Amnesty International Belgium Condemns Human Rights Violations Against Falun Gong

Date: 18 February 2002
Amnesty International

Vlaanderen vzw Kerkstraat 156 2060 Antwerpen (België)
Tel. 03/271.16.16 Fax: 03/235.78.12

Human rights violations in the Chinese campaign against Falun Gong condemned

On account of the arrest of the Belgian Falun Gong practitioner on Tiananmen Square last week, Amnesty International wants to condemn the grave human rights violations that adherents of spiritual movements like Falun Gong, but also other officially recognized religions, are often subjected to. “The human rights violations appear in many forms: arbitrary arrests and confinements, torture, unlawful trials, long-term confinements without conviction or hearing, administrative penalties without due legal process, and often applied death penalty”, Amnesty states.

Recent regulations, stipulated to protect religious activities, are increasingly being used to restrict these. The action against Falun Gong is part of a general repression of religious and spiritual movements. The Chinese government also takes action against other “Qi Gong” practices and leads systematic “campaigns against superstition” that have Buddhist, Islamic, and Catholic characteristics. The campaign is for instance used to eliminate any form of separatism in Tibet and Xinjiang. Furthermore, leaders of the religious movement “Hunan Church” were sentenced to death earlier this year because their organization would undermine the law.

The suppression of Falun Gong however has become a political priority of the Chinese government. Amnesty International is concerned that the actions against the movement will go hand in hand with serious human rights violations and excessive violence.

Since 22 July 1999 thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were arrested and sentenced to prison, administrative penalties in re-education camps, or confinement in psychiatric institutions. Once detained Falun Gong practitioners are often victim to torture and maltreatment. Torture is used as a means to intimidate adherents to force them to renounce their faith and stop their meditation practice. Out of protest to their situation and their miserable detainment conditions Falun Gong adherents regularly go on hunger strike. Because of that, they become extremely vulnerable to maltreatment, for instance from force feeding or forced heavy labour.

For a long time Falun Gong practitioners have kept going to Beijing to protest by way of practicing exercises and meditation in front of official buildings. The Chinese government reacted to this by even more repressive actions against the movement. Recent reports indeed suggest that a “strike hard” campaign was launched to finish this “[slanderous term used by Chinese government]” once and for all. During such a “strike hard” campaign it’s important to obtain results as quickly as possible. As a result thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were harshly arrested and forced into re-education. Since then the number of Falun Gong practitioners that have died in prison has risen exponentially from 124 at the beginning of 2001 to more than 350 at present. Most of the adherents succumbed to injuries inflicted by severe torture.

Amnesty International is also worried over the report that torture of Falun Gong practitioners would since the beginning of 2001 be officially sanctioned. This means that such brutalities are no longer seen as a crime when they are committed against a Falun Gong practitioner who refuses to give up his belief, and that the torturer goes free. As a result Falun Gong practitioners are now systematically subject to torture in prisons and re-education camps, which explains the high death rate in 2001.

Amnesty International would like to encourage the Belgium government to call upon the Chinese government to:

1. Respect the fundamental freedoms, such as: respect to express one’s opinion freely, the right of freedom of religion and belief and the freedom to form an association.

2. Immediately end the numerous human rights violations of adherents of associations like Falun Gong and supporters.

3. Respect for cultural rights and religious freedom in Tibet and Xinjiang.

4. Respect the human rights of all prisoners, also prisoners of conscience and the immediate ending of any form of torture within prisons.