(Minghui.org) Recently, 46 federal members of Parliament (MP), senators, and provincial legislators in Canada signed a joint statement. They strongly condemned and urged the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to stop its 25-year persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
The cross-party MPs in Canada who signed the joint statement include 40 current MPs and 6 former MPs. The co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong also sent a video to support Falun Gong practitioners in their protesting the persecution.
46 federal MPs, senators, and provincial legislators in Canada signed a joint statement condemning the CCP’s 25-year-long persecution.
Co-Chair of Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong: Inviting All MPs to Sign the Joint Statement
Judy Sgro, co-chair of Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong, sent a letter inviting all federal MPs to sign the statement. She stated in this letter: This is an important opportunity for us to unite and make our position clear. We must immediately stop the long-term persecution of these peaceful practitioners.
Garnett Genuis, another co-chair of Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong and a Conservative MP, sent a video condemning the persecution and supporting the Falun Gong practitioners’ 25 years efforts of protesting the persecution.
The joint statement strongly condemns the CCP’s 25-year human rights abuses against Falun Gong practitioners in China. The statement reads that Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is a practice based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. Since July 20, 1999, the CCP has launched a systematic and cruel genocidal persecution against Falun Gong.
The statement reads, “Since July 1999, millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China have been arbitrarily arrested and jailed without due process and many have been tortured and even killed. At the very least, thousands have died as a result of such torture and other abuses in police custody.”
The statement pointed out that these atrocities have been widely documented by human rights organizations, government agencies and the United Nations. The U.S. State Department mentioned in its 2007 human rights report, “[the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred] Nowak reported that Falun Gong practitioners accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged torture while in government custody.”
A 2017 Freedom House report found that “Falun Gong practitioners across China are subject to widespread surveillance, arbitrary detention, imprisonment, and torture, and they are at a high risk of extrajudicial execution.”
In 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Resolution 343 (H. Res. 343), expressing concern and credible reports regarding persistent, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners.
In 2019, an Independent Tribunal in the United Kingdom, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, concluded that “forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale and that Falun Gong practitioners have been one—and probably the main—source of organ supply.” The Tribunal also determined that crimes against humanity have been committed against Falun Gong practitioners in China.
In a 2021 press release, twelve United Nations human rights experts jointly stated that they “were extremely alarmed” by allegations of organ harvesting targeting Falun Gong practitioners and other minorities in China.
In January 2024, the European Parliament passed Resolution 2024/2504 (RSP), which “strongly urges the PRC to immediately end the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and other ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs and Tibetans" and "calls for the PRC to end domestic and transnational surveillance and control and the suppression of religious freedom."
Therefore, the MPs urged the CCP to respect international norms and legal obligations, including the UN Convention Against Torture, which China has ratified, to immediately stop the 25-year-long persecution of Falun Gong in China, and to unconditionally release all illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience.
Co-Chair of Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong: Looking Forward to Letting Chinese People Have Freedom
MP Garnett Genuis, co-chair of Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong, said, “Falun Gong or Falun Dafa is a meditation practice for a community that celebrates the great virtues of Truthfulness, Compassionate, and Forbearance. The CCP has sought to eradicate Falun Dafa through well documented atrocities, including forced organ harvesting.
“I have had the pleasure of working with the Falun Gong community since being elected in 2015. We’ve passed a bill banning Canadians complicity in forced organ harvesting. We fought for stronger protections in Canada against foreign interference.
“And I’ve tabled hundreds of petitions in the House of Commons to draw attention to Falun Gong persecution. We’ve also worked to build alliances bringing together Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Uighurs, Christians, Taiwanese and members of the heroic Chinese democracy movement as well as victims of CCP aggression and foreign interference. Canada must always and everywhere be a principled defender of justice and human rights, of democracy and freedom.
“I look forward to a day when the great people of China will all be truly free. Canada must always be on their side and on the side of freedom.”
Global Signing Calls for Ending the Persecution
Ms. Grace Wollensak, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Canada, said in an interview: “We greatly appreciate the signatories who have given a voice to the voiceless and brought hope to those still suffering in China.”
She continued, “This inter-parliamentary joint statement makes it clear to the CCP that their barbaric behavior is not condoned in free countries.”
Recently, parliamentarians from different countries around the world have followed up and signed this joint statement. Ms. Wollensak said, “We are just at the start of this global campaign. We will continue collecting signatures and hope more parliamentarians, elected officials, and others will join this international call to end the persecution of Falun Gong.”
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