Belgrade 'Safe City' video surveillance 

The Belgrade Safe City Programme is a project implemented by Chinese technology company Huawei that involves the installation of facial recognition cameras as part of a wide-ranging surveillance system.

Piloted in 2018 and launched in 2019 with the stated aim of installing 800 real-time cameras with facial and vehicle licence plate recognition, the system was later expanded to over 1,200 cameras.

Transparency and accountability 🙈

• According to Privacy International, Serbia's Ministry of Interior reputedly insisted all information about the system was 'confidential' and said that it held no information on locations and crime rate analysis for the city.

• The Ministry is also said (pdf) to have routinely blocked freedom of information (FOIA) requests for details on the location and workings of the cameras and system.

• A Huawei case study about a secret 2017 test of the system in Belgrade was removed from its website.

Risks and harms 🛑

Belgrade's Safe City system has been criticised for violating privacy and for the legality of its implementation by human rights and privacy activists, EU members of parliament, and members of the general public. Concerns have also been expressed about its potential use for government surveillance and Serbia's use of and potential dependency on Chinese technology.

Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️

• Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection (2019). Мишљење Повереника на акт Министарства унутрашњих послова – Процена утицаја обраде на заштиту података о личности коришћењем система видео надзора

Research, advocacy 🧮

• hiljade.kamera.rs campaign

• Share Foundation (2021). hiljade.kamera documentary

• Metamorphis Foundation (2020). Documentary exposes the threat of facial recognition surveillance in Serbia

• Privacy International (2020). “Thousands of Cameras” - a citizen response to mass biometric surveillance

• Share Foundation (2019). Unlawful video surveillance with face recognition in Belgrade

• Share Foundation (2019). Serbian government is implementing unlawful video surveillance with face recognition in Belgrade (pdf) 

• Share Foundation (2019). Procene uticaja obrade na zaštitu podataka o ličnosti korišćenjem sistema video nadzora Ministarstva unutrašnjih poslova (pdf)

• Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection (2019). The Commissioner's opinion on the act of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Assessment of the impact of processing on the protection of personal data using the video surveillance system

• Center for Strategic & International Studies (2019). Watching Huawei’s “Safe Cities”

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.biometricupdate.com/202006/human-rights-advocates-criticize-biometric-surveillance-systems-in-belgrade-sao-paulo

• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03188-2

• http://www.britic.co.uk/?p=864284

• https://reason.com/2020/08/10/serbias-surveillance-cameras-can-recognize-faces-license-plates/

• https://www.wired.co.uk/article/belgrade-huawei-cameras

• https://emerging-europe.com/news/privacy-advocates-sound-the-alarm-as-thousands-of-chinese-facial-recognition-cameras-head-for-belgrade/

• https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/06/18/big-brother-comes-to-belgrade-huawei-china-facial-recognition-vucic/

• https://www.biometricupdate.com/202108/huawei-smart-city-projects-meet-facial-recognition-block-lawsuit-from-partner

• https://www.euronews.com/2021/07/09/should-citizens-in-belgrade-be-concerned-by-newly-installed-surveillance-cameras