Some thoughts regarding the United Nations Human Rights Commission

Last year I was involved in several truth clarification projects surrounding the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva. I would like to share some understandings I arrived at while discussing ideas for this years’ commission with fellow practitioners recently.

Firstly, I would like to briefly explain the schedule of the United Nations Human Rights Commission’s month-long meeting. The meeting usually starts in the middle of March and the first few weeks are dedicated to administrative discussions. Then, at the beginning of April, the large-scale meetings begin, during which resolutions are introduced and discussed, human rights organisations make statements before the commission, and there are meetings about specific human rights issues sponsored by various organisations. In short, it is during the latter part that China’s persecution of Falun Gong is usually brought up.

Last year, I went to Geneva twice during the month of the commission’s meeting. The first time was at the beginning of the meeting when hundreds of practitioners from around the world came to Geneva and held a Fa conference, parade and peaceful appeal in front of the United Nations. At the time, I was deeply touched by the strength of the righteous field that was formed from the presence of so many practitioners and from the purity of their righteous thoughts. The second time I went, a few weeks later, only a handful of practitioners from the United States, Canada and Europe came to Geneva and together we entered into the discussions. During this trip, while we clarified the truth to many people, we also ran into quite a bit of interference and the atmosphere was very different from the righteous field I had experienced just a few weeks before.

In Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference, Teacher said:

“Bringing out good ideas and cooperating with each other with care is the right thing to do. And especially when it comes to doing certain things as a whole you should cooperate with each other even better. It's just like bringing that evil, head scoundrel to court this time, it requires everyone's cooperation, and you have voices echoing from all around the world. So looking at it that way, your cooperation has been quite powerful. I think it's been pretty good recently, but there are still areas to improve on."

"What do I mean by "areas to improve on"? Yesterday a student asked me, "Master, why has the United Nations Human Rights Commission turned into what it has?”

My understanding of this passage is that the United Nations Human Rights Commission is an example of an area where we need to improve our coordination, that “it requires everyone’s cooperation.” But how? After considering this and thinking about our experience last year, I thought: “What if we could coordinate our activities, so that while a few practitioners were inside attending the meetings, hundreds of other practitioners were outside sending righteous thoughts?”

Whether in addition to or instead of the large activities earlier in the commission’s meeting, having practitioners outside sending righteous thoughts would create a righteous field at the same time as the delegates in the United Nations had to make critical decisions regarding Dafa and we could eliminate the evil manipulating them. We would also be relying less on ordinary people and the developments in the commission’s meetings would be a result of Dafa disciples’ righteous thoughts and not simply our hopes.

In Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference, Teacher also explained that the reason the situation of the Human Rights Commission deteriorated so badly was because we had placed our hopes too strongly in human beings:

“What do I mean by "areas to improve on"? Yesterday a student asked me, "Master, why has the United Nations Human Rights Commission turned into what it has? The U.S. brought up China's human rights problems several times but each time its efforts were voted down, and in the end nobody would even bring up the topic. Later on, even the chair position was assumed by a government that seriously violates human rights." We should think things over calmly, and sometimes we really can end up seeing things clearly. It's not that the righteous elements have stopped working. It's that sometimes it's easy for the old forces to take advantage of the gaps in what we do. For example, when we do things a lot of us use human thinking to come up with ideas, and you've been trying everything you can to end this persecution and you want to have ordinary people end it. Some people think, "Why doesn't the U.S. use force to get rid of the evil scoundrel regime? Why doesn't it go to war?" And some think, "There are so many democratic countries in the world. Why don't they raise their voices? What's the United Nations doing now?" And that's how things look on the surface. But actually, I can tell you what that reflects: We're too dependent on human beings. If human beings were to end the persecution, what a disgrace that would be to Dafa disciples! We wouldn't have validated the Fa, we wouldn't have established mighty virtue in the persecution, and our Dafa disciples wouldn't have blazed their own path. I've said that this path is to be left for the future. Then isn't this matter critical? That's how the old forces have been able to take advantage of the gaps. You placed your hopes in ordinary people, so the old forces had the resolution that they sponsored voted down. And as you kept putting your hopes in ordinary people they made it so that your resolution couldn't even be raised and so that the U.S. was kicked out of the Human Rights Commission. You still placed your hopes in ordinary people, so they made a country that violates human rights the chair. We should become more rational by learning from these lessons. We've gone through so much, and through these lessons we should gradually get clearheaded.”

In Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference, Teacher said:

“I'll tell you, saving living beings is first and foremost, and clarifying the truth is the way to save people. When people understand the facts and find out how wicked the persecution is, people will naturally know what to do. And if afterwards you ask him to lend support and do something about it, that's him choosing a future.”

My understanding of this is that our purpose in clarifying the truth to the United Nations Human Rights Commission about a resolution on human rights in China should be to save sentient beings. If the commission passes such a resolution, this won’t end the persecution - that can only be done by Dafa disciples - but a resolution like that, passed by the representatives of so many countries, would save countless sentient beings.

To conclude, I hope that for this year’s Human Rights Commission, Dafa disciples around the world can work together as one body, better coordinate our efforts and offer the world’s people a precious opportunity to choose their future. These are my personal understandings. Please point out anything incorrect.