(Minghui.org) Young practitioners from Students for Falun Gong attended the second annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington D.C. from June 28-30, 2022. The practitioners, between 19-26 years old, traveled from Georgia, North Carolina, New York, Michigan, and Ohio to raise awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa).
Ms. Han Yu (top left), the daughter of a victim of forced organ harvesting, and nine young practitioners from Students for Falun Gong
The persecution of Falun Gong and forced organ harvesting were topics frequently discussed by speakers at this year’s summit. Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute; Nury Turkel, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom; Ethan Gutmann, senior research fellow and writer; and Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, spoke on the ongoing forced organ harvesting situation in China at a breakout session hosted by the Hudson Institute. At another breakout session, the Falun Dafa Information Center presented updated statistics and analysis of the persecution of Falun Gong.
Simon Liao giving a speech at the summit’s opening ceremony
Simon Liao, a young practitioner from Maryland, was invited to present at the summit’s opening ceremony on behalf of the Falun Dafa Association of Washington D.C. His speech highlighted the importance of freedom of information and countering media suppression in support of religious freedom.
“We recommend that the U.S. government provide more funding support for software tools used to circumvent China’s Great Firewall. This would significantly scale up the reach of these tools in China. A Chinese population with more access to free information is less likely to be an accomplice to the CCP’s crimes,” Liao said.
After Liao’s speech, many people came to visit the Falun Gong booth to learn more about Falun Dafa and the persecution.
Forced Organ Harvesting Gains International Attention
A major focus of this year’s International Religious Freedom summit was on the forced organ harvesting crimes happening in China. This issue was brought up several times during the plenary and breakout sessions throughout the summit. A video explaining forced organ harvesting in China was played at one of the plenary sessions and shared on social media by the summit organizers.
The father of Ms. Han Yu was a victim of forced organ harvesting in China. Ms. Han was 19 when her father was killed.
“I saw his body before it was cremated. He was terribly thin and bruised all over. From his throat was an incision that went all the way down to his torso. In his stomach area, we could feel a hard block of ice beneath his skin that was stitched with thick black thread,” said Ms. Han.
Ms. Han’s story caught many people’s attention. She was interviewed by the Christian Broadcasting Network. At the breakout session hosted by the Hudson Institute, Nina Shea started the session by highlighting her story.
Ms. Han was also invited to a meet and greet with Enes Kanter Freedom, an NBA basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics and human rights activist who is very outspoken about China’s human rights abuses and the ongoing forced organ harvesting crime.
“You’re a very brave woman and you’re encouraging more people to stand up for their faith and to speak out, which also means your father did not die in vain,” Freedom said to her.
Ms. Han Yu with NBA basketball player Enes Kanter during IRF’s Survivor Meet and Greet
Conference Attendees Show Support at the Falun Gong Booth
Many people stopped by the booth set up by Students for Falun Gong and the Falun Dafa Information Center to learn more about the persecution of Falun Gong.
Several young women from a Burmese association came by the Falun Dafa booth and thanked the practitioners for explaining the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong.
“We never knew about this before. It’s terrible that the people are committing this terrible crime against their own people… [Falun Gong] is good and calming, and we need that,” they said.
Four young women from Burma who asked for information about Falun Dafa
Andrew Stafford, Countering Transnational Repression Officer in the Office of Security and Human Rights, U.S. Department of State, and also a speaker at the event, was surprised to learn that several million practitioners have been detained. He had no idea that the scale of persecution was so severe, which has already reached the scale of a genocide.
Andrew Stafford with Falun Gong practitioner Chloe Phong
Hamid Gharagozloo, chair of an Iranian organization at the summit, and his wife Sharareh Afshari were very touched by what Falun Gong practitioners have been doing to raise awareness about the persecution.
Sharareh Afshari (left) and Hamid Gharagozloo (right) in front of the Falun Gong booth
“We hope that you continue to educate people about this… I believe that education is very important, as long as we still have this summit to educate people about religious persecution… more and more people will know about this,” Afshari said.
Young practitioner Nicholas Haley (left) speaking with a Vietnamese attendee (right) about the persecution of Falun Gong
Booth visitors greatly admired the efforts of young practitioners at the summit. Many commented how they felt hope and optimism by seeing young people participating and standing up against the persecution.
During the summit, three practitioners from Students for Falun Gong gave a presentation on the persecution of Falun Gong. They talked about the early onset of the persecution, as well as recent updates on the persecution reported by the Falun Dafa Information Center. Despite taking place early in the morning, before any of the summit’s main events, the presentation room was nearly full, which showed the scale of interest and concern about this issue.
Ms. Wang Minghui, an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, shared her personal story of her parents being persecuted in China for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Wang Minghui sharing a photo of her and her parents during a presentation at the IRF summit
Ms. Wang started practicing Falun Gong from a young age and was grateful for the continuous moral improvement that Falun Gong brought her. Unfortunately, her parents were frequently arrested for practicing Falun Gong, so she was sent to live with her grandparents before she learned to speak. She lived with her grandparents until she was five years old.
Wang recalled her first-ever memory of her mother in a brainwashing center: “She was cuffed to a chair with a very thick plastic tube inserted into her nose… being forced-fed liquids that had an unbearable smell.” She recounted being terrified as her mother was “clearly in excruciating pain.”
A Vietnamese attendee held back tears when asking a question during the Q&A session.
Many attendees were moved to tears by Ms. Wang’s story. After the presentation, one woman was so moved that it was difficult for her to ask questions. Some who watched the presentation asked to learn more and wanted the presentation to be translated into Vietnamese to understand the situation better.
Loan Nguyen (left) and Ms. Wang Minghui (right) by the Falun Gong booth
Loan Nguyen, an English teacher for Boat People SOS, visited the Falun Gong booth after Ms. Wang’s presentation. She was shocked to learn of the Chinese Communist Party’s horrible crimes on its own people.
Nguyen said, “We all want to become good people. We are all the same, but why doesn’t the regime see that?”
As an English teacher, she believes that education is very impactful and powerful, and she expressed that she was happy to see young people educating the public about Falun Gong and the persecution.
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