US International Religious Freedom Report Acknowledges Evidence of Forced Organ Harvesting
June 26th 2024: The U.S. Department of State released its 2023 International Religious Freedom Report with remarks from Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Ambassador Hussain.
“This report advances our vision for a future where everyone is able to choose and practice their beliefs, including the right not to believe or ascribe to a faith. Respecting religious freedom reinforces other rights, like the right to speak freely, to assemble peacefully, the ability to participate in politics.” stated Blinken.
“The United States will continue to stand with our partners and work to advance religious freedom across the globe… Ultimately, this work is about protecting an essential part of what it means to be human: the ability to explore something bigger than ourselves, to decide on our own what we believe or don’t believe without fear of repression.”
Hussein noted that “[t]he report also continues to cast light on the ongoing crimes against humanity and genocide the Chinese Government is perpetrating against Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang. This repression follows decades of persecution of religious communities – from Tibetan Buddhists, to Christians, to Falun Gong practitioners. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on Falun Gong practitioners.”
“…Yuhua Zhang [is a] courageous leader who has served several prison sentences, at times enduring torture for her beliefs, and who eagerly seeks to be reunited with her husband who is still imprisoned in China. We even see the PRC attempt to reach across its borders to target individuals and silence critics, such as the reports of Chinese authorities engaging in transnational repression against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong, and many more.”
Click HERE to read the full report on China.
Excerpts from the report:
“In March, the New York City Bar Association published a report that found there was “ample evidence China continues to engage in forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience.”’
“Civil society organizations continued to express concern over reports that authorities forced members of religious organizations, in particular Falun Gong members and ethnic Uyghurs, to serve as organ donors. In March, the New York City Bar Association published a report titled Human Organ Supply: Report on Ethical Considerations and Breaches in Organ Harvesting Practices that found there was “ample evidence China continues to engage in forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience.” Writing in Voices in Bioethics in March, one of the New York City Bar Association report’s authors said that in China, “there is evidence that people incarcerated for religious beliefs and practices (Falun Gong) and ethnic minorities (Uyghurs) have been subjects of forced organ harvesting,” with witnesses testifying to “the removal of organs from live people without ample anesthesia, summonses to the execution grounds for organ removal, methods of causing death for the purpose of organ procurement, removing eyes from prisoners who were alive, and forcing live prisoners into operating rooms.”
In August, the Europe-based Coordination of Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience and the Romanian Independent Society of Human Rights, joined by the Association for Ethical Organ Transplants and 12 other NGOs, submitted a written statement to the UN Human Rights Council calling on the UN Secretary-General to initiate a fact-finding mission regarding forced organ harvesting in China. The statement also called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to include a verification of the end of forced organ harvesting of Chinese Falun Gong members in its One Health agenda.
Multiple Falun Gong practitioners reported to Minghui that authorities forced them to undergo medical examinations against their will while in detention and to provide blood samples.”
