FALUN DAFA ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA INC

Falun Dafa Association of Australia Submission to the inquiry into human organ trafficking and organ transplant tourism

By the Human Rights Sub-Committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

7 August 2017

Falun Dafa Association of Australia Submission to the inquiry into human organ trafficking and organ transplant tourism

Preface

The Falun Dafa Association of Australia Inc. appreciates the opportunity to make this submission to the Human Rights Sub-Committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (the Committee). This submission includes input from the Falun Dafa Association of Australia, Victoria Branch Inc., and the Falun Dafa Association of Australia, Queensland Branch Inc. Organ harvesting from anyone, anywhere, is abhorrent. We are encouraged to see that the Committee is conducting this inquiry, and hope that it results in some tangible and meaningful outcomes for Australia to play a role in curtailing the practice of organ harvesting – particularly in (which is our area of greatest knowledge and concern), as well as other areas of the world where organ harvesting occurs. Our focus in this submission is to offer information that can support Australia’s further inquiry into this grave matter. So far, the standard response from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been that there is not enough evidence (or independent verification) to support the allegations of forced organ harvesting from practitioners. However, quite the opposite conclusion is drawn when the existing investigations are reviewed by concerned doctors, bio-ethicists, Freedom House and the US Congress. While contesting evidence can be a positive process, it is clear that there is no published data that rationally refutes the reports of organ harvesting referenced in this submission – only statements of obfuscation, denial and attacks on the authors.

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Table of contents

1 Background ...... 5 1.1 Development of abusive in China ...... 5 1.2 Forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners ...... 6

2 Response to terms of reference ...... 11 2.1 Organ trafficking offence to have extraterritorial application ...... 11 2.2 Accede to 2014 Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs ... 11 2.3 Extent of organ trafficking and transplant tourism ...... 12

3 Recommendations ...... 13

Appendix A Brief overview of Falun Dafa ...... 15

Appendix B Response to DFAT, 1 Nov 2016 ...... 17

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1 Background

1.1 Development of abusive organ transplantation in China

1960s–1980s A 1994 Human Rights Watch report, Organ Procurement and Judicial Execution in China explains how China's organ transplant program began during the 1960s, expanded during the 1970s – although success rates remained low – and appeared to be faltering by the early 1980s. The following is an extract from a US Congress hearing in 2001, titled Organs For Sale: China's Growing Trade and Ultimate Violation of Prisoners' Rights: Governmental sanctioning of organ harvesting from prisoners reportedly began in 1979 with the issuance of a document from China's Public Health Ministry entitled Rules Concerning the Dissection of Corpses. This document asserted the legality of the practice and laid the foundation for future generations, such as the ones issued in 1984, the regulations entitled Provisions for Regulations on the Use of Dead Bodies or Organs from Condemned Criminals. In this 1984 document, the Chinese regime provided detailed instructions on the conditions and the procedures for harvesting organs from executed prisoners, including the coordination between health personnel and prison and public security officials and the need for confidentiality in the entire process. The Human Rights Watch report also notes two unrelated factors that combined after 1983 to boost China’s transplant program – a series of “crackdown on crime” campaigns, which increased the number of criminals sentenced to death (and therefore the supply of transplantable organs), and the introduction of anti-rejection drug Cyclosporine A, which raised the success rate in transplant operations. In the absence of proper legal safeguards for prisoners' rights, this caused the evolving relationship between China's surgical capacity, patient demand and organ supply to develop in a particularly abusive direction.1 By 1984, at least 98 hospitals around China had started organ transplant operations. Senior government cadres were reportedly given preferential status for organ procurement, while prompt organ transplant surgery was also widely available for high-paying foreign or overseas Chinese patients.

1990s In the 2011 article, “The Procedure” in the Weekly Standard,2 investigative journalist details how, during the 1990s, the Uighur people of the vast north-west region of China had become victims to fuel China’s transplant program. Prisoners sentenced to death had been supplemented by political prisoners. Gutmann

1 Organ Procurement and Judicial Execution in China, Human Rights Watch report, 1994. Available from https://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/china1/china 948.htm 2 Available from http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-xinjiang-procedure/article/610145

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recounted witness testimony from Enver Tohti, a general surgeon in an Urumqi hospital in 1995, and his experience of cutting out vital organs while a prisoner was still alive, and a young Uighur doctor who took blood from Uighur political prisoners in 1997 prior to their evisceration. By the end of 1999, the Uighur crackdown would be eclipsed by Chinese security’s largest-scale action since Mao: the elimination of Falun Gong. By my estimate up to three million Falun Gong practitioners would pass through the Chinese corrections system. Approximately 65,000 would be harvested, hearts still beating, before the 2008 Olympics. An unspecified, significantly smaller, number of House Christians and Tibetans likely met the same fate.

1.2 Forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners 1.2.1 Falun Gong – the perfect “donor” victims Clive Ansley, a Canadian and solicitor who practised and taught law in China for 14 years, was living in China when the persecution began. He described the scale of the campaign to eliminate Falun Gong in an affidavit:3 The decision taken in 1999 by then President to move against the Falun Gong was explicitly a decision to completely eradicate all members of the movement. This does not necessarily mean execution. The goal is to achieve a total elimination of Falun Gong practitioners from Chinese society.

Since the persecution of Falun Gong4 began on July 20, 1999, a large number of Falun Gong practitioners have been incarcerated in various forms of detention to force them to renounce their beliefs. Several factors made detained practitioners an ideal new source of vital organs, which became a perversely “logical” next step for the to take – from using death row prisoners’ organs to live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. Organ harvesting5 is the forced extraction of organs from a living person, for transplant to a paying recipient. Vital organs such as livers, hearts and lungs, as well as kidneys and corneas, are sold on demand at enormous profit. It was common, particularly in the early years of the persecution, for Falun Gong practitioners who appealed publicly to refuse to reveal their names and addresses when detained. This was to protect their families and avoid involving people at their workplaces. Many practitioners became unidentified prisoners – beyond the contact of family or carers, in a system designed to eliminate them. Practitioners have been detained in large, concentrated numbers, forming an easily accessible pool of retail organs that facilitates brief waiting times for matching and a stable supply to meet an increasing transplantation demand.

3 Clive Ansley, “Canadian Lawyer’s Testimony”, Falun Dafa Australia, 27 September 2006, Retrieved 2 August 2017 from http://falunau.org/2006/09/canadian-lawyer-s-testimony/ 4 See Appendix A on page 15 for a brief overview of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong). 5 In this document, we use the terms organ harvesting and organ trafficking interchangeably.

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As living “organ banks”, practitioners are available for “live” organ extraction, which reportedly can improve an organ recipient’s survival rate – as well as the transplant doctor’s career. Unlike prisoners sentenced to death, practitioners are known for their healthy lifestyle (no drinking, no smoking, regular Falun Gong exercise and meditation) and their organs are of preferred status. The majority of Falun Gong practitioners are incarcerated without judicial process, and harvesting their organs is carried out through the collaboration of detention, police, military and hospital facilities. The transplantation business is extremely profitable and a Party-approved means for the Peoples Liberation Army and military hospitals, as well as individual doctors and hospitals, to make vast sums of money. The directive of Jiang Zemin, the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party who launched the persecution against Falun Gong, was to “defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically”.6 Jiang’s propaganda campaign targeted all Chinese people, with deadly consequences. The Chinese people became conditioned to accept or even participate in the killing of Falun Gong practitioners. This campaign was witnessed by the Canadian barrister Clive Ainsley when working in China:3 I was resident in China from the time the persecution against the Falun Gong began in 1999 until the end of May 2003. I witnessed on a daily basis during that period the unremitting vilification of Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners in all areas of the Chinese print and television media. It was the most extreme, and totally unjustified campaign of unmitigated hatred I have ever witnessed. Historically, the only comparable hate campaign of which I am aware is that conducted by Adolf Hitler against the Jews in Europe. In 1943, Polish diplomat Jan Karski, gave eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust in Nazi- occupied Poland to President Roosevelt and US Supreme Court judge Felix Frankfurter. Frankfurter was sceptical and famously said: “I did not say that he was lying, I said that I could not believe him. There is a difference.”7 Because the reports of organ harvesting from Falun Gong are hard to believe, and few eyewitnesses have come forward, there has been little action from some governments around the world – including our own. We cannot help but remember how many lives were lost in the Holocaust because of the delayed response once the alarm was raised, and compare it to the reaction today. Neither can we forget the Nazi propaganda campaign against the Jews because of their faith. The Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda efforts to portray Falun Gong as an

6 According to Li Baigen, former director of the Reconnaissance and Design Administration Division of the Municipal Commission of Urban Planning and Design (who currently lives in the United States), , head of the central 610 Office, verbally relayed this new policy from Jiang Zemin to 3,000 government officials during a conference to discuss the persecution of Falun Gong (held on 30 November 1999 in the Great Hall of the People). This policy was never communicated as a written document. See also: http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2012/7/22/134604.html and http://www.upholdjustice.org/node/89 7 Quoted on The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation website: http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/saviors/diplomats/list/jan-karski-820/

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“anti-China political group” or “evil cult” has been a powerful strategy aimed at deadening the world’s senses to these atrocities.

1.2.2 Investigations – 2000 to 2016 On 17 August 2000, Mr Michael Danby MP asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs, questions on notice relating to organs from executed prisoners in China.8 The answers from Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs, confirmed the following: • the Sun Yatsen Hospital in Guangzhou performs transplants for fee-paying patients from outside China (not including Caucasians) for about AU$50,000; • an official document released by the Chinese Supreme Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Civil Affairs, entitled Provisional Regulation on the Use of Dead bodies or organs from Condemned Criminals was issued on 9 October 1984 that officially provides reason for this attitude of the People’s Republic of China to the use of transplants from executed criminals; • the bilateral human rights dialogue held in Canberra on 10-11 August 1998 raised concerns about trafficking organs of executed prisoners.

Although organ harvesting from prisoners in China was clearly a subject of international human rights concern at that time, the extension of the victim cohort to include prisoners of conscience was not identified in the early years of the persecution of Falun Gong. Accounts of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners were first reported by newspaper in March 2006 when a woman claimed that as many as 4,000 Falun Gong practitioners had been killed for their organs at the hospital where she had worked.9 A week later, a Chinese military doctor claimed that organ harvesting was happening in 36 different concentration camps in China. At the time, media and government officials found these stories too hard to believe. Several weeks after the stories were reported, Chinese Communist Party officials provided monitored tours of the hospital mentioned, to convince foreign reporters that the allegations were groundless. Since then, there have been several independent investigations into forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China. The first report was published in July 2006 (updated in 2007) by former secretary of state for Asia Pacific and international human rights lawyer . After months of investigation, they came to “the regrettable conclusion that the allegations are true”. Their initial 140- page report includes transcripts of phone conversations between investigators and Chinese hospitals, and interviews with witnesses.

8 Questions on Notice, China: Organ Transplants, available from Hansard at http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2F2000-11- 01%2F0146%22;src1=sm1 9 Epoch Times, “Witness Reveals Horrors of Sujiatun Concentration Camp”, 24 March 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2017 from: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1727413-witness-reveals-horrors-of-sujiatun-concentration-camp/

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Many doctors and medical ethicists started conducting their own research. The International Coalition to End Organ Pillaging in China publishes some of this research on their website (http://endorganpillaging.org/journal-articles/). Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) provides the medical community and society with objective findings of unethical and illegal organ harvesting. Investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann, working independently of Kilgour and Matas, published his book The Slaughter, Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China’s Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem in 2014.11 His book was based on interviews with top- ranking police officials and Chinese doctors who have killed prisoners on the operating table. Both Bloody Harvest and The Slaughter concluded that over 60,000 Falun Gong practitioners were killed in the process of extracting their organs for transplant between 2000 and 2008. These numbers were far more than the numbers of death- row prisoners that the Chinese Communist Party, after years of denial, admitted killing. In June 2016, Gutmann, Kilgour and Matas published a comprehensive update to their earlier research, titled Bloody Harvest/The Slaughter - An Update.12 The report is a meticulous examination of the transplant programs of hundreds of hospitals in China. The authors concluded that the Chinese Communist Party has been performing 60,000 to 100,000 transplants per year since year 2000 (as opposed to the official Chinese claim of 10,000 per year) and the primary source was Falun Gong practitioners. The Chinese Communist Party denies the allegations and refuses to allow independent investigations in China. After the Update report was released, the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a joint subcommittee hearing - Organ Harvesting: An Examination of a Brutal Practice.13 Several witnesses gave evidence testifying that the Chinese Communist Party conducts live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. David Matas and Ethan Gutmann gave testimony as expert researchers. One of our recommendations in Section 3 is that the Australian Government conducts a formal inquiry into organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience (with terms of reference that would necessarily be wider than this inquiry).

1.2.3 Australian developments The NSW Greens MLC, David Shoebridge has a bill before the NSW Parliament (Human Tissue Amendment (Trafficking in Human Organs) Bill 2016) which would criminalise the arranging, contracting and participation of any NSW resident in the commercial or non-consensual trading in or receipt of human organs.14

11 Ethan Gutmann, The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China’s Secret Solution to its Dissident Problem. Amherst: Prometheus Books; 2014 12 David Matas, Ethan Gutmann and David Kilgour, Bloody Harvest / The Slaughter - An Update. 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2017 from http://endorganpillaging.org/an-update/ 13 Transcript retrieved 5 August from http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20160623/105116/HHRG-114-FA16- 20160623-SD006.pdf Webcast available from https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/joint-subcommittee-hearing- organ-harvesting-examination-brutal-practice/ 14 https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bills/Pages/bill-details.aspx?pk=2953 Retrieved 3 August 2017

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In September 2016, The Law Society of New South Wales provided in-principle support for the proposed bill.15

We support, in principle, proposed legislation to extend the scope of the Act to cover the commercial trading and taking without consent of organs and other tissue in order to address potential human rights violations committed by residents of NSW abroad.

15 https://www.lawsociety.com.au/cs/groups/public/documents/internetpolicysubmissions/1201895.pdf Retrieved 2 August 2017

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2 Response to terms of reference The Committee will have regard to the offence of Organ Trafficking under division 271 of the Criminal Code and whether it would be practicable or desirable for: • this offence to have extraterritorial application; and • Australia to accede to the 2014 Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs.

2.1 Organ trafficking offence to have extraterritorial application The March 2013 amendment to the Criminal Code Act 1995 includes the offence of organ trafficking and harbouring a victim. However, it is limited to addressing organ transplant abuse only if the source of the organ is an Australian, or the abuse occurs in Australia. Since it doesn’t extend to Australians going overseas to procure organs unethically, and since such actions support unethical organ harvesting, including organ harvesting of vital organs from living humans, we believe the offence should definitely have extraterritorial application. Further, we believe the Criminal Code should be extended so that: • it makes it an offence for Australians to transfer, receive and import illicitly removed human organs, or travel overseas to receive an organ that they either know, or were reckless in not knowing, was trafficked; • the offence of organ trafficking applies to any person present in Australia who committed the offence outside Australia, whatever the status of the accused in Australia and whatever the nationality or residence of the victim.

2.2 Accede to 2014 Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs We fully support Australia’s acceding to the 2014 Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs, and further support domestic enforcement of the Convention so that Australian law coincides with the following: The Convention calls on governments to establish as a criminal offence the illegal removal of human organs from living or deceased donors: • Where the removal is performed without the free, informed and specific consent of the living or deceased donor, or, in the case of the deceased donor, without the removal being authorised under its domestic law; • Where, in exchange for the removal of organs, the living donor, or a third party, receives a financial gain or comparable advantage; • Where in exchange for the removal of organs from a deceased donor, a third party receives a financial gain or comparable advantage.

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The Convention also provides protection measures and compensation for victims as well as prevention measures to ensure transparency and equitable access to transplantation services.16

We note that Article 4, paragraph 1a of the Convention mentions organs removed without the free, informed and specific consent of either a living or deceased donor. Our well-founded concern regarding organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners is that the very act kills the “living donor” (rather than a living donor who remains living after the “donation”). The “donor” is killed on demand to service the recipient. We would therefore like to see a stronger position taken against people who receive a trafficked organ (if they knew, or were reckless in not knowing, that it was trafficked), since the supply would diminish if the demand is reduced. We support the proposed amendments to the Human Tissue Amendment (Trafficking in Human Organs) Bill 2016 (NSW) that would criminalise the arranging, contracting and participation of any NSW resident in the commercial or non-consensual trading in or receipt of human organs Article 8 of the Convention covers the transportation, transfer, receipt and import of illicitly removed human organs – could any one of those actions apply to a donor who returns to Australia with an implanted trafficked organ? Further, we do not believe that the Australian health system or any Australian health insurance providers should subsidise the aftercare of those who have received a trafficked organ, if they knew, or were reckless in not knowing, that it was trafficked. This would require a targeted awareness and education campaign so that Australians are better informed about organ trafficking and the countries in which it is known or suspected to occur.

2.3 Extent of organ trafficking and transplant tourism While the terms of reference do not specifically mention the extent of organ trafficking and transplant tourism, the 23 June 2017 media release confirms that the inquiry will consider it. Our submission addresses the extent of organ harvesting in China and references credible reports that document it in great detail, particularly the Kilgour, Matas and Gutmann report Bloody Harvest/The Slaughter - An Update12 . We have long been concerned that the position of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) continues to be that there is insufficient credible evidence of organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners. In November 2016, we provided a written response to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to comments made by Graham Fletcher (First Assistant Secretary, North Asia Division, DFAT) to this effect at the 20 October 2016 Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee Senate Estimates hearing. We include our full response at Appendix B.

16 Summary of the Details of Treaty No.216, available from https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/- /conventions/treaty/216

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3 Recommendations In addition to the recommendations in Section 2.1 above, we make the following recommendations to the Australian Government. 1 Australia should accede to the 2014 Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs, and further legislate for domestic enforcement of the terms of the Convention. 2. Australia (whether federal, state or territory government) should enact legislation to stop its citizens engaging in transplant tourism where there is any doubt whatsoever regarding the legitimacy of the organ on offer. Such legislation should address the following: (a) Mandatory reporting by health professionals of any and all instances of transplant tourism. (b) Mandatory disclosure by patients who intend to procure an organ overseas. (c) Public accessibility to transplant tourism reports. (d) Foreign health professionals and others, including government officials, who are known to have been complicit in organ transplant abuse should be denied entry to Australia. (e) Maintain an official register of all those denied entry to Australia on account of their participation in organ transplant abuse. (f) Transplant tourism should receive zero cover from all forms of health insurance whether public or private. (g) Any domestic health professionals aiding and abetting transplant tourism or transplant abuse, whether domestically or abroad, should have their professional licences revoked. (h) Pharmaceutical companies should be prohibited from engaging in anti-rejection drug trials in countries where there are doubts about the legitimacy of organs being offered for transplant. (i) Subsidised anti-rejection drugs should not be available in Australia for returning transplant tourists. (j) DFAT website to include: a. a warning on their website regarding organ trafficking and transplant tourism; and b. a regularly updated list of countries where organ trafficking is known or suspected to occur. (k) Implement national awareness campaigns regarding trafficked organs, exposing those countries where organ trafficking is known or suspected to occur, along with the criminal and health implications.

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(l) Require a declaration of having received an overseas organ transplant on Australia’s “incoming passenger card”. (m) Training for relevant institutions, such as hospitals, transplant surgeries, DFAT website and insurance companies, on how to detect organ trafficking and conduct awareness raising campaigns. 3. Conduct a formal inquiry and hearing into organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience that: (a) Receives testimony from witnesses and experts; (b) Reviews existing investigations and reports; (c) May not focus on one country, but should not exclude China; and (d) Provides conclusions and recommendations to be enacted and to guide Australia’s response to human organ trafficking.

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Appendix A Brief overview of Falun Dafa What is Falun Dafa? Falun Dafa17 is an ancient spiritual discipline in the Chinese tradition of “cultivation”, or “self- cultivation”, based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance (Zhen, Shan, and Ren in Chinese). It includes meditation and gentle exercises to improve health, energy and wellbeing. In China, cultivation practices were traditionally passed down secretly from a master to disciples and rarely made public. However, in 1992, the founder of Falun Dafa, Mr introduced the practice in China through a series of public lectures. Unlike monastic cultivation paths, Falun Dafa is practised openly in society, by people from all walks of life. Practitioners marry, raise children and pursue a wide variety of careers. The principles of the practice are explained in Mr Li’s book, Zhuan Falun (Rotating the Law Wheel)18 which is the foundation of the practice. The teachings emphasise ethical behaviour, high moral standards, personal growth, and responsibility for one’s own actions. Through consistent and dedicated practice, one is able to purify the mind, improve character, and elevate spiritual awareness. In contrast to the Chinese Communist Party’s political and atheist ideology, Falun Gong is deeply rooted in Chinese traditional culture and was thus able to tap deep into the psyche of the Chinese people in a way that the Communist Party never could.

Brief history After its public introduction in May 1992, Falun Dafa spread rapidly across China. There was widespread support and official recognition during the 1990s.19 The health benefits were publicly recognised as a way to save the country billions of yuan in medical fees. In May 1998, China’s National Sports Commission launched an investigation into Falun Gong, and commissioned medical professionals to conduct interviews of over 12,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Guangdong province. 97.9% of respondents said Falun Gong improved their health.20 It is difficult to know how many people practise Falun Dafa, because no membership lists are kept. However, by 1998 the State Sports Commission estimated that upwards of 70 million people in China were practising Falun Gong21 – more than the number of members of the Communist Party. Practitioners were to be found not only among the mass of the populace, but also among the ranks of government officials, officers in the armed forces, university lecturers, teachers, the medical profession and other people of status and influence within Chinese society. In contrast to the CCP’s political and atheist ideology, Falun Gong is deeply rooted in Chinese traditional culture and was thus able to tap deep into the psyche of the Chinese people in a way that the CCP never could.

17 Falun Dafa is also known as Falun Gong; the terms are used interchangeably. 18 Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun, 2014 Taipei: Yih Chyun Book Co. Ltd. 19 The Falun Dafa Information Center lists many awards at http://faluninfo.net/topic/24/ To give one example, in March 1995 Mr Li was invited by the Chinese Ambassador to introduce Falun Gong at the Chinese Embassy in France. 20 David Palmer, “Qigong Fever: Body, Science and Utopia in China.” New York, Cambridge University Press, 2007 21 Seth Faison, “In Beijing: A Roar of Silent Protestors,” New York Times, 27 April 1999

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During a meeting of senior CCP cadres, then Chairman Jiang Zeminʼs decision to eradicate Falun Gong was announced. The Washington Post reported that members of the Politburo Standing Committee did not unanimously support the crackdown, and that “Jiang Zemin alone decided that Falun Gong must be eliminated.”22 Taipei’s China Times reported on 1 September 2000 that the CCP planned to eradicate Falun Gong within three months.23 Jiang Zemin escalated the persecution using his security head to build an internal security apparatus (the 610 Office) whose funding rivalled that of the Chinese military. There is substantive evidence that Jiang’s campaign to eliminate Falun Gong added tens of thousands of prisoners of conscience into the captive pool of imprisoned forced organ “donors” who are killed to service China’s burgeoning transplant industry. There is no legal instrument in China making Falun Gong illegal. The CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong continues today without any legal basis or accountability. Today, Falun Gong is practised in over 80 countries around the world, yet in China practitioners are still denied the right to free expression and legal representation, and are still routinely tortured when detained, in violation of international human rights agreements China has signed and ratified. To date, 4114 practitioners are verified to have died in custody, though the true figure is almost certainly very much higher, and does not include the numbers believed to have been killed to service China’s organ transplant industry. Notwithstanding this persecution, Falun Gong practitioners have continued to peacefully publicise their situation, while never responding with anger or violence.

22 John Pomfret, 'Cracks in China's Crackdown - Falun Gong Campaign Exposes Leadership Woes', Washington Post Foreign Service, November 12, 1999; Page A01. Retrieved 5 August 2017 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- srv/WPcap/1999-11/12/062r-111299-idx.html 23 China Times September 1, 2000, report from Hong Kong on Network Postal Newspaper. (Quoted in ‘Jiang Zemin's Crime of Genocide in the Persecution of Falun Gong’ Retrieved 5 August 2017 from http://www.upholdjustice.org/node/89 )

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Appendix B Response to DFAT, 1 Nov 2016

RESPONSE FROM THE FALUN DAFA ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA INC

Re: Matters of Concern Raised at 20 October 2016 Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee Senate Estimates hearing

1. "Lack of Evidence" In his response to both Senator Rice and Senator Albetz, Graham Fletcher, First Assistant Secretary, North Asia Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) stated that the allegations of organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, particularly Falun Gong, were not credible and lacked evidence. We would like to draw your attention to the following key points:

a) The beginnings - The original allegations of organ harvesting emerged in 2006, following a whistle-blower coming forward, detailing the gruesome practice for the first time. As with most whistle-blower cases, the information was difficult to prove (or disprove) immediately, but the details were certainly shocking enough to warrant further investigation. b) One location 10 years ago - The specific location of concern was said to be one hospital in Sujiatun, where thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were believed to have been harvested for organs over a period of time. c) Show Visit - The attempted visits by the US State Department observers to the site occurred THREE WEEKS after the initial reports of abuse. Hence a typical "show visit" was arranged, similar to the 1944 tour of the Red Cross in the Theresienstadt Ghetto. We know from historical events that if the Chinese Communist authorities allow Western observers inside their facilities, they would only show what they desire to be seen. d) Indeed, subsequent attempts to investigate the location were made by the Foundation, namely the late Harry Wu. Again, after weeks have passed and whatever so- called "evidence" may have been concealed, it was hardly surprising that they failed to see the gruesome practice "in action". e) The very nature of the offence - this leads to the key point of obtaining "hard evidence". By definition the victims are killed in the process of their organs being removed. Their bodies are cremated. There are no victims to talk to, only the organ recipients and the medical personnel - neither would be likely to admit to criminal actions to foreign visitors. The belief that the non-consenting donors (Falun Gong or other prisoners of conscience) are being "lined up" to be harvested, as stated by Graham Fletcher, is also not supported by the latest research. The operation of a highly sophisticated system depends on the hospitals, especially military hospitals, developing close relations with the detention facilities where prisoners are kept. Systematic prior blood testing of prisoners (as reported by hundreds of labour camp survivors) means blood matching for an organ match is quick.

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f) Demand - What is more telling, however, is the demand scenario. Hospitals running at 99% capacity of bed counts in transplant wards. Thousands of operations performed annually by individual hospitals. Entire floors in hotels being permanently reserved for the "transplant tourists" near the hospitals. Medical staff working over-time till late at night to perform transplant surgery. (reference: A hospital Built for Murder: an investigative report)

2. Mounting credible evidence Since 2006 mounting evidence has pointed to a mass, wide-spread abuse within China's transplantation industry. Graham Fletcher's responses indicate that DFAT is not familiar with this evidence and they continue to rely on information from 2006. While the early reports may have been difficult to prove (though equally difficult to disprove) the subsequent 10 years of research and independent investigations present us with a tragic case of murder-on-demand for organs, sanctioned by the State. Such crimes warrant urgent and immediate condemnation by the Western Governments, including Australia.

The key reports to date are: a. Bloody Harvest, by David Matas and David Kilgour

Key findings supported by 18 methods of investigation were:

i. The source of 41,500 transplants in China were unaccounted for between 2000 and 2005. ii. Falun Gong were being used as main organ sources - the sharp and exponential growth in transplant numbers in China parallels the unleashing of the persecution of Falun Gong. The persecution started in 1999 and within months hundreds of thousands were detained across labour camps and prisons. iii. Multiple direct phone calls to Chinese hospitals captured doctors confirming that organs can be: a. made available in weeks (note: standard waiting times in Australia for liver/kidney are 2-3 years) b. those organs can be guaranteed to come from Falun Gong practitioners Source: Appendix 5. The Recipient Experience see page 71 http://organharvestinvestigation.net/report0701/report20070131-eng.pdf b. The Slaughter, by Ethan Gutmann

i. At least 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been murdered for organs between 2004 and 2008. ii. and House Christians are also amongst the victims.

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Falun Dafa Association of Australia Submission to the inquiry into human organ trafficking and organ transplant tourism

4. Falun Gong and Christians "not killed for their belief" The statements on this issue were alarming and incomprehensible. While DFAT officials did clarify eventually that being a Falun Gong practitioner or a House Christian is not on the "capital punishment" list, it is still widely known that holding to such beliefs can result in the most brutal abuse and ultimately death within the detention system in China. Such torture and deaths are a direct result of those prisoners of conscience not giving up their beliefs.

That DFAT's responses to the question of extrajudicial executions appeared to become more serious when the discussion turned to Christians (instead of Falun Gong) appears to present a deeply offensive attitude. We hope this can be addressed and resolved in the immediate future.

5. Human Rights Watch Statement “According to Maya Wang, China researcher for Human Rights Watch, the Chinese government views Falun Gong as a threat and therefore not only banned the spiritual group back in 1999, but has also imprisoned and tortured its members ever since. They were locked up in “” which are legal labor camps created by the government to detain citizens without charge or conviction. These people have been subjected to frequent blood draws and medical exams in preparation for organ harvesting to supply the growing organ transplant market. In some cases, the people are executed before their organs are harvested, but in other instances, organs are taken out one by one while they are still alive.”

China had long denied these accusations; however, in 2005 they finally admitted they were harvesting organs from unwilling participants, and they promised to change their practices. The numbers show they have not. https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/report-details-how-china-executes-prisoners-and- religious-minorities-for-th

6. response – EU Parliamentary inquiry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdFlTnkNyHY "First, even if they [organs] are taken from executed prisoners, this is unethical... We do not believe that prisoners on death row in China have any ability to freely choose to donate their organs." However, increasing amounts of evidence shows the source of organs is not only the death row inmates, but also organ harvesting from living people. [Corinna-Barbara Francis, Researcher, Amnesty International]: "There are many groups that these organs may be taken from, the Falun Gong being one of the main groups. There are many things that provide supporting evidence that this may have occurred and may still be occurring."

7. Organ Harvesting Investigated by Foreign Affairs Committee in the USA: It took the Chinese researchers of the Congressional Executive Commission on China three weeks to vet the latest Update Report. They followed that vetting process by calling for this hearing. It would seem appropriate for DFAT to perform a similar vetting process. If DFAT does not have the

20 of 23 7 August 2017 Falun Dafa Association of Australia Submission to the inquiry into human organ trafficking and organ transplant tourism time, manpower, or expertise to do such a review and publish the findings then they should clearly report that, so that another body acknowledged by Federal Parliament could undertake the work. To simply cast negative feedback about the character of the investigation works and the investigators is irresponsible at best, in the face of such horrific allegations.

This 2016 hearing mentioned above specifically outlines detailed testimonies and evidence from key researchers and it emphasises who is being targeted and the severe scale. https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/joint-subcommittee-hearing-organ-harvesting- examination-brutal-practice/

Transcript: http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20160623/105116/HHRG-114-FA16-20160623- SD006.pdf

The report says detained Falun Gong practitioners were forced to have blood tests and medical exams. Those test results were placed in a database of living organ sources so quick organ matches could be made, the authors claim.

This massive supply of organs served to benefit hospitals and doctors, making for an ever growing industry.

"The Chinese government has been trafficking in organs for profit for far too long and we have strong evidence that Falun Gong practitioners were singled out for organ harvesting," said Representative Chris Smith, who co-chairs the committee.

In a statement released online, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, former chair of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Chinese government's "ghoulish and inhumane practice of robbing individuals of their freedom, throwing them in labor camps or prisons, and then executing them and harvesting their organs for transplants is beyond the pale of comprehension and must be opposed universally and ended unconditionally."

8. Statements about ending organ harvesting from China: This area is of grave concern; to accept at face value statements about the cessation of organ harvesting is rather irresponsible, given that there is:

a. no independent verification b. supporting data or evidence to prove that organ harvesting has stopped. The 2014 announcement "is only at best a statement of good intentions but has no force of law, "the medical journal BMJ said.

The phasing out of executed prisoners' organs is a "semantic trick," Professor Li Huige of Johannes Gutenberg University said in a recent report commissioned by the European Parliament.

7 August 2017 21 of 23 Falun Dafa Association of Australia Submission to the inquiry into human organ trafficking and organ transplant tourism

9. There was also detailed UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission hearing: http://www.conservativehumanrights.com/reports/CPHRC ORGAN HARVESTING REPORT.pdf

10. Former and current Presidents of The Transplantation Society (TTS) – Dr Jeremy Chapman and Dr Phillip O’Connell engage in questionable relations with Chinese Hospitals It has been reported that Australian-based key representatives of the TTS have engaged in relations with Chinese hospitals where unethical transplantation is known to occur. The apparent conflict of interest and ethical concerns warrant further independent inquiries and investigation by the relevant departments. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/08/19/australian-organ-transplant-doctors-defend- china-ties http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/chinese-organ-harvest-furore/news- story/04c2fc7a9c44ad5f86cb24dc48abc844 http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2140130-international-transplant-leaders-failed-to-disclose- connection-to-china-research/

11. Notable researcher and his unethical association with organ transplantation – more evidence and latest research from China The director of the hospital affiliated with Zhejiang University, Zheng Shusen’s speech was cancelled at the recent International transplant society conference in Hong Kong. His paper is under investigation. Zheng missed the opening ceremony and returned home before the meeting started. At the press conference on August 19, Dr. Jeremy Chapman, the former president of the Transplantation Society, said that Zheng’s paper may have violated the society’s rule that no organs from executed prisoners be used in research, although Zheng’s name was not mentioned.

In relation to the latest research, there is estimated that 60,000 to 100,000 organ transplant surgeries have been conducted in China every year, the majority of which used organs from Falun Gong practitioners.

Zheng Shusen’s own experiences offer indirect evidence to support this accusation.

Zheng Shusen, , is one of the most experienced liver transplant surgeons in China. According to the state-run publication Guangmingwang and the China Association for Science and Technology, Zheng has carried out 1,850 liver transplants as of March 2016. http://www.wshangju.com/765/8213.html

According to an article on the website of his institute, the Center for Liver Transplants, on January 28, 2005, Zheng once performed 5 liver transplants in one day and 11 total in that week alone.

22 of 23 7 August 2017 Falun Dafa Association of Australia Submission to the inquiry into human organ trafficking and organ transplant tourism

Zheng told the media in 2006 that, from 1992 to 1998, there were only 78 liver transplants in the whole country, but this number has increased dramatically since 1999, which coincides with the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.

What stands out in Zheng’s experience is “liver transplants for acute hepatic failure” (LTAHF), which refers to patients who must get a liver transplant within 72 hours or die. Based on the data from Zheng’s research papers published in 2005, his institute carried out 46 LTAHF procedures from January 2000 to December 2004.

Since this kind of transplant cannot be pre-arranged, it is extremely rare in Western countries. However, among 4331 cases listed in the official Chinese Report on Liver Transplant Registration in 2016, 1150 were LTAHF procedures, or one quarter of the total.

The large number of LTAHF cases is considered strong evidence of the existence of organ harvesting from living people in China.

It is noteworthy that Zheng is the vice chair of the Provincial Anti-Cult Association in Zhejiang Province. One of the major functions of this state-run association in the last two decades has been to aid and abet the communist regime’s persecution of Falun Gong.

Zheng himself has been actively involved in slandering and vilifying Falun Gong. He was the chief editor of a book published in 2009 that defames Falun Gong.

Although Zheng never revealed the source of his organs in his papers, his role in the anti-Falun Gong campaign certainly suggests a convenient source of organs to supply the immense organ transplant industry in China. http://www.evernote.com/l/AAYHIbVGUYFLEIxp-kkmRwTlFUVqMu 3bv0/

He has published papers showing the ability to do "emergency" transplants, i.e. the match and operation performed within 24 hours, typically. The paper was published in 2004 and involves 46 cases. The big problem with this is that China had no organ matching system in 2004 and the only source of organs was supposed to be death row. So either they had a pool of donors already blood-matched and ready to be killed, or else some patients got really lucky, given that their liver failure perfectly coincided with a scheduled execution of someone with the same blood-type, if the death row system works as China claims it does. For an idea of the potential population of the blood-typed donor pool, see #2. (Ref: the paper "急诊肝移植救治良性终末期肝病46例经验分析 ", http://d.e.wanfangdata.com.hk/Conference 6190337.aspx)

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