Communist China’s Forced Organ Harvesting Practices Garner Global Attention

Falun Dafa practitioners hold a parade in Manhattan, New York City, on May 16, 2019. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Commentary

On March 3, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) reintroduced a bicameral legislation targeting China’s state-sponsored organ harvesting. The Falun Gong Protection Act (as it is known) aims to address the Chinese regime’s egregious actions of forced organ harvesting targeting Falun Gong practitioners.

The Act mandates visa- and property-blocking sanctions on individuals involved in the abuse. It seeks to highlight the persecution of Falun Gong on an international level and emphasizes cooperation with allies and multilateral institutions to implement targeted sanctions and visa restrictions. Furthermore, it establishes U.S. policy to avoid cooperation with China in the organ transplant sector while the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remains in power.

In May 2022, the European Parliament in Brussels received testimony on this same atrocity, focusing on the findings of an in-depth report titled “Bloody Harvest.” Experts and researchers estimated that since 2000, as many as 100,000 organ transplants have been performed annually in China, with the vast majority of those supported by forced harvesting through the complicity of Chinese medical institutions.

Following this testimony, the European Parliament adopted a resolution expressing concern over the continued reports of forced organ harvesting in China. The resolution called for the evaluation and revision of collaborations with Chinese institutions on transplant medicine, research, and training to prevent EU complicity in forced organ harvesting.

Additionally, in September 2024, the Australian government responded to its Senate Foreign Affairs report titled “Migration Amendment (Overseas Transplant Disclosure and Other Measures),” supporting annual reporting requirements related to organ transplants conducted outside Australia. It also acknowledged the recommendation to amend the Migration Act to include an express reference to “an offence involving trafficking in human organs” in the character test, which would allow the refusal or cancellation of a visa based on reasonable suspicion of involvement in organ trafficking.

Falun Gong practitioners remain a primary target of these inhumane activities. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice combining meditation and moral teachings based on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. It was founded in 1992 by Li Hongzhi and rapidly gained popularity in China during the early 1990s. The CCP, fearing the traditional practice’s popularity, launched an intensive, comprehensive, and unforgiving campaign against the movement.

The CCP employs the “responsibility system” to persecute Falun Gong practitioners by holding local officials accountable for suppressing the movement. This system incentivizes meeting specific target goals related to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, such as arrests, forced conversions, and propaganda dissemination. Officials who meet or exceed their targets are rewarded with promotions, bonuses, and other incentives, while failures are severely punished.

The system’s emphasis on meeting persecution targets has created a climate of fear and repression for practitioners, who face constant surveillance and harassment. Reports of organ harvesting first surfaced in the 2006 Kilgour-Matas Report, detailing allegations of large-scale organ seizures from unwilling practitioners. The China Tribunal Interim Judgement of 2018 and the “Human Harvest“ documentary film (2014) further investigated and highlighted the systematic nature of the practice and the involvement of Chinese state institutions.

In March 2006, U.S. Falun Gong representatives asserted thousands of their fellow practitioners were interned in 36 concentration camps throughout China. In particular, the site in Sujiatun, near the city of Shenyang, was a working hospital holding 6,000 Falun Gong prisoners, with the vast majority being put to death and their organs harvested for profit.

Since 1999, U.S. congressional members have made numerous public statements and introduced several resolutions supporting Falun Gong while criticizing the Chinese regime’s human rights record.

The (pending) U.S. Congress Falun Gong Protection Act mandates sanctions on individuals involved in the abuse and seeks to highlight the persecution of Falun Gong on an international level.

If passed, the Act will empower the U.S. president to impose visa and property-blocking sanctions on foreign individuals who are knowingly responsible for, complicit in, or engaged in the involuntary harvesting of organs in China. Those who violate this Act may face a civil fine of up to $250,000 or a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

The Act is drafted in a way that emphasizes working with allies and global institutions to highlight this ongoing targeting of Falun Gong, making it U.S. policy to avoid cooperation with China regarding the organ transplant sector.

In the meantime, several U.S. states have taken measures. On Feb. 20, the state of Arizona passed the Arizona End Organ Harvesting Act, establishing insurance coverage prohibitions on organ harvesting, aiming to discourage residents from seeking organ transplants in China. This follows similar legislation already passed in Idaho, Texas, and Utah.

The continuous persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is an unforgivable human rights issue that has garnered significant international attention. By imposing sanctions and coordinating with the international community, the United States and other countries will continue to affect change in the way the Chinese regime treats its citizens.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.