Vice Chairman Speaks at Press Conference to Announce Establishment of CIPFG-Europe

The following speech was made on February 3rd at a press conference outside the Chinese Embassy in London. The press conference was held to announce the establishment of the European branch of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG-Europe). The speech was given by CIPFG-Europe Vice-Chairman John Dee. To find out more about the event, please see http://en.clearharmony.net/articles/200702/37890.html

We have organised today’s press conference to announce the establishment of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG). Over forty VIPs from across Europe have joined the European Coalition so far, among them MPs, senators, lawyers, barristers, clergy, NGO directors, doctors, writers, journalists and other leading company and government officials from over ten countries.

We hope that the formation of this kind of coalition will signal a new chapter in the struggle to uncover the truth about the heinous crimes the Chinese government has perpetrated against Falun Gong practitioners over a period of nearly eight years.

Several private investigations have been carried out in the last year or so, including those by Canadians David Kilgour and David Matas, and by MEP Edward McMillan-Scott. Both investigations have revealed damning evidence of the systematic abuse of Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience in China over a long period, including the well-documented harvesting of body organs from live practitioners for sale abroad. We are eternally grateful to the authors of these reports for their heroic efforts in gathering their evidence and for bringing the persecution into the public domain on a worldwide scale. More significantly on 31st January 2007, David Kilgour and David Matas issued a second extensive report, presenting more evidence of organ harvesting, including interviews with organ recipients from various countries. Their report involved travelling to about thirty countries to gather more evidence and to raise public awareness of the issue.

We hope however that our newly created coalition, which has been launched in North America, Australia, Asia and now in Europe, will lead to the uncovering of all the terrible activities of the Chinese authorities against Falun Gong, and that those guilty of carrying out some of the most serious human rights abuses the world has ever seen, will be brought to justice..

It is vitally important that we do not let this opportunity slip through our fingers. The ball has been set rolling by the two reports last year. Those guilty Chinese officials and CCP members involved in the persecution must not be allowed to slip quietly away into the night, like so many perpetrators of human rights abuses before them.

With the help of many devoted people in many walks of life, we intend to reveal to the world what has been taking place in China since 1999, and to ensure not only that the persecution is brought to an end, but also that the torture and murder should never happen again.

Your support in this worldwide effort is very much appreciated.

John Dee (Vice Chairman)