Organ Harvesting in China is Discussed at the UN Human Rights Council

The United Nations Human Rights Council was held in Geneva, Switzerland on the 18th of September 2006. The subject of the Council was reports from all specially appointed rapporteurs of the UN. Mr. Manfred Nowak, specially assigned for the issue of torture, made a report to the Council on the 20th of September. Former Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour brought up the issue of the CCP having removed organs from living Falun Gong practitioners and then cremating their bodies to eliminate the evidence.

When talking about torture in China, Manfred Nowak said that torture is widely used in the People’s Republic of China. He called it “a systematic, inhuman and barbarous act”.

David Kilgour speaks at the UN Human Rights Council

Mr. Kilgour said: "Regarding whether or not the Chinese Communist regime has been harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners and then cremating the remains to destroy evidence, human rights attorney David Matas and I jointly released an investigation report in July. In our report, we have come to the regrettable conclusion that the allegations are true. We carefully assessed 18 different elements of proof or disproof.

“If you look at this evidence separately,” Mr. Kilgour continued, “You may say this or that evidence cannot prove the allegations. Yet if you put all this evidence together and read it, you will have to come to a bitterly disappointing conclusion the same as ours. The Chinese Government’s attempt at replying to our conclusion also strengthens the correctness of our conclusion.

Mr Kilgour went on to say, “Even if it has enough resources and inside information, the Chinese Government has not yet provided any material evidence to refute our report. Although we have put forward seventeen suggestions in our report, China has not taken any actions to stop the removal of organs from live Falun Gong practitioners until now. All preventive measures that we have put forward should be taken and carried out. A suggestion we have brought forward in our report should be immediately carried out: 'Stop removing organs from live Falun Gong practitioners in all over China.'”

The United Nations Human Rights Council will last nineteen days and end on the 6th of October.