United States: Chinese Human Rights Week Speeches in Hawaii Expose Organ Harvesting in China

On October 29th, 2007, a forum entitled "New Genocide--the Organ Harvesting in China" was held at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. David Matas, a famous Canadian human rights lawyer, and Kirk Allison, the chief of the Human Rights and Health Centre at the University of Minnesota, were invited to speak.

Gary Ostrander, Vice President of the University of Hawaii, gives a speech

David Matas, Canadian human rights lawyer

Kirk Allison, the chief of the Human Rights and Health Center at the University of Minnesota

Mr. David Matas' presentation was focused on the results of an investigation into allegations of organ harvesting in China. He and David Kilgour, a former member of the Canadian Parliament, co-authored a report after the investigation. The report gave 30 examples of indirect evidence of the existence of organ harvesting in China. Dr. Allison presented a statistical analysis of the organ harvesting and suggested a deep impact of the phenomenon on international society. He pointed out that organ harvesting is genocide and the persecution of Falun Gong is counter to the Olympic spirit. Dr. Allison emphasised that Falun Gong is the key issue to discussing and understanding the human rights situation in China.

Gary Ostrander, Vice President of the University of Hawaii, spoke at the forum. He said that he had read the investigation report by Mr. Matas word for word and was convinced that its conclusions were true. That is why he came to give a speech at the forum. He said the issues discussed in the report are very shocking, but the authors' presentation of evidence was convincing and free from overblown language. Dr. Ostrander thanked Mr. Matas and Dr. Allison and said that forums such as these should be held in more universities.

More than 130 people came to the forum. Most of them had never heard about the persecution of Falun Gong before.

Bob, an American-born Chinese, and a student at the University of Hawaii, said that he always had negative thoughts about Falun Gong before. After the forum, he realised that all his negative notions were due to the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda. After finally learning the truth about Falun Gong, he asked practitioners many questions, and even said that he wanted to learn the exercises.

A student from China talked to Dr. Allison for a long time after the forum. She said that she didn't believe in Falun Gong. Dr. Allison said that believing in Falun Gong is not important. "What is important is that Falun Gong practitioners should have freedom of belief." Dr. Allison told her that the principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" that Falun Gong practitioners follow is important for the whole world and important for today's Chinese people. What he said made the student really think.

Mr. Matas and Dr. Allison expressed their opinion that the forum was very successful. They also said the audience feedback impressed them deeply.

The forum was one of the activities during "Chinese Human Rights Week," which was hosted by the Falun Dafa Club and Amnesty International at the University of Hawaii. Chinese Human Rights Week started on October 22nd. A series of activities were held during the week. Professor Jon Van Dyke from the law school at the University of Hawaii gave a speech on Chinese human rights and the 2008 Olympics. The organisers showed the documentary "The Concrete Revolution," which featured stories about farmers in Beijing. The organisers of the forum "Falun Gong and the Persecution in China" invited Professor Gwendalle Cooper from the University of California-San Diego to give a speech. In her talk, Professor Cooper analysed what Falun Gong is and why it has been persecuted in China.

The organisers of Chinese Human Rights Week expressed their hope that the increase in awareness created by their activities will bring about an improvement in the human rights situation in China.