(Minghui.org) “We have to do something. Even though organ harvesting doesn't impact me directly, it is a moral issue that nobody should ignore,” said Professor Maria Fiatarone Singh of her efforts to expose and stamp out forced organ harvesting.
Professor Fiatarone Singh, medical professor at University of Sydney, recently spoke at the first hearing held by Parliamentarians Against Forced Organ Harvesting (PAFOH) in Canberra, the capital of Australia, to promote legislative actions to end this crime against humanity.
It took her several months to prepare for her presentation “Live Organ Harvesting: Law, Medical Ethics, and Social Responsibility” delivered on July 16.
Speaking of her motivation to join the global initiative to end organ harvesting in China, Professor Fiatarone Singh shared that she first learned about the crime in 2006 from David Matas, an international human rights lawyer and subject matter expert on the issue of organ harvesting.
Professor Fiatarone Singh later had the opportunity to meet with Falun Gong practitioners who have suffered severe persecution. She was deeply impressed by the fact that she saw no hatred or resentment in them: “Their style of perseverance and dignity is very inspiring.”
During her presentation on the 16th, Professor Fiatarone Singh showed examples of countries around the world taking legal action against organ harvesting in her presentation. She hoped that the Australian government will make laws to help thoroughly end this crime against humanity.
Maria Fiatarone Singh, Professor of Medicine at Sydney University has a photo taken with a Falun Gong practitioner who suffered persecution in China at the Parliament House in Canberra after the hearing on ending live organ harvesting in China.
Using data and investigation results, she pointed out that compared with other countries, “There is virtually nothing in the way of voluntary donation of organs, and yet from the figures that we know of from the past 20 years or so, there has been a growing number of transplants in China.”
She listed some qualified investigators who have been researching this since 2006.
• Canadian Nobel Peace Prize nominees, David Kilgour and David Matas both human rights lawyers estimated that there was something like 41,5000 unexplained organ transplants in China.
• Ethan Gutmann, an investigative research and an award winning journalist, through interviewing over 100 eye witnesses, indicated that at least 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been killed for their organs in China between 2000 and 2008.
She also pointed out that Ministry of Health's own statistics showed that up to 95% of the source for organ transplants in China is executed prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
Professor Fiatarone Singh called upon the international community to urge the Chinese regime to immediately stop its live organ harvesting crimes.
She was encouraged that senators and MPs attending the hearing obviously wanted to show concern over this issue. She believed that good things will come one after another. She also noticed that Senator John Madigan and MP Craig Kelly, founders of PAFOH, paid great attention to this issue and they have actually done a lot to move it forward.
The Australian Senate unanimously passed a motion on March 21, 2013 calling for the government to support the UN and Council of Europe initiatives to oppose the practice of live organ harvesting in China.
Professor Fiatarone Singh believed that it is a good starting point, but more solid law needs to be established to combat the practice of live organ harvesting, illegal organ traffickers and groups, and even organ purchasers, so as to prevent such issues from occurring.
She believes that one will become complicit if the person receives an organ without consent of the donor. Therefore laws need to be enacted to change the situation, she said.
Professor Fiatarone Singh stated with optimism that activities inside and outside Australia that raise awareness of the live organ harvesting will help stop this crime. She believed that the Parliament would show strong support.
Category: Organ Harvesting
