Full Text of HR0730 98th General Assembly
HR0730 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Falun Gong is a peaceful spiritual practice with | 3 | | key values of truthfulness,
compassion, and forbearance for | 4 | | achieving physical and spiritual well-being through exercise
| 5 | | and meditation; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Falun Gong has benefitted tens of millions in | 7 | | China and elsewhere; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Since July 1999, Falun Gong practitioners have | 9 | | been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party,
as documented | 10 | | by the United States Department of State, the U.S. Commission | 11 | | on International Religious
Freedom, Amnesty International, | 12 | | Human Rights Watch, and many other governmental and third-party
| 13 | | organizations; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, This persecution of the Falun Gong has involved | 15 | | the widespread use of torture; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, The Chinese Communist authority is persecuting | 17 | | Falun Gong practitioners with this
policy: "Defame their | 18 | | reputation, bankrupt them financially, destroy them | 19 | | physically"; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, Over 3,700 Falun Gong practitioners have died from |
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| 1 | | documented abuse, and some
of their bodies were missing | 2 | | internal organs; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of State in its 2011 Country | 4 | | Reports on Human Rights Practices
stated, "Overseas and | 5 | | domestic media and advocacy groups continued to report | 6 | | instances of
organ harvesting, particularly from Falun Gong | 7 | | practitioners and Uighurs"; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Canadian human rights attorney David Matas and | 9 | | former Canadian Secretary of
State for Asia-Pacific David | 10 | | Kilgour co-wrote the investigative report "Bloody Harvest: | 11 | | Revised
Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun | 12 | | Gong Practitioners in China"; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, The Matas-Kilgour report concluded that the organ | 14 | | harvesting allegations were
true and that tens of thousands of | 15 | | Falun Gong practitioners may have been killed for their
organs; | 16 | | and | 17 | | WHEREAS, The harvested organs are then used by the | 18 | | hospitals associated with the prison for
transplants, with the | 19 | | customers for these transplants often being individuals from | 20 | | elsewhere,
including the United States; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, Researcher and journalist Ethan Gutmann estimates |
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| 1 | | that approximately 65,000 Falun
Gong adherents may have been | 2 | | killed for their organs from 2000 to 2008, and that a smaller
| 3 | | number of other religious and ethnic minorities may also have | 4 | | been targeted; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, In May 2012, the World Organization to Investigate | 6 | | the Persecution of Falun Gong
released telephone transcripts | 7 | | and audio recordings of conversations between undercover
| 8 | | investigators and senior Chinese Communist Party officials, in | 9 | | which several officials indicated that central authorities | 10 | | were aware of or involved in organ harvesting from Falun Gong
| 11 | | prisoners; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Kirk C. Allison, Ph.D., Director of the Program in | 13 | | Human Rights and Health of the University of Minnesota School | 14 | | of
Public Health, testified in 2006 before the Subcommittee on | 15 | | Oversight
and Investigations of the Committee on International | 16 | | Relations, U.S. House of Representatives,
on the topic of his | 17 | | report, "Mounting Evidence of Falun Gong Practitioners used as | 18 | | Organ Sources in China and
Related Ethical Responsibilities"; | 19 | | therefore, be it
| 20 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 21 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 22 | | we call upon the Chinese Communist Party to immediately stop | 23 | | persecuting Falun Gong practitioners; and be it further
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the United States government and the | 2 | | U.S. President to investigate
organ transplants in China and | 3 | | take all reasonable steps to bring an end to the revolting | 4 | | practice
of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong | 5 | | practitioners for transplants; and be it further | 6 | | RESOLVED, That we request the United States government to | 7 | | prohibit any doctors who
performed transplants using organs | 8 | | harvested from Falun Gong practitioners from gaining entry
into | 9 | | the United States; and be it further | 10 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 11 | | presented to the Falun Gong practitioners of
Illinois, the | 12 | | President of the United States of
America Barack Obama, and the | 13 | | Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai.
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