HR0730 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0730 LRB098 14626 MST 50841 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Falun Gong is a peaceful spiritual practice with key values of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance for achieving physical and spiritual well-being through exercise and meditation; and

WHEREAS, Falun Gong has benefitted tens of millions in China and elsewhere; and

WHEREAS, Since July 1999, Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party, as documented by the United States Department of State, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and many other governmental and third-party organizations; and

WHEREAS, This persecution of the Falun Gong has involved the widespread use of torture; and

WHEREAS, The Chinese Communist authority is persecuting Falun Gong practitioners with this policy: "Defame their reputation, bankrupt them financially, destroy them physically"; and

WHEREAS, Over 3,700 Falun Gong practitioners have died from documented abuse, and some of their bodies were missing internal organs; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of State in its 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices stated, "Overseas and domestic media and advocacy groups continued to report instances of organ harvesting, particularly from Falun Gong practitioners and Uighurs"; and

WHEREAS, Canadian human rights attorney David Matas and former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific David Kilgour co-wrote the investigative report "Bloody Harvest: Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China"; and

WHEREAS, The Matas-Kilgour report concluded that the organ harvesting allegations were true and that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners may have been killed for their organs; and

WHEREAS, The harvested organs are then used by the hospitals associated with the prison for transplants, with the customers for these transplants often being individuals from elsewhere, including the United States; and

WHEREAS, Researcher and journalist Ethan Gutmann estimates that approximately 65,000 Falun Gong adherents may have been killed for their organs from 2000 to 2008, and that a smaller number of other religious and ethnic minorities may also have been targeted; and

WHEREAS, In May 2012, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong released telephone transcripts and audio recordings of conversations between undercover investigators and senior Chinese Communist Party officials, in which several officials indicated that central authorities were aware of or involved in organ harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners; and

WHEREAS, Kirk C. Allison, Ph.D., Director of the Program in Human Rights and Health of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, testified in 2006 before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, on the topic of his report, "Mounting Evidence of Falun Gong Practitioners used as Organ Sources in China and Related Ethical Responsibilities"; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we call upon the Chinese Communist Party to immediately stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the United States government and the U.S. President to investigate organ transplants in China and take all reasonable steps to bring an end to the revolting practice of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners for transplants; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we request the United States government to prohibit any doctors who performed transplants using organs harvested from Falun Gong practitioners from gaining entry into the United States; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the Falun Gong practitioners of Illinois, the President of the United States of America Barack Obama, and the Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai.