[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 116 (Thursday, July 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4809-S4810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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     SENATE RESOLUTION 274--EXPRESSING SOLIDARITY WITH FALUN GONG 
   PRACTITIONERS WHO HAVE LOST LIVES, FREEDOMS, AND OTHER RIGHTS FOR 
ADHERING TO THEIR BELIEFS AND PRACTICES, AND CONDEMNING THE PRACTICE OF 
        NON-CONSENTING ORGAN HARVESTING, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

  Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Moran, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Tillis, Mr. 
Coons, Mr. Brown, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Markey, Mr. Casey, Mr. Rubio, Mr. 
Cruz, Mr. King, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Reed, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Cassidy) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 274

       Whereas Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is a Chinese 
     spiritual discipline founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992 that 
     consists of spiritual and moral teachings, meditation, and 
     exercise, and is based upon the universal principles of 
     truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance;
       Whereas, during the mid-1990s, Falun Gong acquired a large 
     and diverse following, with as many as 70,000,000 
     practitioners at its peak;
       Whereas, on April 25, 1999, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 
     Falun Gong practitioners gathered in Beijing to protest 
     growing restrictions by the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China on the activities of Falun Gong 
     practitioners, and the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China responded with an intensive, comprehensive, and 
     unforgiving campaign against the movement that began on July 
     20, 1999, with the banning of Falun Gong;
       Whereas the Constitution of the People's Republic of China 
     guarantees basic rights, including the freedoms of speech, 
     association, demonstration, and religion;
       Whereas, in 1993, the Government of the People's Republic 
     of China praised Li Hongzhi for his contributions in 
     ``safeguarding social order and security'' and ``promoting 
     rectitude in society'';
       Whereas, in many detention facilities and labor camps, 
     Falun Gong prisoners of conscience have at times comprised 
     the majority of the population, and have been said to receive 
     the longest sentences and the worst treatment, including 
     torture;
       Whereas, according to overseas Falun Gong and human rights 
     organizations, since 1999, from several hundred to a few 
     thousand Falun Gong adherents have died in custody from 
     torture, abuse, and neglect;
       Whereas a review of the Government of the People's Republic 
     of China by the United Nations Human Rights Council's Working 
     Group on the Universal Periodic Review in November 2018, 
     recommended that China ``[e]nd prosecution and persecution on 
     the basis of religion or belief, including for Muslims, 
     Christians, Tibetan Buddhists and Falun Gong'';
       Whereas the United Nations Committee Against Torture and 
     the Special Rapporteur on Torture have expressed concern over 
     the allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong 
     prisoners, and have called on the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China to increase accountability and transparency 
     in the organ transplant system and punish those responsible 
     for abuses;
       Whereas the killing of religious or political prisoners for 
     any purpose, including for the purpose of selling their 
     organs for transplant, is an egregious and intolerable 
     violation of the fundamental right to life;
       Whereas voluntary and informed consent is the precondition 
     for ethical organ donation, and international medical 
     organizations state that prisoners, deprived of their 
     freedom, are not in the position to give free consent and 
     that the practice of sourcing organs from prisoners is a 
     violation of ethical guidelines in medicine;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     and the Communist Party of China continue to deny reports 
     that many

[[Page S4810]]

     organs are taken without the consent of prisoners, yet at the 
     same time prevent independent verification of the organ 
     transplant system in China;
       Whereas the organ transplantation system in China does not 
     comply with the World Health Organization's requirement of 
     transparency and traceability in organ procurement pathways;
       Whereas the Department of State Country Report on Human 
     Rights for China for 2018 reported that ``[s]ome activists 
     and organizations continue to accuse the government of 
     involuntarily harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, 
     especially members of Falun Gong'';
       Whereas Huang Jiefu, director of the China Organ Donation 
     Committee, announced in December 2014 that China would end 
     the practice of organ harvesting from executed prisoners by 
     January 1, 2015, but did not directly address organ 
     harvesting from prisoners of conscience;
       Whereas Freedom House reported in 2015 that Falun Gong 
     practitioners comprise the largest portion of prisoners of 
     conscience in China, and face an elevated risk of dying or 
     being killed in custody;
       Whereas the Department of State Country Report on Human 
     Rights for China for 2016 reported that ``some international 
     medical professionals and human rights researchers questioned 
     the voluntary nature of the [transplantation] system, the 
     accuracy of official statistics, and official claims about 
     the source of organs'';
       Whereas a 2017 report by Freedom House concluded that there 
     was ``credible evidence suggesting that beginning in the 
     early 2000s, Falun Gong detainees were killed for their 
     organs on a large scale'';
       Whereas the Congressional-Executive Commission on China 
     (CECC) stated in 2018 that ``[i]nternational organizations 
     continued to express concern over reports that organs of 
     detained prisoners have been used in numerous organ 
     transplant operations in China, including those of Falun Gong 
     practitioners'' and also noted that medical professionals and 
     international advocacy organizations ``disputed Chinese 
     health officials' claims that organ procurement systems have 
     been reformed in compliance with international standards, 
     citing ethical concerns about organ sourcing raised by short 
     wait times for organ transplants and discrepancies in data on 
     organ transplants'';
       Whereas the Independent Tribunal Into Forced Organ 
     Harvesting From Prisoners of Conscience in China, chaired by 
     Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, issued a short form conclusion of its 
     final judgment in June 2019 finding that ``forced organ 
     harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a 
     significant scale and that Falun Gong practitioners have been 
     one--and probably the main--source of organ supply''; and
       Whereas the Tribunal also concluded that it had seen no 
     evidence that the organ transplantation industry in China had 
     been dismantled, and absent a satisfactory explanation as to 
     the source of organs, that forced organ harvesting continues 
     in China today: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) expresses solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners and 
     their families for the lives, freedoms, and rights they lost 
     for adhering to their beliefs and practices;
       (2) emphasizes to the Government of the People's Republic 
     of China that freedom of religion includes the right of Falun 
     Gong practitioners to freely practice Falun Gong in China;
       (3) calls upon the Communist Party of China to immediately 
     cease and desist from its campaign to persecute Falun Gong 
     practitioners and promptly release all Falun Gong 
     practitioners who have been confined, detained, or imprisoned 
     for pursuing their right to hold and exercise their spiritual 
     beliefs;
       (4) condemns the practice of non-consenting organ 
     harvesting in the People's Republic of China;
       (5) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China and the Communist Party of China to immediately end the 
     practice of organ harvesting from all prisoners of 
     conscience;
       (6) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to allow an independent and transparent investigation 
     into organ transplant abuses in China;
       (7) urges the President to consider the applicability of 
     existing authorities, including the Global Magnitsky Human 
     Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 2656 note), to impose 
     targeted sanctions on those individuals responsible for the 
     persecution of Falun Gong, including those engaging in a 
     pattern of non-consensual organ harvesting; and
       (8) urges the President to ensure that the United States 
     Government highlights and condemns human rights abuses 
     perpetrated, ordered, or directed by government officials in 
     China both publicly and in private engagements with all 
     relevant government officials in China.

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