Toxic double standards: How Europe sells products deemed too dangerous for Europeans to the rest of the world – Joint briefing

Amnesty International joins Greenpeace and over 100 non-governmental organizations calling on the European Union to prohibit companies in the EU from exporting products banned in Europe to other parts of the world, to stop further harms to people and the environment.  

Amnesty International has been warning that digital surveillance systems produced by companies based in France, Sweden and the Netherlands have been used in  China’s mass surveillance programs targeting Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in the country. Cameras made by a Dutch company have also been used by police in occupied East Jerusalem to maintain Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.  

Allowing export of surveillance and other harmful technologies banned in the EU is flagrant double-standard on the part of EU lawmakers, who on one hand present the EU as a global leader in promoting ‘secure, trustworthy and ethical Artificial Intelligence’ and on the other hand refuse to stop EU companies selling rights-violating AI systems to the rest of the world