(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in French-speaking Switzerland held activities in front of the Palais Wilson, where the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is located, on July 15, 2021.
They called on the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Swiss government to put pressure on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to stop the 22-year-long persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China and to condemn the CCP’s state-sanctioned organ harvesting from practitioners.
Despite the rain, four Swiss councilors were present to express their support for the practitioners’ peaceful protest. Several councilors who could not be present sent letters of support.
Practitioners protest the 22-year-long persecution in the rain in front of the OHCHR on July 15.
A Falun Dafa practitioner representative speaks.
Councilor Nicolas: “I Will Give You My Full Support”
Walder Nicolas, a member of the Swiss National Council
Walder Nicolas, a member of the Swiss National Council and a member of the council’s Foreign Policy Committee, specifically mentioned in an interview that the Council requested the Swiss government to add a resolution on human rights and social rights when negotiating a free trade agreement with China. The resolution will be included on the agenda of the next Council.
Councilor Nicholas also said, “We recently voted on a proposal to study the safety and living conditions of Tibet and Uyghur minorities, and Falun Dafa practitioners in Switzerland. These groups are often harassed and under surveillance by the Chinese government and secret service department in Switzerland. Their family members in their home country are indeed threatened. All of these issues require a comprehensive report to strengthen the security of these minority groups in our country.”
Councilor Nicholas also said that he very much admired the practitioners’ courage. “The persecution is still going on. I know what you are going through and what many of you are experiencing in China. You have been persecuted in China for too long.
“Now we are working hard for the change in China to make the Chinese government (the CCP) realize that dictatorship has no future. The struggle does require courage. In this struggle for freedom, I will give my full support and wish you good luck.”
Councilor Dimier: The Persecution of Falun Dafa Is a Disgrace in the 21st Century
Patrick Dimier, a member of the Grand Council of Geneva
Patrick Dimier, a member of the Grand Council of Geneva, said, “I support all non-violent movements, especially Falun Dafa, because its practitioners are purely victims of the brutal persecution.
“This is a disgrace to humanity in the 21st century. No matter what country, large or small, they can’t act this way and can’t attack the integrity of good people just because they have different thinking. For me, this (persecution) is simply intolerable.”
Councilor Barthassat: Safeguarding Basic Rights
Geneva City Councilor Luc Barthassat
Geneva City Councilor Luc Barthassat said, “Falun Dafa has been fighting here for more than 20 years, all to have their human rights and fundamental rights respected.
“Lies rule everything. Today, no matter whether human lives are in China or elsewhere, I think they are in greater danger. Today, through Falun Dafa, the whole world should know and awaken. Let us insist on our rights and insist on respecting human rights. Once again, we must defend basic rights at all costs from today.”
Councilor François: The CCP Should Disappear
Baertschi François, a member of the Grand Council of Geneva
Baertschi François, a member of the Grand Council of Geneva, said that when he was a newspaper reporter, he did an interview about organ harvesting in China. He was shocked at the time. Unfortunately, his interview was censored by the newspaper. He said, “That was 15 years ago. I think the Chinese Communist regime should disappear.”
Swiss Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture: The Government Should Take Strong Measures against the CCP
Statement from Swiss ACAT
The Swiss Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), which has long supported practitioners’ efforts to protest the persecution, sent its statement to support the Swiss Falun Dafa Association before July 20.
The statement reads, “The Swiss ACAT reiterates its solidarity with the tens of thousands of victims of the Falun Dafa movement, and together with the Swiss Falun Dafa Association, condemns the Chinese government’s systematic persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners and other ethnic minorities, and demands that China (the CCP) stop such persecution.
“The Swiss ACAT supports the Swiss Falun Dafa Association’s request to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant United Nations agencies, especially the Swiss authorities. The Swiss ACAT asks Switzerland to stop delaying and discussing, but to act instead! Our government must urgently and uncompromisingly take strict measures against the Chinese (CCP) authorities to put an end to their crimes.”
Background
Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first taught to the public in 1992. Nearly 100 million people across China soon began practicing after experiencing improvements in their health and character. Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline's growing popularity as a threat to the CCP's atheistic ideology and issued an order to ban Falun Dafa on July 20, 1999.
Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in the persecution over the past 22 years; the actual number is suspected to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.
There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.
Under Jiang's personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.
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