8/18/10

Vancouver - Members of the Falun Gong spiritual group have gathered today at the Vancouver Convention Centre to protest against what they say is China's killing of Falun Gong practitioners for their organs.

The Falun Gong are manning a table inside the venue where the International Congress of the Transplantation Society is taking place.

Practitioners say they are appealing to the Congress to help stop the illegal harvesting of organs of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

David Matas who was nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for his intensive investigation over a four-year period into the organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China will speak at the Congress on Ending Abuse of Organ Transplantation in China. His work had culminated into a book called "Bloody Harvest: The killing of Falun Gong for their organs" which was published in late 2009.

"In fact my research on this matter led me to conclude that prisoners of the spiritual movement Falun Gong were the subject of having their organs taken without their consent and sometimes at the cost of their lives," said Matas. "I'm involved in this as an activist who speaks up for human rights issues. It is the doctors and hospitals in China conducting these organ harvestings, noting that the government is not innocent in the matter. In China, without government sanctioning, nothing can happen. The solution is for this to stop. People must campaign against it publicly and speak on the issue, then getting extra territorial legislation on organ transplanting."

Hence it remains to be seen whether The Transplantation Society can implement a viable legislation mechanism to prevent unethical organ harvesting from taking place in hot beds such as China where thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have disappeared only to have become unwilling organ donors often resulting in death.

"The situation in China is that donors are waiting in line for a recipient," said Dr. Trey of Doctors against Forced Organ Harvesting, adding that there must be a pool of living donors. He mentioned an ad found in April 2006, published in a Chinese newspaper, advertising: "Twenty organ transplants free of charge" at the Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, for which people could register by calling the hospital's hotline.

Amnesty International also joined in the choir to make a public call at the Congress to stop using organs from executed prisoners in China.