(Clearwisdom.net) Former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia Pacific) David Kilgour held a press conference in Austria under invitation of IGFM (International Society for Human Rights) in Austria on November 21, 2006. After the conference, Mr. Kilgour met with Austrian politicians regarding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) crime of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. On November 29, members of Social Democratic Party and members of Parliament (MP) Ms. Petra Bayr and Ms. Elisabeth Hlavac filed an inquiry letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Health and requested a reply regarding the CCP crime of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners.

Ms. Petra Bayr

Mr. David Kilgour holds a press conference under invitation in Austria on November 21

Austrian Falun Gong practitioners protest against CCP crime of live organ harvesting outside of an annual dialogue site in Vienna between the European Union's Human Rights Commission and China on the topic of human rights on May 25, 2006

Letter of Inquiry

Ms. Petra Bayr and Ms. and Ms. Elisabeth Hlavac wrote in their inquiry letter that Mr. Kilgour introduced his investigation report on the CCP's organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners, which had caused an international sensation and was published by Austrian press on September 29, 2006. Mr. Kilgour's report drew the conclusion that China had abused persecuted Falun Gong practitioners as organ donors. The Chinese regulation on organ transplants issued on July 1 only applied to civil hospitals. However, most organ transplants were carried out by military hospitals according to Mr. Kilgour's investigation report.

The inquiry letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ursula Plassnik asked if the Minister had heard about the crime or drawn any conclusion, if the issue had been raised during any bilateral or multilateral discussion with China, if the United Nations would be asked to investigate it, and how to resist such violation of human right in the aspect of politics.

Beside the above-mentioned, the letter to Minister of Health Maria Rauch-Kallat asked questions about organ transplants in Austria, "What proportion of Austrian organ transplant is from foreign countries? What proportion is from China? How do we make sure organs from foreign countries are not seized against donors' will?"

MP's written inquiries should be formally replied by Austrian law.

Mr. Kilgour's Trip to Austria

Like trips to other European countries, Mr. Kilgour's trip to Austria drew attention of media and government to the CCP's crime of harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Kilgour said at an interview with Sound of Hope he had been to Warsaw, Prague and Bratislava on this trip. People's feedback was encouraging, like Parliaments, organizations and media. Mr. Kilgour had pleasant talks with political parties and reached agreement with them. Government officials in Austria seemed to be willing to do their best to pressure the CCP to stop the harvesting of organs from Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Kilgour felt the parties had reached agreement to do more. He hoped the parties would either jointly or separately express the unanimous opinion of the Austrians to China.