Rights Panel Urges UK to Steer Clear of Involvement in CCP’s Forced Organ Harvesting
Collaborations between China and UK medical institutions related to transplants should cease, as suggested by a group of UK lawmakers, lawyers, and victims of China’s persecution who gathered for a hearing in London on Nov. 5. The event aimed to raise awareness about how Western medical society might inadvertently support forced organ harvesting by the Chinese regime.
Eleanor Stephenson, a barrister and legal consultant for the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China, warned that medical professionals could be complicit in communist China’s crimes by providing clinical training to Chinese transplant surgeons involved in forced organ harvesting.
Stephenson highlighted concerns about the acceptance of transplant-related research papers from China in Western journals, which fail to address how organs are sourced, indicating a lack of proof of voluntary consent from organ donors.
Efforts to bring an amendment to the UK government’s procurement bill in 2023, aimed at barring suppliers involved in forced organ harvesting from public contracts, were unsuccessful, according to Stephenson.
Hospital exchange programs also raised concern, as Chinese hospitals send trainees to Western hospitals without due diligence, potentially implicating the latter in forced organ harvesting activities.
China has been a popular destination for transplant tourists due to short waiting times for matching organs, facilitated by the unethical harvesting of organs from prisoners of conscience by the Chinese regime, as reported by investigative sources.
Lord David Alton of Liverpool highlighted the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, victims of forced organ harvesting, urging an end to the horrific suppression based on religious or spiritual beliefs.
Evidence of forced organ harvesting by China first emerged in 2006 and was confirmed by the China Tribunal in 2023. The tribunal found that Falun Gong practitioners were primary targets of this brutal practice.
Recommendations provided by Canadian investigative lawyer David Matas during the hearing included banning entry for individuals involved in organ transplant abuse, expanding legislation to prosecute foreign nationals involved in forced organ harvesting, and ending transplant-related collaborations between China and the UK.
Additional suggestions involved amending the State Immunity Act to prevent perpetrators from claiming immunity, recommencing human rights dialogues, making statements in international bodies, and imposing sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses.
The report presented by the UK Falun Dafa Association recommended imposing sanctions on Chinese officials, banning the supply of organ transplantation equipment to China by British companies, and enacting legislation to protect Falun Gong practitioners similar to the Falun Gong Protection Act in the United States.
The US House of Representatives recently passed the Falun Gong Protection Act, aiming to counter forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and avoiding cooperation with China in organ transplantation.
