German Christian Democratic Union Shows its Support Towards Falun Gong and an Ending to the Persecution

Not too long ago I had mailed a letter to Mrs. Angela Merkel, Ph.D., chairperson of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union, a party) in Germany. She had asked Mr. Lackamp, a personal official in charge, responsible for Human Rights affairs at the CDU headquarters, to contact me. After I had received his written response, I wanted to publicize excerpts of his letter and wrote him back to ask his permission to do so. His reply was brief and to the point. He gave me his permission with these words: “ I am gladly giving my permission for you to use the letter and the confession for observing human rights at the website you had designated.” Following then are original statements, excerpted:

Berlin, November 11, 2001

Dear Mr. XX;
I thank you kindly for your letter in which you point out the situation of the Falun Gong members in China. Chairperson of the CDU Germany, Mrs. Angela Merkel, Ph.D., had asked me to get in touch with you.
[…]

The German CDU is very well aware of the plight of the Falun Gong followers in China.
The designated group section members of “Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid” of the CDU/CSU (Christian Socialist Union) of the party keep regular contact with Falun Gong practitioners. The chairman of this group is Mr. Hermann Groehe, who also holds the post of leader for the Human Rights Committee of the party. Not only Mr. Groehe but numerous other politicians also have regularly brought this topic of human rights violations in China before the full assembly in the Bundestag (the German parliament), and have also broached this subject with Chinese authorities.
[…]

Let me assure you that the CDU will closely watch human rights abuses in China in the future with our utmost attention and will of course not neglect the Falun Gong movement in this effort.

Sincerely,

Markus Lackamp
Referent fuer Menschenrechtspolitik
(Human Rights Associate)

The question of human rights seems especially transparent where Falun Gong is concerned, because with compassion they have endured more than 2 ½ years of brutal persecution, without showing any kind of force, without striving for any kind of political gain, but only to cultivate themselves.

I hereby wish to expressly thank the CDU for their clear positioning in this question of human rights and for the support shown to Falun Gong practitioners in China, and at the same time also to the practitioners in Germany.

Human rights know no party affiliation; everyone can affirm them. But for the scrutiny of history it is decisive who accepts responsibility, how one is positioned and who and how people publicly affirm their stand for human rights. That takes courage. For that courage I thank Mr. Lackamp and Mrs Dr. Merkel.

Falun Gong practitioner in Germany
November 19, 2001

(Original text in German)