The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has filed a second legal complaint in France against Chinese technology giants Huawei, Hikvision, and Dahua, accusing them of complicity in crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in East Turkistan. The complaint, submitted to the Paris prosecutor’s office, argues that these companies directly contributed to the surveillance and repression system built by the Chinese Communist Party in the region.
According to WUC, Huawei, Dahua, and Hikvision provided advanced surveillance technologies and infrastructure that enabled the mass monitoring of millions of Uyghurs in their daily lives. In particular, the deployment of facial recognition systems, biometric databases, and large-scale tracking technologies is alleged to have facilitated arbitrary detentions and the broader climate of fear in East Turkistan.
The filing also highlights the issue of forced labor. WUC states that Uyghurs and other minorities have been coerced into factory work under abusive conditions, while global supply chains linked to these companies benefited from such practices. The Congress stressed that turning a blind eye to these abuses is unacceptable and urged French courts to hold corporations accountable for their role in sustaining the system of repression.
This marks the second complaint by WUC in France. While the first has yet to produce results, the organization hopes that sustained legal and public pressure will bring greater scrutiny to corporate complicity in East Turkistan. None of the companies named have yet issued an official response.
Here is the full press release from the World Uyghur Congress:
World Uyghur Congress Files Second Complaint in France Against Huawei, Hikvision and Dahua for Complicity in Uyghur Genocide
Press Release – For immediate Release
08 September 2025
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC), in close collaboration with the international initiative Don’t Fund Russian Army (DFRA) and the French law firm Bourdon & Associés, has filed a second criminal complaint with a civil claim (plainte avec constitution de partie civile) with the Paris Judicial Court against the French subsidiaries of Chinese technology giants: Dahua Technology France, Hikvision France and Huawei Technologies France.
In April 2025, WUC had already filed a complaint with the Paris Court of Appeal. However, at that time, the prosecutor’s office refused to consider the case, citing lack of jurisdiction. Now the submission has been formalized in a stronger form — with a civil lawsuit that obliges the court to open an investigation.
“In continuously pursuing this case in the French justice system, we want to ensure that corporations profiting from repression cannot find safe haven in Europe. The Uyghur genocide is not only a tragedy for our people, it is a crime that concerns all of humanity,” said WUC President Turgunjan Alawdun.
The complaint accuses these companies of complicity in the most serious crimes committed by the Chinese authorities against the Uyghur people: forced labour and servitude, human trafficking, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Hikvision and Dahua provided the Chinese authorities with mass surveillance systems, including cameras with artificial intelligence-based facial recognition technology designed for ethnic profiling of Uyghurs. Huawei participated in the development of innovative police laboratories in East Turkistan, testing systems for detecting Uyghurs in crowds.
This action has been supported by Don’t Fund Russian Army, an NGO that has documented the widespread presence of Hikvision and Dahua surveillance cameras in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. Their research highlights how these companies continue to operate freely across Europe despite their involvement in human rights abuses, linking the repression in East Turkistan to security threats in Europe.
The same technologies that enable the persecution of Uyghurs are now deployed in occupied Ukraine. “By joining forces with the WUC, we are making it clear that corporate complicity in atrocity crimes will not be ignored,” said Olha Matseliukh, Director of Don’t Fund Russian Army.
These technologies are not limited to China. Hikvision, Dahua and Huawei continue to operate in Europe, promoting their products under the guise of smart security systems”. Moreover, their solutions have already been installed in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, where they are used to control the population. By financing or purchasing the products of these companies, we are effectively supporting the infrastructure of repression — in China, Russia and anywhere else in the world.
If found guilty under French law, the companies and their executives face fines of up to €15 million, confiscation of property and recovery of half the value of goods manufactured using forced labour, and imprisonment of up to life sentences for those responsible.
