INTERFAITH INTERNATIONAL
Corsier,
Geneva, Switzerland
Human Rights Council, second session (September 2006)
Item 2 on the Agenda
Special Rapporteur on Torture
Intervention by Hon. David Kilgour

Mr. Chairman,
I'm David Kilgour, a former Canadian Secretary of State for the Asia-Pacific,and
wish to speak about whether the government of China is harvesting the
vital organs of Falun Gong practitioners.
Human rights lawyer David Matas and I released a report in July which came
to the conclusion, to our regret and horror, that the claims were indeed
true.

We examined every avenue of proof and disproof available to us, eighteen in
all. For example:

- The regime in China, for no apparent reason other than
paranoia, sees Falun Gong as an ideological threat to its existence and has
since July 1999 made every effort to eliminate this very large group.
Objectively, Falun Gong is a set of exercises with a spiritual component and
now exists as a peaceful faith community in China and about 70 other
countries.

- Falun Gong practitioners in Chinese prisons are systematically blood
tested and medically examined. Because they are also tortured and abused
viciously, this testing cannot be motivated by concerns over their health.

- Waiting times for organ transplants in China are incredibly short, a
matter of days and weeks. Everywhere else in the world, waiting times are
measured in months and years, pointing to the existence of a large living
organ bank in China.

It is easy to take each element of proof in isolation, and say that this
element or that does not prove the claim. It is their combination which led
us to the chilling conclusion to which we came.

We are reinforced in our conclusions by the feeble response of the
Government of China. Despite resources and inside knowledge, it has not
provided any substantive information to counter our report.

Our report has seventeen different recommendations. Virtually nothing to
prevent the harvesting of organs of Falun Gong practitioners in China is
currently being done. All our proposed precautions should be enacted and
enforced.

One should be implemented immediately: organ harvesting from Falun Gong
practitioners across China must stop now.

Thank you, Mr. President.