●