CLARIFICATION:
The December 6 hearing covered various topics, including China's rule of law, its leadership change, its international obligations, democracy, and organ transplants. The issue of organ harvesting in China was among the main topics.
The December 6 hearing covered various topics, including China's rule of law, its leadership change, its international obligations, democracy, and organ transplants. The issue of organ harvesting in China was among the main topics.
NTD News, Brussels, Belgium - China’s organ transplant industry has grown rapidly over the past
decade. But the source of organs used for transplants has remained
controversial. That’s particularly after 2006, when allegations surfaced
that state hospitals were killing persecuted Falun Gong practitioners
for their organs.
The issue was raised on Thursday in Brussels, during a hearing of the European Parliament’s Human Rights subcommittee.
[Corinna Barbara Francis, researcher at Amnesty International]:
“In other words, individuals in China have their organs harvested
and in the process of that they die. So this is the issue that will be
discussed further. There are many groups that these organs may be taken
from, the Falun Gong being one of the main groups.”
Similar hearings were held in the European Parliament in 2006 and
2009. The Chinese regime has since admitted that executed prisoners are
the main source of organs.
Independent investigations suggest they are not just prisoners, but
prisoners of conscience, and many went through no legal conviction.
[Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice-President of the European Parliament]:
“I have met someone myself. His best friend died in prison. He
disappeared one evening from the cell. When he next saw his friend’s
body, it had holes in it in the prison hospital. He thought that some
operation had been done. But obviously, what had happened was that he
had been harvested for his organs.”
Canadian human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, David
Matas, co-authored a book on the forced organ harvesting allegations. It
includes dozens of pieces of data, and concludes that at least
thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed for their organs.
The hearing, attended by EU officials, politicians and human rights
advocates, called on the European Parliament to take concrete action to
help end organ harvesting.
[Leonidas Donskis, Member of the European Parliament]:
“We need to think about new legislation which will be
exterritorial, which will be international, which will simply require
individual responsibility of all people involved in these operations, in
these absolutely criminal, illegal activities. So this would send a
very strong message to China.”
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