On May 30th, the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) held a press conference at the Canadian Parliament Hill. In a statement issued at the press conference, CIPFG stated that the Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China. CIPFG also made three requests. They said, if satisfactory responses to their requests are not received on or before August 8th, 2007, CIFPG will join all supporters from around the globe to boycott the Olympics.
Regarding this statement, a reporter recently interviewed Mr. Kevin Yang, the spokesman for CIPFG North America.
Reporter: Can you please tell us about the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG)?
Yang: The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, or CIPFG, consists of prominent politicians, government officials, religious and community leaders, organ transplant experts and doctors, international human rights and criminal lawyers, non-government organisations, international media outlets and human rights activists. Since the establishment of CIPFG in April 2006, more than 300 individual members have joined the organisation's four chapters in US-Canada, Australia, Europe and Asia. For example, the president of the CIPFG US-Canada Chapter is Rabbi Dr. Reuven P. Bulka, a highly respected figure in the Jewish community; president of the CIPFG Europe Chapter is Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the House of Lords (UK); president of the CIPFG Asia Chapter is Lai Ching-Te, a Taiwan Legislator and practising doctor; and president of the CIPFG Australia Chapter is Andrew Bartlett, an Australian Democrats Senator. These members are all highly respected figures in their countries.
Reporter: On May 30th, CIPFG requested the Chinese Communist Party to end the persecution of Falun Gong within two months. Why two months?
Yang: Because August 8th, 2007 is exactly one year from the 2008 Olympic Games, CIPFG decided to give the CCP two months to achieve the following:
1) stop the persecution of Falun Gong immediately and release all practitioners incarcerated for their faith;
2) stop the persecution of friends and supporters and defense lawyers of Falun Gong practitioners (e.g. Gao Zhisheng, Li Hong);
3) hold discussions with CIPFG to arrange details on the opening of labour camps, prisons, hospitals and related secretive facilities for inspection by CIPFG independent investigators. If satisfactory responses to our requests are not received on or before August 8th, 2007, we will join all supporters from around the globe to boycott a Crimes Against Humanity Olympics.
Reporter: Why will CIPFG connect the Olympic Games to the persecution of Falun Gong?
Yang: If the persecution does not end, imagine this scenario: on one side of Beijing, practitioners are being killed for organs and tortured in labour camps for their belief; on the other side of the city, the Olympic Games which is a symbol of world peace and freedom is being held. It will be a shame to all human beings. This is why we think that the Olympics and the persecution can not coexist in China, and this is why we gave a time table and proposed to boycott the Olympics if the persecution does not end as we requested.
Reporter: CIPFG wants to enter China to investigate the persecution of Falun Gong, allowing westerners to investigate human rights in China. The CCP's propaganda calls this is interference with China's internal affairs. What is your opinion?
Yang: The CCP always uses the excuse of internal affairs to dodge international criticism on its poor human rights record. Any government that criticises the CCP will be labelled as interfering with China's internal affairs. Everyone knows that the holocaust can not be labelled as Nazi Germany's internal affairs. Human rights has no boundary and is a universal value. Any country has the responsibility and right to interfere if a government kills innocent people. In fact, human rights issues are not political issues and they are against the common values of this civilised era. Therefore, everyone shall take action to stop the CCP's crimes.
For example, if a parent abuses his/her children or even wants to kill them, the neighbour has the right to stop him/her and has the right to call the police to stop such violence. In another words, such violence will not be regarded as a simple family issue, but as a crime. Anyone can take actions to stop it.
Reporter: CIPFG has more than 300 individual members who have different religious backgrounds. What brings them together to help Falun Gong?
Yang: An important value in the western world is freedom of belief, which is a universal value. In democratic countries, people enjoy the freedom to choose their own belief. There is another common value, and that is human rights. Regardless of ones' religious background, he or she has human rights which are protected by the constitution. In contrast, only the CCP tries to stamp out all religious groups and forces people to believe in communism.
There is no religious obstacle for these members to work together to fight for the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners. They all respect people with belief. President of CIPFG US-Canada Chapter Rabbi Dr. Reuven P. Bulka is Jewish leader. He repeatedly emphasised that the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP is similar to the persecution of the Jews by Hitler. For this reason, he understands very well the hardship of Falun Gong practitioners.
Reporter: If the CCP does not stop the persecution of Falun Gong, how will CIPFG boycott the Olympics?
Yang: On June 14th, our Asia chapter initiated a plan which is called Human Rights Torch Relay. This project is to relay a human rights torch around the world. This is just a part of our plan to boycott the Olympics. We are still working on the details. Please visit our website www.cipfg.org for the latest information.
Reporter: Thank you for your time.
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