Mexican Parliamentarians Announce Forum on Human Rights in China

The Chamber of Deputies of Mexico’s Parliament held a forum focusing on human rights abuses and slave labor in China
Mexican Parliamentarians Announce Forum on Human Rights in China
3/31/2009
Updated:
3/31/2009
BUENOS AIRES—In an official notice, the Chamber of Deputies of the Mexican parliament announced a forum called “The human rights situation in China, the persecution of Falun Gong,” on Monday, March 30.

The Mexican political commentator Gerardo de la Concha Medina, one of the organizers, told The Epoch Times that the forum was much anticipated in the political and industrial sectors of the country. They see a direct relation between their industry and human rights violations in China, he said; more specifically, the use of prisoners of conscience, and others, in making products for export. As Mexico is flooded with cheap products made through forced labor in China, local industry has been unable to compete.

Deputy Armando Garcia Mendez of the Social Democratic Party cited the Chamber’s notice, saying: “Since 1999 the practice of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline founded in China by Mr. Li Hongzhi in 1992, has been prohibited in the country, which violates human rights, according to the declarations of investigative and civil organizations, like Amnesty International and the United Nations.”

It’s estimated that a great portion of the prisoners of forced labor camps in China are practitioners of Falun Gong, illegally detained during the persecution of the religious practice by the communist regime in China.

The Deputy said that, in addition to the presence of Gerardo de la Concha, who represented the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, the forum was also attended by the president of the Commission of Human Rights of the Federal District, Emilio Alvarez Icaza, and the Mexican ex-ambassador to Cuba, Ricardo Pascoe.

Bin Li and Charles Lee, practitioners of Falun Gong, gave testimony of the persecution and torture they suffered as part of the systematic campaign of harassment directed against their faith.

International human rights lawyer David Matas, and Canadian ex-Secretary of State David Kilgour also participated in the forum, explaining details of their investigation of mass harvesting of organs of detained practitioners of Falun Gong.

The Chamber’s notice cited Garcia Mendez saying “Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese practice of meditation and exercises originating in China, classified as a form of self-cultivation. This discipline is taught freely and centered on self-improvement according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.”

Mendez spoke more about Falun Gong, and added that it is practiced in 70 countries.


The original notice from the Chamber of Deputies is here: http://desarrollo.diputados.gob.mx/camara/005_comunicacion/a_boletines/2009_2009/003_marzo/27_27/3985_falun_gong_una_disciplina_filosofica_violentamente_perseguida_en_china_anuncian_foro_de_analisis_en_san_lazaro