WELCOME TO THE OPENING CEREMONY FOR NOMINATIONS FOR THE EDELSTAM PRIZE 2020, WITH A SEMINAR ON THE CURRENT HUMAN RIGHTS CATASTROPHE IN CHINA

NOVEMBER 12, 2019 AT 17.00 – 21.00

In 2018, the Edelstam Prize Laureate was Li Wenzu, the wife of the imprisoned Chinese Human Rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang who, having defended activists, victims of land seizures and religious minorities, especially Falun Gong practitioners, disappeared in 2015 during the “709 Crackdown,” a round-up conducted by the Public Security Bureau targeting courtroom critics of the Communist authorities. Since then, Li Wenzu has been instru- mental in campaigning for the release of her still detained husband, as well the hundreds of other lawyers and activists who were arrested during the crackdown, and she received the 2018 Edelstam Prize for her outstanding contributions and exceptional courage in standing up for one’s beliefs in the Defense of Human Rights.

On the occasion of the opening of the Call for Nominations for the Edelstam Prize 2020, the Edelstam Foundation, together with Uiguriska utbildningsföreningen (The Uyghur Education Association), Supporting Human Rights in China (SHRIC) and the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), cordially invites you to a seminar on the current human rights catastrophe unfolding in the People’s Republic of China.

Venue: NBV, Klara Södra kyrkogata 20, 111 52 Registration: [email protected]

Invitation to a Public Conversation on Global Responsibility: THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY’S TYRANNY AND TERROR – GENOCIDE, CONCENTRATION CAMPS, TORTURE AND HIGH-TECH MASS SURVEILLANCE – AS THE WORLD PRETENDS IT DOESN’T SEE...

Governments, institutions, businesses, and individuals in the international community all have a moral obligation to help stop the escalating crimes against humanity in China, which include the persecution, torture and execution of Falun Gong practitioners, whose organs are then cannibalized for commercial profit, the incarceration of over one million Uyghurs in concentration camps, the destruction of Tibetan Buddhism and culture, the persecution of Christians and the razing of their churches, an Orwellian system of high-tech surveillance and “social credit points” to track and punish critics of the regime, and a hardening refusal to allow any discussion of political reform. In short, the Chinese Communist Party, drawing upon China’s long history of autocratic rule, as well the lessons of its Nazi and Soviet predecessors, enriched and emboldened by the Western world’s inability to see the Chinese people as anything more than a vast pool of cheap labor and huge market of consumers, has evolved into a new more than a vast pool of cheap labor and huge market of consumers, has evolved into a new type of totalitarian machine which, constituted by almost 100 million party apparatchiks and equipped with a global reach and economic resources that dwarf those of any previous dictatorship, threatens the foundations of modern civilization.

For over twenty years, the Chinese communist regime has conducted a program of medical genocide, by which it executes its opponents – death row convicts, prisoners of conscience, Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans, members of underground Christian congregations – and then extracts their kidneys, livers, hearts and lungs for sale on the domestic and international organ transplant market. In their joint 2017 update, the Canadian Human Rights Lawyers David Matas and David Kilgour, authors of Bloody Harvest: Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China, and the American investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann, author of The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China’s Secret Solution to its Dissident Problem, estimate that between 60,000 to 100,000 organs annually were cannibalized from executed prisoners between 2005 and 2015. Ethan Gutmann has calculated the profits accruing to the communist party by this unspeakable evil to be some 10 billion US dollars per year. Slowly, much too slowly, the world is awakening to this state-sponsored, horrific crime. Israel, Taiwan, Spain and Italy have enacted laws prohibiting their citizens from travelling to China for organ transplantations. The European Parliament and the US Congress have both passed resolutions condemning the practice. And earlier this year, the London-based China Tribunal, with Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, Professor Martin Elliot, and Professor Arthur Waldron among its members, issued its judgement: “The Tribunal’s members are certain - unanimously, and sure beyond reasonable doubt - that in China forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practiced for a substantial period of time involving a very substantial number of victims.”

The seminar will be attended by Mr. Ethan Gutmann and Dr. Enver Tohti Bughda, an eye-witness to this Crime against Humanity. Interviews will be lead by the moderator Mr. Folke Rydén, journalist and documentary producer.

Absolutely no photography is allowed during the seminar.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROGRAM 17.00 Ms. Caroline Edelstam, Co-Founder and President of the Edelstam Foundation, gives an introduction and greets welcome.

17.10 Ms. Sayragul Sauytbay, Witness from a concentration camp in Xinjiang, China. 17.35 Mr. Manyan Ng, Director of International Society of Human Rights. 17.55 Mr. Jonny Sågänger, Journalist and author of Organ Trade (“Organhandel”). 18.15 Dr. Enver Tohti Bughda, Cancer surgeon from China. 18.55 Break. 19.05 Mr. Ethan Gutmann, Investigative journalist, author of The Slaughter, co-founder of ETAC, and nominee for 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

19.45 Dr. Benjamin Kong, Falun Gong practitioner, witness of medical examinations for the purpose of collecting data for an organ bank, and has witnessed persecution and torture in concentration camps.

20.05 Dr. Huige Li, Professor at the University Medical Center of Mainz, Germany, Advisory Board Member of DAFOH, and co-author of the COHRC 2018/2019 Reports.

20.25 Panel Discussion and questions led by the Moderator. 20.55 Ceremony “Opening of Call for Nominations,” Ms. Caroline Edelstam. 21.00 End of Seminar.

Relevant Links The International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China: https://endtransplantabuse.org/

Independent Tribunal into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China: https://chinatribunal.com/

US Congress Resolution Condemning Forced Organ Harvesting: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/343/text

Resolutions and Parliamentarian Statements on Forced Organ Harvesting in China: https://dafoh.org/resolutions-and-parliamentarian-statements-on-forced-organ-harvesting-in-china/

The Edelstam Prize The Edelstam Prize is a -based international monetary award administrated by the Harald Edelstam Foundation, and is awarded for outstanding contributions and exceptional courage in standing up for one’s beliefs in the Defence of Human Rights.

The Edelstam Prize is named after, and awarded in the memory of, the Swedish diplomat and Ambassador, Harald Edelstam (1913-1989). Harald Edelstam distinguished himself as diplomat by his professional competence, his bravery and his civic courage in the fight for Human Rights. He was an early proponent and symbol of what is today known as the ”Responsibility to Protect,” and his memorable acts contributed to save more than a thousand lives.

The winner of the Edelstam Prize can be a private person or a person who serves in Government, international or national organisations. The winner shall be an individual who has acted in Ambassador Harald Edelstam’s spirit in a country/countries where Human Rights, according to international law, have been violated. The laureate must have shown outstanding capabilities in analysing and handling complex situations and in finding ways, even unconventional and creative ones, to defend Human Rights. The candidate has, presumably in a complex situation, been able to take a decisive role in helping threatened people or directly saving human lives. Civic courage is a central parameter in the selection of the successful candidate.

The Nomination Committee The Nomination Committee is chaired by Mrs. Lise Bergh, former General Secretary of Amnesty Sweden, and on the Committee are also Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, United Nations former Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Deputy Tucapel Jiménez, member of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies’Commission for Human Rights, Professor Yash Ghai, scholar within constitutional law and the head of the Constitution Advisory Support Unit of the United Nations Development Programme in Nepal and former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Cambodia on Human Rights. On the committee is also Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan, who is the General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, and the chairman of Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, Ambassador Bruno Stagno Ugarte, Deputy Executive Director for Advocacy at Human Rights Watch and Costa Rica’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to the United Nations, Mrs. Wanja Lundby-Wedin, former President of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and former President of the European Trade Union Confederation.and Ms. Parul Sharma, Principal of The Academy for Human Rights in Business at CSR Sweden, a human rights lawyer with extensive experience in CSR issues in so-called high-risk countries.

The Jury The international jury is chaired by Ms. Caroline Edelstam, Harald Edelstam’s granddaughter and co-founder of the Edelstam Foundation. The 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Judge Shirin Ebadi represents Asia; Africa is represented by Dr. Pascoal Mocumbi, former Prime Minister of Mozambique. Ambassador Eileen Donahoe, Executive Director of Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford University’s Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and former US Ambassador to UN Human Rights Council represents North America. Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, represents Oceania. Latin America is represented by former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Dr. Luis Moreno- Ocampo, and Europe is represented by former Judge Baltasar Garzón, who served on Spain’s central criminal court, who is known for having indicted the Chilean dictator, General for the deaths and torture of thousands of victims from and other countries.

For further information, please contact: Mrs. Lise Bergh, Chair of the Edelstam Prize Nomination Committee Tel: +46 (0)707 57 48 58, e-mail: [email protected]

Caroline Edelstam, Co-founder and President of the Harald Edelstam Foundation Tel: +46 (0)706 98 72 23, e-mail: [email protected] Web page: www.edelstamprize.org / www.edelstam.org