July 20 marked the 25th anniversary of the start of Beijing’s persecution against the spiritual discipline.
More than 130 lawmakers from 15 countries are calling on China’s communist regime to end its persecution of Falun Gong, according to a U.S.-based nonprofit.
In a joint statement, the parliamentarians “strongly condemn the 25 years of human rights abuses against Falun Gong practitioners in China.” They urged the Chinese regime to “immediately stop” the persecution and “unconditionally release all detained Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience.”
The statement was organized by Friends of Falun Gong, which was founded in the United States in 2000. Alan Adler, the nonprofit’s executive director, said in a
statement that the group is “sponsoring this campaign to help amplify the voices of those who wish to see the end of this unjust persecution.”
“With these signatures, we show that while the Chinese Communist Party might try to commit its crimes in the dark, the truth has already come to light,” Mr. Adler said. “Prominent members of the international community are joining in to condemn these crimes against humanity, and together we will restore freedom and justice to a group of wrongfully harmed spiritual believers.”
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice consisting of moral teachings based on the
principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. It was introduced to the public in China in 1992 and became immensely popular, with about 70 million to 100 million people having taken up the practice by the end of the decade, according to official estimates at the time.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) viewed Falun Gong’s popularity as a threat to its authoritarian rule and began a campaign to
eradicate the practice on July 20, 1999. Since then, millions have been detained inside prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated and untold numbers killed, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.
Many Falun Gong practitioners have perished as a result of China’s state-sanctioned practice of forced organ harvesting. In 2019, the China Tribunal, an independent people’s tribunal in London, concluded that the regime had been forcibly harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience for years “
on a substantial scale,” with Falun Gong practitioners being the primary source of organs.
The joint statement
cited a resolution, approved by the European Parliament in January, that calls for an international investigation into the CCP’s suppression campaign against the faith group.
International Appeal
To mark the 25th anniversary of the CCP’s persecution, Falun Gong practitioners held rallies and parades in cities around the world this month, including in
Toronto and Vancouver, Canada; Taipei, Taiwan; Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; Osaka, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; London; San Francisco; Los Angeles;
New York City; and
Washington.At a rally in Sydney on July 18, federal Sen. David Shoebridge
said it was time to reflect on whether the Australian government has done enough to strengthen its laws “to ensure that nobody comes from China or any other regime and engages in unethical organ harvesting.”
David Limbrick, a member of the Victorian state Parliament in Australia, called the 25th anniversary “a day of inspiration,” in a
statement.
“The Libertarian Party believes much more should be done by governments everywhere to recognize this history of oppression and safeguard [Falun Gong practitioners’] freedom and belief,” he said.
Japanese Upper House member Hiroshi Yamada called the CCP’s persecution “barbaric and inhumane” in a
statement. He said that Tokyo should “lodge a strong protest” with Beijing over the persecution.
Hung Chien-yi, city councilor for Taipei,
called on the CCP to end its practice of forced organ harvesting during a rally in Taipei on June 20, saying that “human rights are universal values.”
Canadian member of Parliament Michael Cooper
shared photos of himself participating in a rally in Edmonton on social media platform X.
“Despite the CCP’s brutality, the Falun Gong [practitioners] have shown remarkable resilience. Canada must join allies to hold the CCP accountable for its genocidal crimes,” he wrote.
UK House of Lords member Baroness Cox said in a statement: “No government should be killing any of their citizens merely because of their faith. This is unacceptable in today’s world.”
Engin Eroglu, a member of the European Parliament,
said on X that the 25th anniversary should serve as a reminder of “all those in China who have been denied freedom of religious belief.”
In the United States, a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House Select Committee on the CCP voiced support for Falun Gong practitioners.
“I will always stand for religious liberty and human rights against oppressive regimes like the CCP,” Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.)
wrote in a post on X.
“As Americans, our commitment to religious freedom and human rights in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and across the world is unwavering,” Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the committee’s ranking Democrat, and Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) said in a
joint statement.
“We must continue to unequivocally denounce the CCP’s treatment of Falun Gong practitioners while standing with their community and all others facing religious persecution in the PRC.”
