Illegal Organ Harvesting an Outgrowth of the Persecution of Falun Gong

In March of 2006, the inside story about the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) secretly removing organs from live Falun Gong practitioners in concentration camps was uncovered. The facts were confirmed in early July by an independent investigation conducted by former Canadian MP and Secretary of State David Kilgour and international human rights lawyer David Matas.

Due to the barbaric nature of removing organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, many people aren't ready to face the truth and find it difficult to believe; they don't have a clear understanding of the nature of the CCP, so they don't believe the CCP would do such an evil thing, causing many people to wonder what's really going on.

Human organ transplant involves issues of morality and medical technology. In 1991 the World Health Assembly approved a set of "Guiding Principles"* that emphasise voluntary donation, non-commercialisation, a preference for cadavers over living donors, and a preference for genetically related donors over non-related donors. The Chinese culture, however, has a fastidious tradition requiring a "complete corpse," so few people are willing to donate organs, and with the impact of medical expenses, donations of kidneys for transplant between relatives are rare. According to a report in the Liberation Daily on October 22nd, 2004: "The transplant surgery between relatives in our country is only 0.4%, a big difference to the 50% in developed countries such as the US." Voluntary donations from non-relatives in China are also rare. A report in the Southern Metropolitan News on July 22nd, 2006 made this point: To date China has completed 21 cases of organ donations, for a total of 88 organs donated. In other words, China has no voluntary donation community.

Speaking from a technical point of view, the blood group and white blood cell antigens of the donor and patient need to match. Because organs like the heart, liver, and kidneys need to be transplanted quickly, donor blood typing must be done in advance, and a blood sample information bank should be established. China doesn't have such an information bank for all people.

Due to the restrictions these necessities create, and if all the general rules established by the international community are observed, then China could only complete a very few legal organ transplants. Yet according to analysts, among organ transplants in China less than 1% of the organs are legally acquired, and the source of the other 99% is unclear. In July 2005 the Chinese government publicly admitted removing organs from executed prisoners, but prior to the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999 the number of organ transplants was always low.

After the CCP began to persecute Falun Gong, however, the number of organ transplants in China increased dramatically, and now China is second only to the US in the number of transplants performed. Moreover, China accounts for "more than 85% of the total live organ transplant in the world after 2000."

The CCP regards Falun Gong as its number one enemy, and uses any means available in attacking "class enemies" in long-term political movements such as the campaign against Falun Gong. Meanwhile, for huge profits it removes organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, so the CCP's bloody persecution of Falun Gong is the fundamental reason that China is speedily becoming an international organ transplant centre.

1) The persecution deprives Falun Gong practitioners of all their legal rights as citizens. Falun Gong practitioners face abduction, illegal arrest, and the loss of their personal freedom at any moment. Large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally detained in forced labour camps, prisons, hospitals and other medical institutions, and have encountered brainwashing, slave labour, torture, sexual abuse, death and other atrocities. The deaths of at least 2978 Falun Dafa practitioners due to the persecution have been confirmed.

2) The CCP has designated Falun Gong practitioners as "class enemies" in order to carry out the most severe attacks. The Central Military Committee's secret documents and the government's internal regulations further deprive Falun Gong practitioners of their human rights, regard them as property, and allow hospitals to remove their organs just as they do death penalty prisoners and prisoners with heavy sentences.

The CCP abducts countless Falun Dafa practitioners under the authority of the government and then illegally forces them into forced labour camps, prisons, hospitals, concentration camps and so on, illegally removing their organs while they are alive, and in effect criminalising government organisations such as the army, legal, judicial and public security organisations, and hospitals.

3) Using the guise of physical exams for health reasons and other deceitful methods, they conduct blood tests of Falun Gong practitioners in detention and establish blood sample data banks. When a patient needs a transplant they enter the patient's blood data into a computer, and when the blood type matches a Falun Gong practitioner in the database the practitioner is confirmed as the donor. According to insiders, it goes something like this: Falun Gong practitioners who are confirmed as organ donors are brought out of the prison, labour camp, detention, concentration camps, or other institutions they are held in. They lose their names and are given a code name; this code name is actually the name of a fabricated "volunteer" who voluntarily donates the organ. The practitioner is sent for a "physical exam" and anaesthetised, and then the organ is removed and transplanted into the body of the patient. Finally the practitioner's body is burned to eliminate the evidence, forever hiding the truth from the world.

4) The CCP's army manages the organ transplants, and plays a very wicked role in persecuting Falun Gong. The People's Liberation Army General Logistics Department's subordinate medical department (independent from the State Council's subordinate medical department) manages all of the armed forces and armed police hospitals, and administers the removal of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.

In summation, the CCP's inhumane persecution is the fundamental cause of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners. Forced labour camps, prisons, hospitals, and other departments everywhere illegally detain Falun Gong practitioners and make live organ harvesting a reality. The persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP has many facets, but live organ harvesting is undoubtedly the most cruel and violent part of the persecution.

* http://www.who.int/ethics/topics/transplantation_guiding_principles/en/