This resolution condemns nonconsensual organ harvesting of prisoners in China and calls on China to immediately cease the persecution and imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners. (Falun Gong is a religious practice that is denounced by the Chinese government.)
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 274 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 274
Expressing solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners who have lost
lives, freedoms, and other rights for adhering to their beliefs and
practices, and condemning the practice of non-consenting organ
harvesting, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 11, 2019
Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Moran, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Coons,
Mr. Brown, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Markey, Mr. Casey, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Cruz, Mr.
King, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Reed, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Cassidy) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners who have lost
lives, freedoms, and other rights for adhering to their beliefs and
practices, and condemning the practice of non-consenting organ
harvesting, and for other purposes.
Whereas Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is a Chinese spiritual discipline
founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992 that consists of spiritual and moral
teachings, meditation, and exercise, and is based upon the universal
principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance;
Whereas, during the mid-1990s, Falun Gong acquired a large and diverse
following, with as many as 70,000,000 practitioners at its peak;
Whereas, on April 25, 1999, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 Falun Gong
practitioners gathered in Beijing to protest growing restrictions by the
Government of the People's Republic of China on the activities of Falun
Gong practitioners, and the Government of the People's Republic of China
responded with an intensive, comprehensive, and unforgiving campaign
against the movement that began on July 20, 1999, with the banning of
Falun Gong;
Whereas the Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees basic
rights, including the freedoms of speech, association, demonstration,
and religion;
Whereas, in 1993, the Government of the People's Republic of China praised Li
Hongzhi for his contributions in ``safeguarding social order and
security'' and ``promoting rectitude in society'';
Whereas, in many detention facilities and labor camps, Falun Gong prisoners of
conscience have at times comprised the majority of the population, and
have been said to receive the longest sentences and the worst treatment,
including torture;
Whereas, according to overseas Falun Gong and human rights organizations, since
1999, from several hundred to a few thousand Falun Gong adherents have
died in custody from torture, abuse, and neglect;
Whereas a review of the Government of the People's Republic of China by the
United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group on the Universal
Periodic Review in November 2018, recommended that China ``[e]nd
prosecution and persecution on the basis of religion or belief,
including for Muslims, Christians, Tibetan Buddhists and Falun Gong'';
Whereas the United Nations Committee Against Torture and the Special Rapporteur
on Torture have expressed concern over the allegations of organ
harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners, and have called on the Government
of the People's Republic of China to increase accountability and
transparency in the organ transplant system and punish those responsible
for abuses;
Whereas the killing of religious or political prisoners for any purpose,
including for the purpose of selling their organs for transplant, is an
egregious and intolerable violation of the fundamental right to life;
Whereas voluntary and informed consent is the precondition for ethical organ
donation, and international medical organizations state that prisoners,
deprived of their freedom, are not in the position to give free consent
and that the practice of sourcing organs from prisoners is a violation
of ethical guidelines in medicine;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Communist Party
of China continue to deny reports that many organs are taken without the
consent of prisoners, yet at the same time prevent independent
verification of the organ transplant system in China;
Whereas the organ transplantation system in China does not comply with the World
Health Organization's requirement of transparency and traceability in
organ procurement pathways;
Whereas the Department of State Country Report on Human Rights for China for
2018 reported that ``[s]ome activists and organizations continue to
accuse the government of involuntarily harvesting organs from prisoners
of conscience, especially members of Falun Gong'';
Whereas Huang Jiefu, director of the China Organ Donation Committee, announced
in December 2014 that China would end the practice of organ harvesting
from executed prisoners by January 1, 2015, but did not directly address
organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience;
Whereas Freedom House reported in 2015 that Falun Gong practitioners comprise
the largest portion of prisoners of conscience in China, and face an
elevated risk of dying or being killed in custody;
Whereas the Department of State Country Report on Human Rights for China for
2016 reported that ``some international medical professionals and human
rights researchers questioned the voluntary nature of the
[transplantation] system, the accuracy of official statistics, and
official claims about the source of organs'';
Whereas a 2017 report by Freedom House concluded that there was ``credible
evidence suggesting that beginning in the early 2000s, Falun Gong
detainees were killed for their organs on a large scale'';
Whereas the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) stated in 2018
that ``[i]nternational organizations continued to express concern over
reports that organs of detained prisoners have been used in numerous
organ transplant operations in China, including those of Falun Gong
practitioners'' and also noted that medical professionals and
international advocacy organizations ``disputed Chinese health
officials' claims that organ procurement systems have been reformed in
compliance with international standards, citing ethical concerns about
organ sourcing raised by short wait times for organ transplants and
discrepancies in data on organ transplants'';
Whereas the Independent Tribunal Into Forced Organ Harvesting From Prisoners of
Conscience in China, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, issued a short
form conclusion of its final judgment in June 2019 finding that ``forced
organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a
significant scale and that Falun Gong practitioners have been one--and
probably the main--source of organ supply''; and
Whereas the Tribunal also concluded that it had seen no evidence that the organ
transplantation industry in China had been dismantled, and absent a
satisfactory explanation as to the source of organs, that forced organ
harvesting continues in China today: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) expresses solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners and
their families for the lives, freedoms, and rights they lost
for adhering to their beliefs and practices;
(2) emphasizes to the Government of the People's Republic
of China that freedom of religion includes the right of Falun
Gong practitioners to freely practice Falun Gong in China;
(3) calls upon the Communist Party of China to immediately
cease and desist from its campaign to persecute Falun Gong
practitioners and promptly release all Falun Gong practitioners
who have been confined, detained, or imprisoned for pursuing
their right to hold and exercise their spiritual beliefs;
(4) condemns the practice of non-consenting organ
harvesting in the People's Republic of China;
(5) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of
China and the Communist Party of China to immediately end the
practice of organ harvesting from all prisoners of conscience;
(6) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of
China to allow an independent and transparent investigation
into organ transplant abuses in China;
(7) urges the President to consider the applicability of
existing authorities, including the Global Magnitsky Human
Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 2656 note), to impose
targeted sanctions on those individuals responsible for the
persecution of Falun Gong, including those engaging in a
pattern of non-consensual organ harvesting; and
(8) urges the President to ensure that the United States
Government highlights and condemns human rights abuses
perpetrated, ordered, or directed by government officials in
China both publicly and in private engagements with all
relevant government officials in China.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. (text: CR S4809-4810)
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