The day before the 60th anniversary of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) joined 300 political figures from 18 countries in a letter to the U.N. Human Rights Council. The letter called on the U.N. to take effective actions to stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
The supporting political figures included speakers of parliament, central and local congressmen, county magistrates, and city mayors from 18 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. They offered their support to CIPFG’s “Millions of Signatures” campaign , which was launched in Hong Kong in January 2008 and has earned the approval of more than 1.3 million people from 133 countries. The campaign requests that the U.N. help put an immediate end to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) brutal persecution of Falun Gong adherents.
On November 21, the U.N. Committee against Torture released a report on the concerns of China’s wide-spread persecutions. It specifically requested that an investigation be made concerning the abuse and live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners .
The Committee’s proposals have attracted the attention of the international community. Since the CCP has been violating international conventions on human rights for years and has been actively persecuting Falun Gong practitioners since July 1999, CIPFG declared that the Human Rights Council should demand a deadline for improvement.
Zhu Wanqi, the coordinator of the “Millions of Signatures” campaign, personally sent the letter to the U.N. Secretary and U.N. Chairman of the Human Rights Council.
Zhu emphasized that the U.N. Human Rights Council should interrogate the CCP more severely about all the cases of human rights violation, and order the immediate end of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. “If the CCP continues to deny the truth or does not respond within the time frame, the Human Rights Council should propose sanctions against them for continuing to violate human rights.”
Asia’s CIPFG vice-chairman and attorney Kenneth Chiu believes that the concerns expressed by the U.N. Human Rights council for the violation of human rights and the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners are only basic justice. He would like to see further action taken, such as sending a team of investigators into China who could then issue a report, demanding that specific improvements be made.
The letter reads as follows:
To: President, U.N. Human Rights Council
Cc: U.N. Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General
Dear Mr. President,
I have been made aware of the global “Millions of Signatures” Campaign launched by Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) since January 2008 and I have been shown the evidence of such signature collection. I am impressed by the overwhelming support the campaign has received from both my country and people world-wide. Apart from my support for the CIPFG’s endeavor to uphold human rights, I sympathize with the Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime and understand the local signers’ appeal against the persecution. All human rights are universal. I hope the United Nations, my government, and all human rights organizations can provide effective assistance to call on the Chinese regime to immediately stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
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