France: Press Conference to Expose Organ Harvesting

On September 13th, 2006, Canada’s former member of Parliament, Mr. David Kilgour, held a press conference in Paris to introduce to the media an investigation into the allegations of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners in China, which was conducted by an independent investigation group consisting of himself and human rights lawyer David Matas. After the press conference, the chairwoman of the conference who is the chairwoman of “Working Together for Human Rights” (Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l’Homme), Ms. Marie-Françoise Lamperti, and her colleague Mr. Jean-Jacques Sicurani talked to journalists about what’s on their minds.

Ms. Marie-Françoise Lamperti, Canada’s former member of Parliament Mr. David Kilgour and member of the human right organization Mr. Jean-Jacques Sicurani (from left to right)

Ms. Lamperti said that upon hearing the incident occurring in China, she was infuriated, and then what came to her mind was that we must take action to expose the atrocities. She wholeheartedly supports what Mr. Kilgour and Mr. Matas have done, and expressed on the scene that she would participate in the global anti-persecution campaign. Mr. Sicurani added that human right abuse against any individuals is tantamount to the abuse against human beings as a whole.

Ms. Lamperti and Mr. Sicurani immediately contemplated how to take action. Ms. Lamperti held that to get French general public and media’s support, we need to let them know what’s going on in China, and then consider how to take action jointly. For one thing, we may express our support for the Chinese people who don’t approve of what the Chinese Communist regime has done. We may also ask French members of Parliament to respond to the incident, as they are representatives of the people. We may also tell French lawyers this matter, so that they may support their colleagues in China, as there have been many lawyers being disqualified in China because they don’t approve of the government’s human rights abuses.

On the other hand, we need to ask various governments in Europe to release a joint condemnation statement. Ms. Lamperti and Mr. Sicurani also suggested that a representative office of civil society be established in the United Nations to serve as a warning function to remind all the member countries to fulfill their responsibilities.

As the 2008 Summer Olympic Games are going to be held in Beijing, Ms. Lamperti thought that from the perspective of civil society, we should appeal to the Olympic Games’ highest authorities, and in the meantime, we should remind the businesses that investing in the Olympic Games projects of the incident. Ms. Lamperti and Mr. Sicurani hoped that France is able to boycott the Olympic Games so that the event won’t be held in such a country.

In terms of the background of the harvesting organs from living humans and the Chinese Communist regime’s persecution against Falun Gong, Ms. Lamperti said that if the reason for the Chinese regime the Chinese Communist Party to regard Falun Gong as a threat to its power is because Falun Gong can bring people freedom of spirit, the reason for the Chinese regime not to regard other religious groups as a threat might be because it thought that they can be controlled.

Mr. Sicurani held the thought that the group Falun Gong is not a threat; it is the authorities concerned that imagined it as a threat, so they redouble their persecution. As a matter of fact, except for the disparity in ideology, there is no evidence to prove that Falun gong is a threat. He added that history has told us that all the persecutions are meaningless, and all the autocratic regimes will eventually collapse. It is just a matter of time.