PRESS STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 19, 2002
FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS DEPORTED FROM CAMBODIA IN VIOLATION OF UN REFUGEE CONVENTION OF 1951
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, August 19, 2002 -- Li Guojun and his wife Zhang Xingi were deported to Mainland China by Cambodian authorities on August 9, 2002, and are now being held in a detention center in Hunan province. They were arrested by the Cambodian authorities on August 2, 2002, after the Cambodian Department of Foreigners warned them that their presence in the country was damaging the friendly relations between Cambodia and China.
Li and Zhang's life changed considerably after Zhang received some Falun Gong books in the mail from Taiwan last June. First Zhang was denied a new passport by the Chinese Government after her old one expired during the first week of last July, a few weeks later both she and her husband were abruptly dismissed from teaching positions they had held at a Chinese school since they had arrived in Cambodia in 1998.
Both Li and Zhang were Falun Gong practitioners. They were also documented as "persons of concern" under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees and awaiting official refugee status before they were abruptly deported to China on August 9, 2002 in direct violation of their status.
The Cambodian authorities reportedly denied they were holding the couple when approached by the UNHCR shortly after the couple was arrested in early August. Later, when a letter arrived from the UNHCR Regional office in Bangkok requesting the couples' immediately release, the Cambodian authorities revealed that Li and Zhang had already been deported to China earlier that same day.
The deportation of this couple is an outright violation of Cambodia's international obligation to protect such people under the laws of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees to which they are a signatory.
Since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999, over 450 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners have been verified, however reliable sources in China report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600. Over 100,000 have been detained, with more than 20,000 being sentenced to forced labor camps without trial. With six more deaths of Falun Gong practitioners held in China's forced labor camps and detention centers reported this week alone, we have cause for serious concern.
Will this be the fate that awaits the two Cambodian residents with UN-refugee status, who were arrested and deported to a Chinese detention center last week simply for practicing their personal spiritual belief in another country? Can we stand silently by as Jiang Zemin escalates his persecution against Falun Gong practitioners by exerting pressure on foreign governments to do his bidding? We call upon all organizations and individuals to voice their concerns to the Chinese authorities and help us avert another tragedy at the hands of the Jiang Zemin Regime.
On August 19, 2002, letters will be delivered to the following after the press conference:
Kofi Annan
Secretariat
United Nations
New York, New York 10017
Sadako Ogata
High Commissioner
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Regional Office for the United States & Caribbean
1775 K Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
Cambodian Mission
United Nations