‘Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2020’ welcomed after introduction to both houses of the United States Congress
US Legislators take action to protect US citizens and to stop a horrifying trade in China that claims the lives of innocent victims
[17 December 2020]: Susie Hughes, Executive Director of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse In China (ETAC), the human rights NGO that initiated the China Tribunal in 2018, has today welcomed the introduction of a Bill entitled the ‘Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2020’ to the US legislature, stating:
“This Bill is one of the most comprehensive ever introduced on the issue of trafficking in organs and trafficking in humans for the purpose of organ removal. It not only addresses global organ trafficking more broadly, it contributes to stopping the forced organ harvesting trade in China that claims the lives of innocent people every day.
“The Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of is one of the most significant international responses to the China Tribunal’s Judgment to date. We hope that more governments will be inspired to follow in the footsteps of the United States, to ensure their own citizens are not caught up in the mass murder of innocents for their organs in China.”
The introduction of the ‘Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2020’ is an important and necessary response to the damning judgment of the China Tribunal, which unanimously concluded that, “in China forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practiced for a substantial period of time involving a very substantial number of victims.”
Presented in the Senate by Senator Tom Cotton and in the House of Representatives by Congressman Chris Smith (Republican, New Jersey) and Congressman Tom Suozzi (Democrat, New York), this bi-partisan legislation seeks to fight the global organ trafficking trade and to specifically address the CCP’s practice of forced organ harvesting. The Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2020 will expand the US government’s powers to combat organ harvesting, prohibit the export of organ transplant surgery devices to entities responsible for human organ trafficking, impose sanctions on individuals and government officials in countries who support human organ trafficking and forced organ harvesting, and prevent US institutions from training organ transplant surgeons from countries that are involved in forced organ harvesting.
In 2019 the China Tribunal, an independent international people’s tribunal chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, lead prosecutor of Slobodan Milošević at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), assessed all available evidence regarding forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China. The Tribunal held public hearings where over 50 witnesses testified. Huge volumes of written evidence were analysed, including research showing the deliberate falsification of China’s public organ donation data that helped the CCP to cover-up the killing of innocent people, primarily peaceful Falun Gong practitioners, to support a lucrative trade in human organs.
The China Tribunal’s judgment presents the first-ever independent legal analysis of all available evidence regarding forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China.
David Matas, Human Rights Lawyer and co-founder of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC) stated:
“ETAC welcomes the Bill both as a matter of substance and as a matter of strategy. What is so glaringly wrong in China, when it comes to organ transplant surgery, will become even more obvious when it is held up to comparison to every other country in the world.
“How do we get the Chinese Communist Party and the state it runs to stop the killing of innocents for their organs? One way is surely to shine a light on what they are doing. This Bill is important for proposing exactly that, not just on China alone, but on every other country in the world, as points of contrast with China.”
Marion Smith, Executive Director, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, said:
“The introduction of the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2020 is an important step forward to hold perpetrators of the horrific crime of forced organ harvesting accountable. We call on the U.S. Congress to support swift passage of this legislation to combat organ trafficking and trafficking in persons for organs around the world.
“Our organization’s research has shown the shocking depravity of the Chinese Communist Party’s system of organ harvesting and the unprecedented scale of China’s organ transplant system—the United States must take action to examine, condemn, and help stop these blatant human rights violations.”
The text of the bill can be found here: https://www.cotton.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CAN20880.pdf
For comments from the co-sponsors please see the Bill press release here:
https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-smith-suozzi-introduce-bill-to-stop-chinese-forced-organ-harvesting
