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UN Reports the Chilling Facts on Organ Harvesting from Live Falun Gong Practitioners
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Suggests Mechanisms to Hold States Accountable
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On March 20, 2007, Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur
on Torture issued a report that corroborates previous findings in 2006
about persecution, abuse and torture of Chinese citizens.
His report states, "Organ harvesting has been
inflicted on a large number of unwilling Falun Gong practitioners at a
wide variety of locations for the purpose of making available organs
for transplant operations." Mr. Nowak issued his report to the Human
Rights Council's Fourth session, as part of their Agenda item 2, the
Implementation of General Assembly Resolution 60/251.
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| Manfred Nowak, speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva |
On August 11, 2006, three UN Special Rapporteurs had
sent an urgent appeal on organ harvesting from Falun Gong
practitioners. This was a joint action by the Special Rapporteur on
Torture, Mr. Manfred Nowak, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of
Religion or Belief, Ms. Asma Jahangir and the Special Rapporteur on
Trafficking in Persons, Ms. Sigma Huda.
Mr. Nowak reports the situation that, "Vital
organs including hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas were
systematically harvested from Falun Gong practitioners at Sujiatan
Hospital, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, beginning in 2001. The
practitioners were given injections to induce heart failure, and
therefore were killed in the course of the organ harvesting operations
or immediately thereafter."
The report adds, "It is reported that employees
of several transplant centres have indicated that they have used organs
from live Falun Gong practitioners for transplants. After the organs
were removed, the bodies were cremated, and no corpse is left to
examine for identification as the source of an organ transplant. Once
the organs were removed they were shipped to transplant centres to be
used for transplants for both domestic and foreign patients."
Although the Chinese government denied the
allegations, the Report states that China's passage of a law on July 1,
2006, prohibiting the sale of organs and requiring the donor to give
written permission, indicates that China allowed organ harvesting
before that time.
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| Special Rapporteur Asma Jahangir |
"Moreover, evidence exists, for example, that at least
up until April 2006, price lists for organ transplants in China were
published on the Internet," states the report.
The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion
or Belief, Ms. Asma Jahangir, also addressed the harvesting of organs
from Falun Gong practitioners in her annual report on 250 countries.
Regarding freedom of religion or belief, her report states, "The
Special Rapporteur continues to be very concerned by the continued
violations of freedom of religion or belief suffered by members of the
Falun Gong. In her previous reports to the Commission on Human Rights,
she explicitly mentioned members of the Falun Gong as targets of
various human rights violations because of their beliefs and she
strongly condemns the continued lack of freedom of belief of members of
Falun Gong."
The Silence about Organ Harvesting
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| 70-Year-Old Falun Gong Practitioner Tortured until Skin and Bones |
The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group initially described the organ harvesting issue in its newsletter, Sujiatun Death Camp: Putting Conscience On Trial". The news was met with silence.
On July 7, 2006, former Canadian Secretary of
State (Asia Pacific) and MP David Kilgour and human rights attorney
David Matas released their "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting
of Falun Gong Practitioners in China." Presenting 17 points of evidence
on the harvesting of organs from live Falun Gong practitioners, they
stated, "The allegations, if true, would represent a grotesque form of
evil which, despite all the depravations humanity has seen, would be
new to this planet. The very horror makes us reel back in disbelief.
But that disbelief does not mean that the allegations are untrue."
Kilgour and Matas have traveled the world discussing their findings
with organizations and nations, but, as yet, no country and no major
media have condemned this heinous practice.
Dr. Shizhong Chen, founder of The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group (www.falunhr.org),
when asked about the importance of the UN Report, observed, "David
Matas condemned the organ harvesting as a new kind of evil that
humanity has yet to see. Sadly, we have also seen a new kind of silence
to this evil, silence from world governments and from the media.
"This report by the Special Rapporteur removes
any excuse of silence, of not knowing, not trusting and not believing
the appeals of Falun Gong practitioners whose lives are supplying
China's burgeoning transplant market. It also belies the US State
Department report that they found 'no evidence' of organ harvesting
after Chinese officials organized two guided tours for their benefit."
Many Cases of Persecution and Torture in China
The Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group has
submitted many appeals to the United Nations Special Rapporteurs and
has often spoken to the UN Human Rights Council. In his 2005 Report on
his mission to China, Nowak observed, in Table 1, that 66% of all
alleged victims of torture were Falun Gong practitioners. In 2006, Mr.
Nowak sent many urgent appeals to the government of China concerning
Falun Gong practitioners and other Chinese citizens who were abused and
tortured.
Mr. Nowak cited the persecution of many Chinese citizens in his report, among others, human rights lawyer, Mr. Gao Zhisheng.
The Persecution of Chinese Lawyer Gao Zhisheng
Mr.
Gao Zhisheng has represented dissidents, religious believers, entire
villages with disputes against officials, and Falun Gong practitioners.
When he did his own personal investigation and found evidence of
ongoing torture of Falun Gong practitioners, he wrote an open letter
asking CCP leaders Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao to stop the persecution of
Falun Gong. As a result, the CCP started persecuting him. In November
2005, Mr. Gao met with Mr. Manfred Nowak, who at that time was in China
investigating the use of "torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment." |
On December 2, 2005, 12 days after Mr. Nowak met with him, the Justice
Bureau closed Mr. Gao's Shenghzhi Law Firm. Mr. Nowak "strongly
protested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs against the intimidation
and surveillance by the security services that Mr. Gao was subjected to
during their meeting in Beijing on November 20, 2005," and detailed the
persecution suffered by Mr. Gao's wife, Ms. Geng He, their children of
13 and 2 years of age and his 70 year old mother-in-law. One time, two
police officers beat Ms. Geng, ripped her clothing and tore off one of
her fingernails. They followed Gao's daughter Gege at all times,
including when she was in school and when she went to the bathroom.
They even attempted to kidnap Gao's two-year-old son.
Other victims mentioned in the report include
Ms. Mao Hengfeng whom Nowak interviewed on November 24, 2005, during
his mission to China; Sun Xicheng, He Guoguang, Zhou Xiudi, Chen
Zonglai, Wu Yuping, Jin Huijun, Mao Hengfeng, Chen Guancheng, Xu
Zhiyong, lawyers Li Fangping and Li Subinhad, Ismail Semed, an ethnic
Uighur from Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR),), Mr. Chen
Xiaoming, Ms. Fu Yuxia, and Mr. Han Zhongming, Ms. Ma Yalian, Yusuf
Kadir Tohti and Abdukadir Sidik, Mr. Xu Shuangfu (also known as Xu
Wenku) and Mr. Li Maoxing, Bu Dongwei (also known as David Bu), He
Depu, whom the Special Rapporteur on Torture interviewed on November 22
and 24, 2005, at the Beijing No. 2 Prison, and Zhang Hongwei, a Falun
Gong practitioner residing in Tonghua District, Jilin Province,
currently detained at Jilin Prison.
The list of victims goes on and on...
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Suggests Mechanisms to Hold States Accountable
In an effort to help stop the use of torture,
Mr. Nowak proposes that consideration be given to methods for holding
accountable those States in which torture is systematic or widespread.
As an example, he suggests, "Such States might
be required to contribute adequate funds to the United Nations
Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. In addition, the respective
costs for treatment should ideally be borne by the individual
perpetrators, their superiors and the authorities directly
responsible."
Mr. Manfred Nowak's report is at:
http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/torture/rapporteur/
Click on the second report: A/HRC/4/33/Add.1
The information about China begins on page 45 and continues to page 70; the organ harvesting begins on page 60.
Mr. Nowak is the first UN Special Rapporteur on
the Question of Torture to visit China for a UN investigation on
torture. The findings from his 2005 visit triggered worldwide attention
to the communist government's use of torture on its own citizens. His
China mission report can be found at:
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/677C1943FAA14D67C12570CB0034966D
Ms. Asma Jahangir's report is at:
http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?m=86
Click on "E" in the first report. The information on China begins on page 28.
UN Report on Organ Harvesting in China
http://falunhr.org/reports/UN2007-org/Torture-UN-07.pdf
To Sign the Online Petition:
http://falunhr.org/te/index.php?signature=1〈=en
Background Information
What is Falun Gong?
Why the persecution in China?
Current situation of the persecution in China
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