Although you may be aware that many adult practitioners of Falun Gong have been persecuted, tortured and killed under the supervision and instruction of the Jiang regime, you may not be aware that in China at the moment many of the children who are practitioners themselves or are related to practitioners are also experiencing similar persecution.
Numerous examples have shown that Jiang and his followers have contravened the basic human rights of these children, including their right to survival, their right to freedom from abuse and malnutrition, their right to education, their right to freedom from discrimination and their right to participate fully in family, cultural and social life in their society.
The persecution of children has also violated the Convention on the Rights of the Child [referred to as "the Convention" in the remaining of the text] China proudly ratified.[1]
Falun Gong or Falun Dafa started in China in 1992. Based on the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" these simple exercises caught on quite quickly in China, growing to an estimated one hundred million practitioners in 1999. However, due to its popularity and its ability to allow people to think for themselves the Chinese Communist Party banned the practice in 1999 and started a vicious persecution of practitioners. This persecution extended to throwing female practitioners in male prison cells naked, rape, beating with electric batons, various forms of torture, as well as abducting people to forced labor camps and brainwashing centers.
While these abuses of human rights are mostly perpetrated against adult practitioners, children as young as eight months have also been thrown into these labor camps and have been abused. In 2001, a female practitioner, Wang Lixuan, was arrested with her son Meng Hao who was a little over 6 months old, and they were taken to the Beijing Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp. At this camp Meng Hao and his mother both suffered from beatings. Wang Lixuan's family was not notified of her arrest nor were they told to come and collect Meng Hao. Two months later her family received word that Lixuan and Meng Hao were dead after allegedly jumping out of a building, and they were asked to come and collect their bodies. Not trusting the story, their family then took their bodies to the coroner for an autopsy. Upon examination it was found that Meng Hao had bruising around both ankles consistent with the size of handcuffs, blood in his nose and bruising to the head. His mother had broken knuckles, a broken neck, her skull was sunken and she had a needle imbedded into her waist. From the coroner's report it was deduced that Meng Hao had been hung upside down and beaten until he asphyxiated on his own blood.
While Meng Hao's case is one of the worst of its kind, many children who have practiced Falun Gong or are the children of practitioners are being arrested along with their parents or legal guardians. I cite the following examples for your reference;
- On July 21, 2000, Falun Gong practitioner from Laiwu City, Shandong Province, Mr. Wang Zideng and his five other family members, including his 2-year-old son and a niece, were forcibly detained in the local detention center. His son and niece were not allowed to get dressed after being arrested and were taken to the station nearly naked.
- The Yanggu County Police Station, Shandong Province once detained a 6-month-old infant with his grandparents and parents in an ice-cold detention center, exposed to inhumane conditions.
- At about 9 pm on September 1, 2003, several police officers from Fushun Municipal Bureau of Public Security, Liaoning Province broke into ethnic Korean Dafa practitioner Luo Jingyu's home and abducted Ms. Luo and her 3-year-old daughter to the local brainwashing center.
- A 2-year-old boy from Mengyang Town, Pengzhou City was abducted with his parents and grandmother in May 2002, and detained in the town government office building, simply because his family members persisted in practicing Falun Gong. At first, the baby was locked in a dirty room with his mother for more than three months. A toilet was put in the room but it was not cleaned regularly. Bugs and mosquitoes soon became attracted to it. The family was then sent to Pengzhou Detention Center because they were unable to afford the fines. This 2-year-old baby was imprisoned for at least 9 months. Because the baby had to eat the poor quality jail food for a long period of time, he was emaciated and became jaundiced
- A one year old girl was detained with her parents in the Lixian County of Qinhuangdao. This child's name is Guo Yuetong, the mother's name is Liu Aihua, and the father's name is Guo Yuting. Ms. Liu Aihua went with fellow practitioners to Tiananmen Square to unfold banners supporting Falun Gong. She brought her 28 day old baby along as she was still nursing. Afterwards she was forced to live away from home for about for a year to evade unlawful arrest and further persecution. Upon returning home, personnel from the "610 Office" [2] collaborated with the Lixian County Police Department to arrest her. They then sent her to the county detention center and detained her for 23 months. Subsequently, they sent her to a brainwashing center where she was held for more than a year. What is beyond the understanding of people is that her one-year-old child had also been detained.
Article 28 of the Convention states that,
"States Parties recognize the right of the child to education and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:
a. Make primary education compulsory and available free to all;..."
However, many Falun Gong children are finding that they are no longer welcome at school since Public Security Officers and officers from the "610 Office" in charge of their cases often visit their primary and secondary schools to place pressure on their teachers to expel them, thus inhibiting these children from gaining a formal education as can be observed in the cases below.
- Chen Si was a 13 year old middle school student. She lived in the residential area of the Dongfeng Chemistry Factory, Shuangbei, Shapingba District of Chongqing City. During her summer vacation, she went out to distribute Falun Gong materials clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and was arrested. Despite her young age she was still punched and kicked by policemen. Chen Si was then sent to Geleshan Brainwashing Center in Shapingba District where she was force-fed for two weeks in the Geleshan Psychiatric Hospital. When her school term began, the "610 office" officials refused to allow her to attend school.
- In December 2000, 16-year-old Dafa practitioner, Xiao Zhang from Qiangyuan County, Changzhi, Shanxi Province unfurled a banner imprinted with the words, "Falun Dafa is good" on the Tiananmen gate tower. In front of other people, the police officers beat him and kicked him. The 16-year-old Xiao Zhang lost consciousness on the spot. Later, Xiao Zhang was sent to a hospital for emergency treatment. After that, Xiao Zhang was sent back to Xiangyuan and sentenced to 1.5 years in jail.
- On February 18, 2004, student Wang Zhe from the No. 1 Senior High School in Changtu County, Liaoning Province clarified the truth about Falun Gong to the teachers at the school regarding the defamation of Falun Dafa practitioners by the director of the political and education department. He was subsequently expelled from school. On April 6, Wang Zhe and his mother went to the school requesting that Wang Zhe be re-admitted in accordance with the law; however, the school headmaster, Sun Yuhui, reported this to the police department. After the report, the deputy party secretary of the county and several members of the national security section arrested Wang Zhe and detained him in a county detention center.
- Ai Dan, a fourteen-year old girl, was a student in the eighth grade at Heyeping High School in the Suxian District of Chenzhou City in Hunan Province. She started practicing Falun Dafa in 1998. One of the classmates who did not know the facts about Falun Gong reported her to the teacher. Afraid of getting involved, the teacher reported her to the school authorities. The school's headmaster then reported the issue to the district "610 Office" and confiscated her copy of Zhuan Falun [main teachings of Falun Gong]. Officials from the "610 Office" immediately came to the school, ordered the student out of her class and interrogated her. Ai Dan was forced to write the "Guarantee Statements," declaring that she was remorseful for practicing Falun Gong, guaranteeing not to practice Falun Gong again, and promising not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, or to ever again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners. However, later Ai Dan recanted this statement declaring that she had the right to freedom of belief under the constitution. She was then expelled for making this statement.
- Ms. Zhang Conghui is a 16-year-old student at Xuanhua First High School in Chicheng County, Hebei Province. On February 24, Ms. Zhang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa and was arrested and sent to jail. She was then taken to a brainwashing center in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province.
- Huang Jing, was a second-year junior high school student at Yucai Middle School in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan Province . She was reported by a classmate for clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to students in the school. The school's Political Section tried to force her to give up practicing Falun Gong, but Huang Jing would not renounce her belief because she firmly believes Falun Gong to be a practice that teaches people to be good. This past semester, Jing once again clarified the truth about Falun Gong to her schoolmates, but the school authorities forced her to terminate her studies.
- Li Xinxin is an eighth-grader in the Second High School of Shaluhei Township, Yongji County, Jilin City, Jilin Province. On March 4, 2004, a teacher who was deceived by the propaganda about Faun Gong reported her to the school board for clarifying the truth of Falun Gong to her classmates. As a result, Li Xinxin was expelled from school. Then the Director of the Students' Office, Dong Ming, led the police to where Li Xinxin and her father Li Bailong had moved after leaving their home to avoid persecution. The police confiscated all the Falun Dafa books and materials, and detained her father in the Yongjie County Detention Center.
Article 12 of the Convention states that,
"States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child."
Nevertheless in China children who speak out about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners or tell the truth as they see it often face quite serious consequences, many being forced to leave home to avoid arrest. An example of this is Ms. Wang Lin, a 17-year-old middle school student, who lived in Machang, Suileng County, Heilongjiang Province. In July 2002, Wang Lin attended a joint entrance exam for a provincial high school. In the politics section of the exam there was a question defaming Falun Gong. Wang Lin answered the question truthfully stating: Falun Dafa was good and that she did not believe it was a bad influence on society. Later, officials from the Political and Judiciary Committee, police department, and Provincial Education Committee came to arrest her. Wang was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution. Unfortunately her parents were falsely arrested and beaten by personnel from the "610 Office." In May 2003, Wang Lin was working in Harbin City when she was seized by police and detained in Suileng. According to witnesses the direct orders of the chief of the "610 Office" in Suileng County were to detain her until she turns 18 and then sentence her [in China one can be sentenced only when one reaches 18 years old].
As stated in the preamble to the Convention,
"...the family, as the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children, should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community..."
Article 9 of the Convention states,
"States Parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child."
Yet in China the government has decided that people who try to teach their children to follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance are people who must be kept away from society, including their children. Many children are often left with no one to care for them as is illustrated by the experience of Zou Rongrong.
- Rongrong was born in November 1999, when her father, Zou Songtao, had gone to the Beijing Appeals Office [A government agency where citizens can report grievances or cases that have been handled improperly by local officials] to report his experience of practicing Falun Gong and to explain that it was not what was being reported by the government agencies. He was detained as soon as he returned to the city of Qingdao, and was released in December. Zou Songtao was arrested and released like this several times before eventually being tortured to death. The time Rongrong spent together with her father was less than six months. In May 2001 Rongrong's mother was sought by police for handing out Falun Gong truth-clarification materials and had to move to other parts of the country to avoid being arrested. At the moment it is reported that she is being held in a detention center in Qingdao but her family has received no verification of this report. As a result, Rongrong had to live with her grandparents from the time she was two and a half. However, Rongrong's grandmother was over sixty years old and she passed away in August, 2001. This has left Rongrong with only her grandfather to look after her.
Another example is that of Fadu Chen. Fadu was born in April 2000, and was only nine months old when her father was detained by Chinese authorities - she never saw him again. After her father's arrest her mother Jane Dai, an Australian citizen, managed to bring Fadu back to Australia. In July 2001, after months of concern for her husband's safety, Jane saw the name of her husband on an Internet news report. Chen's body had been found in an abandoned hut in Guangzhou - he had been tortured to death because he refused to give up his peaceful beliefs. Several members of Fadu's family are also Falun Gong practitioners. Fadu's aunt was also illegally kidnapped and detained for two years in a forced labor camp after she had identified Chen's body. Fadu's grandfather suffered from such shock after finding out about his son's death, that he became sick and later died. Fadu's uncle was also forced by police to give up his practice of Falun Gong, and is still being constantly monitored.
Statistics show that as of May 28, 2004, 968 Falun Gong adult practitioners are confirmed as having been tortured to death, thousands are illegally detained and hundreds are jobless and ostracized from society. Yet not one agency has investigated the abuses, which have occurred to the thousands of children involved in this crisis. As China is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and has ratified it, it is for the Committee on the Rights of the Child to investigate these apparent breaches and monitor the ongoing situation. By monitoring this situation China would then be put on notice by the international community that violating the rights of children is not an option, and that tragic stories like Meng Hao's would not occur again. Moreover, this action would also instigate further awareness in China of building their own stable future via the protection of all children's rights as argued by the Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan: "Much of the next millennium can be seen in how we care for our children today. Tomorrow's world may be influenced by science and technology, but more than anything it is already taking shape in the bodies and minds of our children."
[1] For more about the "Convention on the Rights of the Child," see http://www.unicef.org/crc/crc.htm
[2] a bureau specifically created by the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches.
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