Sweden: Members of Parliament Sign Joint Statement to Support Falun Gong

July 20, 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of Falun Gong practitioners’ peacefully protesting the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution. To commemorate this date, practitioners in Sweden held a series of activities in the capital, Stockholm.

Seventeen Swedish politicians signed a joint statement to support practitioners’ efforts against the persecution and to condemn the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong and the regime’s forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience. The joint statement was publicly read during a peaceful protest by practitioners in front of the Chinese Embassy.

The fifteen current members of Parliament (MP) who signed the global joint statement are: Magnus Berntsson; Camilla Brodin; Gudrun Brunegård; Johan Büser; Staffan Eklöf; Cecilia Engström; Nima Gholam Ali Pour; Lotta Johnsson Fornarve; David Josefsson; Helena Storckenfeldt; Karin Sundin; Björn Söder; Mathias Tegner; Markus Wiechel; Boriana Åberg. The statement was also signed by two former MPs, Niclas Malmberg and Hans Rothenberg.

The statement reads, “We are deeply concerned about the 25 years of human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners in China.

“We understand that Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) is a meditation method based on the principles of truth, compassion and forbearance. On July 20, 2024, it will be 25 years since that Chinese Communist Party began the systematic and brutal campaign to ‘eradicate’ Falun Gong. Since July 1999, millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China have been arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned without trial and many have been tortured and even killed. Thousands or more have died as a result of such torture and other abuses in police custody.” 

The statement also cited detailed records of these atrocities by human rights organizations, government agencies, and the United Nations over the years, with particular attention paid to records of live organ harvesting.

“In 2016, the United States Congress unanimously passed Resolution H.Res.343, expressing concern over persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from a large number of Falun Gong practitioners. In 2019, an independent tribunal in the UK, led by Sir Geoffrey Nice, concluded that, ‘forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China in significant scale and that Falun Gong practitioners have been one - and probably the main - source of organ procurement.’ In a 2021 press release, UN human rights experts stated that they were extremely concerned about the allegations of organ harvesting directed at Falun Gong practitioners and others minorities in China.

“In January 2024, the European Parliament adopted Resolution 2024/2504 (RSP): European Parliament strongly urges China to immediately end its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and other minorities. The European Parliament calls on China to end domestic and transnational surveillance and control and the suppression of religious freedom.”

The statement concludes, “We, the undersigned, therefore call on the Chinese government to respect international norms and the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, such as China have signed, and to immediately end the 25-year persecution of Falun Gong in China, as well as to unconditionally release all imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience.”