The New Zealand branch of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) held a press conference in Auckland Wednesday to announce the final numbers.
Dr Cathy Casey, CIPFG member and Auckland City Councillor said she was emotionally charged knowing so many people had supported the petition in New Zealand, and abroad.
“It is quite incredible,” she said.
The CIPFG this week also released a “Reporter’s Guide to Beijing”, detailing labor camps located just a few kilometres from Olympic venues. The report details chilling accounts of torture inflicted on the inmates inside the labour camps, especially those of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline.
“It is incredible to think that in 2008 there can be forced labour camps in a city that is about to hold the 2008 Olympics,” Dr Casey said.
“If we had known about the concentration camps in Germany before the Olympics then the 1936 Olympics would not have taken place. So how is it that there are reports of allegations with regard to how China treats Falun Gong practitioners and other groups, yet these Olympics are allowed to start?”
A recent report from the Falun Dafa Information Centre stated that more than 8,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested and detained since December 2007. Many are now in forced labour camps, sentenced without trial, according to the report.
Dr Casey suggested the Auckland City Council could address the issue through its sister city arrangements with China.
“I know what 40,000 [New Zealand] people want—they want this to stop now. How can we not demand that? That is why 1.4 million people are calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.”
Human Rights Deterioration in China
Amnesty International New Zealand spokesperson Margaret Taylor said China’s human rights record has deteriorated in many areas since 2001.
“There is no free media in China. Indeed, recently there has been regression, as the Communist Party has prevented Western journalists in Beijing from accessing certain websites, especially those concerned with the human rights situation in China,” she said.
Falun Gong is amongst one of the most persecuted groups in China today, she said, and Amnesty International have documented that 100 practitioners have been tortured to death while illegally detained in prisons, labour camps, and detention centers during 2007.
‘I hope you can all help my Mum so I can see her again’
Fifteen year old student and Falun Gong practitioner, Anna Shi, arrived in New Zealand in May 2007. She was meant to be joined by her mother in March this year. Anna’s mother was stopped from leaving China by the 610 Office—an extra-judicial police force established to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Her passport was confiscated and she was sentenced to one year in a labour camp.“The CCP has used the 2008 Olympics as an opportunity to increase its persecution of Falun Gong. Many of the world’s people may celebrate the Olympic Games. Sadly I am unable to. If you ask me what my dream is, I would say: ’that everyone knows that Falun Gong is good'. Because if everyone knew that, they would understand the practitioners and would work hard to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. I hope you can all help my Mum so I can see her again.”
Silence Almost Deafening
Kiwi Party secretary, Bernie Ogilvy, drew parallels between the Beijing and the 1936 Berlin Olympics.“I wondered how my forefathers or parents could remain silent when Germany was doing what it was doing to its own people. Now I am wondering how we can be silent when we see China doing what it is doing to its people, it is like deja vu,” he said.
“Worse, it’s on our watch so we are the only ones to handle this. I am tremendously concerned by the silence that exists in this country. We are spineless and the silence is almost deafening. We are talking about people being absolutely tortured, maimed for life and persecuted to death only because they have a faith and belief in something.”
Principles of Olympism Held in Contempt
Burmese National Representative on human rights Naing Ko Ko said that while the CCP continues to commit human rights abuses, the principles of Olympism are held in contempt.
He is concerned about the Chinese regime’s involvement in his homeland.
“The CCP does not only violate the human rights of the Chinese people. It is also assists other countries regimes to commit violations of those other countries citizens human rights. For instance it is the main support for the military junta in Burma, in my country.”
Mr Ko Ko also spoke about how the Burmese people are struggling under the yoke of the military junta.
“When you are deprived of fundamental human rights, and your civil liberties are trampled upon, and your legitimate aspirations for democracy are mercilessly attacked, it is not possible to embrace these Olympics.”
Chinese Regime ‘Scared’ of Falun Gong, Says CIPFG Member
President of the Auckland Council for Civil Liberties and CIPFG member, Barry Wilson, said he spent six months in Hong Kong and learned of the repression of Falun Gong during his time there.
He said the reason why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is so scared of Falun Gong is that they represent an alternative to Marxist materialism—which is all that the CCP can offer the Chinese people. Falun Gong, he said, can provide a spiritual alternative that helps people to improve mentally and physically.
The results of the ‘Millions of Signatures’ petition will be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council, International Olympic Committee, and various Governments.
The CIPFG is a group of more than 300 politicians, lawyers, medical professionals and human rights defenders who seek to enter China to investigate allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners. The Coalition was set up in 2006, after reports surfaced that living Falun Gong practitioners’ body parts were being seized for transplant for huge profits, in state-sanctioned operations.
