June 16, 2000

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Excerptá

Professional news

APA Committee Calls for Investigation Of Chinese Psychiatric Abuses

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The media and human rights groups have reported on recent psychiatric abuses of Falun Gong practitioners in China by the government. An APA committee wants the World Psychiatric Association to investigate the matter.

APA's Committee on the Abuse of Psychiatry and Psychiatrists passed a resolution last month at APA's annual meeting in Chicago recommending that the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) investigate the alleged wrongful detention of Falun Gong practitioners in psychiatric hospitals.á

The resolution will be reviewed by the Council on Professional Values and Human Dignity at the fall component meetings, according to committee member Abraham Halpern, M.D.á

The resolution is the latest step by APA members to draw attention to alleged psychiatric abuses of some Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is described by practitioners as a meditative discipline that benefits the mind, body, and spirit. Falun Gong's appeal has spread to numerous countries including the United States. Practitioners assert that it is not a religion or an organization.á

The Chinese government, however, declared last July that Falun Gong is a religious cult and outlawed the practice. Since then, an estimated 35,000 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested, and 5,000 were sent to labor camps without trials, according to Erping Zhang, a Falun Gong spokesperson who testified in March before the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.á

A 1999-2000 report on human rights violations compiled by Falun Gong practitioners documents more than 200 arrests, detentions in mental hospitals, and forced injections of harmful drugs.á

Halpern commented to Psychiatric News that the Chinese government wants to discredit Falun Gong practitioners by labeling them as mentally ill and dangerous. He said that reporters for the New York Times in China have interviewed practitioners detained in psychiatric hospitals who confirmed the abuse of psychiatry.á

Halpern also wrote WPA Secretary General Juan Mezzich, M.D., in February asking the WPA to investigate allegations of forced detentions of Falun Gong practitioners in psychiatric hospitals. Mezzich told Halpern last month that he had forwarded the letter to WPA's executive committee for action.á

Halpern also wrote to Allan Tasman, M.D., who was then APA president, and Jeffrey Geller, M.D., who was then chair of APA's Council on International Affairs, suggesting they raise concerns about alleged mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners at the second annual Sino-American meeting in Beijing in April.á

APA members and Falun Gong practitioners Sunny Lu, M.D., and Viviana Galli, M.D., also wrote to Tasman and Mezzich in February asking them to express concerns about their Chinese colleagues' actions.á

Galli and Lu attended the Sino-American meeting in Beijing and participated in an informal discussion with Chinese psychiatrists about alleged abuses of Falun Gong practitioners, as did Tasman, Geller, APA Trustee Herbert Peyser, M.D., and Jose de La Gandara, M.D., chair of APA's Committee on the Abuse of Psychiatry and Psychiatrists.á

áInformation on the practice of Falun Gong and reports of alleged human rights violations are on the Web at <www.minghui.ca/eng.html>

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( http://www.psych.org/pnews/00-06-16/chinese.htmlá)