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Dec. 1, 2006
More rights abuses in China
Panel members discuss report on organ harvesting of Falun Gong.
BAILA LAZARUS
Less than a week after Prime Minister Stephen Harper was apparently
snubbed by Chinese President Hu Jintao for his criticism of China's
human rights record, an audience in Vancouver heard from a panel
about more allegations of human rights abuses in the economic powerhouse.
The group had gathered at Simon Fraser University Harbor Centre
Nov. 20 to hear from David Matas, who was discussing his and David
Kilgour's recently released Report on Allegations of Organ Harvesting
of Falun Gong Practitioners in China.
Matas was joined by moderator Mary Woo Sims, a former chief commissioner
of the B.C. Human Rights Commission; Rabbi Reuven Bulka, a human
rights advocate from Ottawa; and Clive Ainsley, a Canadian lawyer
and expert on China's legal system.
Matas, who is an international human rights lawyer, and Kilgour,
the former secretary of state (Asia-Pacific) for Canada, released
the report in July, after conducting an independent investigation
about the stealing of organs from Falun Gong followers in China.
The investigation was in response to a direct request from the Coalition
to Investigate the Persecution of the Falun Gong in China, a group
based in Washington, D.C.
Falun Gong (Practice of the Wheel of Law) is considered by
its followers to be a means of spiritual and physical self-improvement
through meditation. The Chinese government banned it in 1999, saying
it was conducting illegal activities. Falun Gong practitioners have
been making claims of persecution, arrests, detention, execution
and organ seizing ever since and, although many of the allegations
are impossible to prove, Kilgour and Matas set out to determine
what evidence they could find.
"I know full well that just because something is too horrible
to be true, doesn't mean it's false," Matas stated, as he opened
his address to the crowd of about 40. "If China respected human
rights in every other way, it would be easier to dismiss this as
untrue."
Through interviews with Falun Gong members, friends of missing persons
and even relatives of Chinese surgeons, as well as examining statistics,
such as the increase in organ transplants since Falun Gong was banned,
Matas and Kilgour came to the conclusion that the allegations were
true.
Some of the indicators they looked at were testimonies of surviving
Falun Gong prisoners who told of undergoing organ and blood tests,
while other prisoners did not; testimonies from organ recipients,
doctors and other hospital officials; China's own legal practices;
and the waiting times for organs, which were as low as a few days.
"We know China has no system, no culture of transplants, yet
there is this quick availability [of organs]," Matas said,
adding that, in some cases, if an organ was rejected by a recipient,
a new one was available within a week.
The report concluded that the government of China, as well as numerous
hospitals, detention centres and courts, were contributing to the
death of Falun Gong "prisoners of conscience" and harvesting
vital organs, "including hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas"
for sale at high prices.
In one particularly crucial piece of evidence, the former wife of
a surgeon in China told the inquiry that her husband had confessed
to her that he removed the corneas from the eyes of approximately
2,000 Falun Gong prisoners in 2002 and 2003.
"The Falun Gong is so marginalized and dehumanized by Chinese
propaganda, it makes it easier for the Chinese government to do
nothing," Matas said.
While the report makes several recommendations in terms of what
governments can do (such as barring Chinese doctors from entering
a country if they are seeking training in organ transplantation),
Bulka focused on two main options: promoting organ donations in
Canada to eradicate the need to look elsewhere and legislation that
would make it illegal to seek organs in China.
In terms of what might be done to influence the Chinese government
to take action, Ainsley was fairly pessimistic.
"If you look at the Falun Gong practitioners, they're not even
given a trial ... they're just hustled off to labor camps,"
he said, adding that he has seen no change in individual human rights
in the past 25 years. "The legal system shows no sign of improvement
whatsoever."
In response to Matas's and Kilgour's report, Canadian Jewish Congress
sent a letter to Harper urging the Canadian government to call for
a full investigation into allegations of organ snatching in China.
In the letter, signed by Bulka, who is CJC's chair of religious
affairs, and CJC national president Ed Morgan, CJC expressed hope
"that Canada will play an important role in compelling the
Chinese government to put an end to such horrifying abuses."
A full copy of the report can be obtained at www.OrganHarvestInvestigation.net.
Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, photographer and
illustrator living in Vancouver. Her work can be seen at www.orchiddesigns.net.
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