Danish Government Responds to Human Rights Violation Against Falun Dafa Practitioners in China

The Falun Dafa Association in Denmark (the “Association”) received an email from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament on December 20, 2021. The email indicated the Committee had published on its website correspondence between the Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the persecution of Falun Dafa in China. In the correspondence, the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed his concern over the arrest and abuse of Falun Dafa practitioners in China.

This started with a list of human rights perpetrators submitted by the Association to the Danish government on Human Rights Day of December 10, 2021. The perpetrators were all involved in the persecution of Falun Dafa in China.

The Association requested that the Danish government comply with the “global human rights sanctions regime” adopted by the European Council on December 7, 2020. Known as the European version of the Magnitsky Act, the “global human rights sanctions regime” established a framework to target human rights violators with a travel ban and freezing of assets.

The Association submitted the latest perpetrators’ list to the Danish government, together with practitioners in 35 other countries who also did so on Human Rights Day. The other countries include the Five Eyes Alliance (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand), 22 countries in the European Union (France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Czechia, Romania, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, Malta), and 8 additional countries (Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Israel, Mexico).

In the submission of the latest list, the Association pointed out that the persecution of practitioners in China has been going on for 22 years, during which time the Association has sent out thousands of emails and letters to the Danish government and news media, telling Danish people that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the most vicious regime in the world and urging them to distance themselves from the CCP.

The Association explained that the persecution could continue partly because of the appeasement responses to this important matter by the Western world including Denmark. By forming alliance with Western countries, however, the CCP could only become stronger toward dominating the world.

Every perpetrator on the latest list had committed serious crimes against innocent Falun Dafa practitioners who just wanted to be better citizens by following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The Association pointed out that the CCP’s goal is to eradicate Falun Dafa in China and that it often sought closed-door discussions with western countries when it came to its human rights violation. Such discussions were just playing games and could not lead to substantive progresses. Therefore, the Association urged the Danish government to enforce applicable laws to publicly sanction the involved CCP officials and condemn the persecution.

Shortly after receiving the list, Foreign Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament contacted Jeppe Kofod, Minister of Foreign Affairs, inquiring about the ministry’s position on this important matter.

In his reply, Kofod said, according to human rights organizations, the suppression of Falun Dafa is still ongoing, with practitioners arbitrarily monitored, arrested, detained, or convicted.

He said the Danish government has been paying close attention to the human rights condition in China. In a recent trip to China on November 26, 2021, Kofod brought up the human rights issues in a meeting with his counterpart in China. In addition, he also raised concerns through the European Union and the United Nations urging the CCP to respond to this issue.

In the end, Kofod reiterated that Danish government was very concerned about the fact that Falun Dafa practitioners in China had been arrested and abused by the CCP. He said that the Danish government will work with other countries on critical dialogues with the CCP regarding improving human rights condition of religious and minority groups in China, including Falun Dafa practitioners.