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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Falun Gong is a peaceful spiritual practice with
3key values of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance for
4achieving physical and spiritual well-being through exercise
5and meditation; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Falun Gong has benefitted tens of millions in
7China and elsewhere; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Since July 1999, Falun Gong practitioners have
9been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party, as documented
10by the United States Department of State, the U.S. Commission
11on International Religious Freedom, Amnesty International,
12Human Rights Watch, and many other governmental and third-party
13organizations; and
 
14    WHEREAS, This persecution of the Falun Gong has involved
15the widespread use of torture; and
 
16    WHEREAS, The Chinese Communist authority is persecuting
17Falun Gong practitioners with this policy: "Defame their
18reputation, bankrupt them financially, destroy them
19physically"; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Over 3,700 Falun Gong practitioners have died from

 

 

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1documented abuse, and some of their bodies were missing
2internal organs; and
 
3    WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of State in its 2011 Country
4Reports on Human Rights Practices stated, "Overseas and
5domestic media and advocacy groups continued to report
6instances of organ harvesting, particularly from Falun Gong
7practitioners and Uighurs"; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Canadian human rights attorney David Matas and
9former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific David
10Kilgour co-wrote the investigative report "Bloody Harvest:
11Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun
12Gong Practitioners in China"; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The Matas-Kilgour report concluded that the organ
14harvesting allegations were true and that tens of thousands of
15Falun Gong practitioners may have been killed for their organs;
16and
 
17    WHEREAS, The harvested organs are then used by the
18hospitals associated with the prison for transplants, with the
19customers for these transplants often being individuals from
20elsewhere, including the United States; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Researcher and journalist Ethan Gutmann estimates

 

 

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1that approximately 65,000 Falun Gong adherents may have been
2killed for their organs from 2000 to 2008, and that a smaller
3number of other religious and ethnic minorities may also have
4been targeted; and
 
5    WHEREAS, In May 2012, the World Organization to Investigate
6the Persecution of Falun Gong released telephone transcripts
7and audio recordings of conversations between undercover
8investigators and senior Chinese Communist Party officials, in
9which several officials indicated that central authorities
10were aware of or involved in organ harvesting from Falun Gong
11prisoners; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Kirk C. Allison, Ph.D., Director of the Program in
13Human Rights and Health of the University of Minnesota School
14of Public Health, testified in 2006 before the Subcommittee on
15Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on International
16Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, on the topic of his
17report, "Mounting Evidence of Falun Gong Practitioners used as
18Organ Sources in China and Related Ethical Responsibilities";
19therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
21NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
22we call upon the Chinese Communist Party to immediately stop
23persecuting Falun Gong practitioners; and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That we urge the United States government and the
2U.S. President to investigate organ transplants in China and
3take all reasonable steps to bring an end to the revolting
4practice of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong
5practitioners for transplants; and be it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That we request the United States government to
7prohibit any doctors who performed transplants using organs
8harvested from Falun Gong practitioners from gaining entry into
9the United States; and be it further
 
10    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
11presented to the Falun Gong practitioners of Illinois, the
12President of the United States of America Barack Obama, and the
13Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai.