Geneva, April 1, 2022 — The two NGOs, CAP Liberté de Conscience and Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, co-organized a series of two side events to the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council on March 22 and March 23, 2022. The themes of the series addressed central topics of society and humankind: freedom of conscience and physical integrity.
At the first side event, twelve experts from the medical, legal and political field elaborated on state-organized forced organ harvesting from living prisoners of conscience. The panel delivered an exceptionally rich content and conclusions on the topic. From the first speech, it became obvious that the silence that this inconvenient topic met in the news media is not a mature way to handle this crime against humanity. The psychological and physical cruelty that comes along this practice is unimaginable and should mandate actions by the UN. The call upon the UN to denounce the practice of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners in China was made. This practice needs to be seen as a big disappointment as China is historically known for great thought leaders like Lao Tse or Confucius. But it goes beyond disappointment, as it has been described as a criminal practice and genocide, suggesting that international condemnation is overdue.
Potential solutions and options to respond have been presented during the events. The legal framework of a criminal law has been presented with the hope that parliaments would adopt such law to combat and prevent forced organ harvesting. Aside from criminal legislation, the United Nations have also been called into responsibility. If the UN does take responsibility on the opportunity to intervene and call China to accountability for forced organ harvesting, then the lost opportunity might also question the UN’s role. Other measures called for sanctions against China, as a crime against humanity of this scale, demands actions by national and international parliaments. The UN and national parliaments should implement conventions that require from China to be transparent on its transplant numbers. Last but not least, the creation of a task force on forced organ harvesting and the creation of a special rapporteur on this particular topic were proposed.
The second day of the series was based on an open exchange of ideas to find solutions and next steps. The expert panel highlighted that the media must not be silent on the primary victim of this crime against humanity. Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to a two-decade lasting persecution that reached the peak of its anti-humankind brutality in the form of forced organ harvesting. Although it appears that only a spiritual group is targeted, in reality it is the physical integrity of each human being that is been jeopardized. If the freedom of conscience can lead to a persecution of genocidal proportions, then humankind stands before a jury: what have I done to break through the silence and cover-up?
Solutions included:
1) Adopting a criminal law against forced organ harvesting on a national and international level;
2) Adopting conventions that hold China and other member countries of the United Nations responsible for transplant practices and that would require transparent reporting of national transplant numbers by hospital and year;
3) Implementation of a UN task force to investigate state-organized forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience
4) Implementation of a UN Special Rapporteur on forced organ harvesting;
5) Endorsing and promoting the Universal Declaration on Combating and Preventing Forced Organ Harvesting.
Speeches of the 12 speeches are accessible at https://dafoh.org/side-event-to-the-49th-session-of-the-un-human-rights-council-presentations/
The Universal Declaration on Combating and Preventing Forced Organ Harvesting: https://universaldeclarationcpfoh.net
