OTTAWA FILE IA02-30042
March 13, 2002
Honourable Bill Graham, PC, MP
Minister of Foreign Affairs
418-N Centre Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6
Dear Bill,
I am writing to you to express my profound concern regarding human rights violations in China, specifically, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. As I write this, a group of courageous Canadian Falun Gong practitioners is conducting a hunger strike on Parliament Hill to draw attention to the on-going persecution of the Falun Gong by Chinese authorities. According to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and many Canadian Falun Gong practitioners who have traveled to China, the Chinese government has been sponsoring a campaign against Falun Gong practitioners for the past two and a half years. The human rights violations appear in many forms: arbitrary arrests and confinements, torture, unlawful process, long term confinements without conviction or hearing, administrative penalties without a process of law, and frequently applied death penalty.
The situation in China has recently become even more critical as President Jiang Zamin is reported to have ordered a "Kill Without Pardon" policy against Falun Gong practitioners. Canada must not silently allow the Chinese government to perpetrate such crimes against its own citizens. I therefore urge you to protest these human rights abuses against Falun Gong practitioners to the Chinese authorities, and inform them of the concern that Canadians have for their repressive policies.
Furthermore, I would urge you to voice Canada's concerns with China's appalling human rights record at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva later this month. In the absence this year of an American resolution censuring China for its human rights violations, Canada has a moral obligation to initiate its own resolution to this effect. To do otherwise would risk Canada's international reputation as a champion of human rights and international law.
I look forward to your earliest reply to this important issue.
Sincerely yours,áá Svend J Robinson, MP Burnaby-Douglas
SJR/ia