Falun Dafa Association of Australia Inc

FALUN DAFA ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA INC

Falun Dafa Association of Australia Submission to the inquiry into the status of the human right to freedom of religion or belief

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

9 February 2017

Appendix A contains confidential information

Falun Dafa Association of Australia Submission to the inquiry into the status of the human right to freedom of religion or belief

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 also includes input from the Falun Dafa Association of Australia, Victoria Branch Inc., and the Falun Dafa Association of Australia, Queensland Branch Inc. It provides an overview of how Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) has been perceived in China and around the world since it was first taught to the public in 1992, its status as a spiritual belief, the persecutory campaign to eliminate people who practise it in China, and the extension of the persecution to other countries, including Australia. The submission addresses the Committee’s terms of reference (in particular term of reference 1), from the perspective of Falun Gong. It considers developments since November 2000, when the Committee last reported on Australia’s efforts to promote and protect freedom of religion or belief in Conviction with Compassion: A Report on Freedom of Religion and Belief. It also addresses some statements from the Conviction with Compassion report, as well as some common misunderstandings, and ends with a list of torture victims who are willing to give testimony to the Committee. A vast amount of information has been recorded about the persecution of Falun Dafa since it began almost 18 years ago – by journalists, independent investigators, human rights organisations, governments, China experts, as well as our own sources. This is a very brief summary in comparison, which cannot do justice to the scale of persecution and the atrocities that are continuing.

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Table of contents

1 Introduction ...... 5 1.1 What is Falun Dafa? ...... 5 1.2 Brief history ...... 5

2 Term of reference 1 ...... 8 2.1 Causes of violations or abuses ...... 8 2.2 Nature and extent of violations and abuses ...... 10 2.3 Enjoyment of freedom of belief globally ...... 15

3 Term of reference 2 ...... 19 3.1 Government actions ...... 19 3.2 Human rights institutions ...... 19 3.3 International organisations ...... 20

4 Term of reference 3 ...... 22

5 Term of reference 4 ...... 23

6 Accusations and misunderstandings ...... 25 6.1 Introduction ...... 25 6.2 Is Falun Gong a religion or not and does it matter? ...... 25 6.3 Why the ‘political’ label? ...... 26 6.4 ‘Evil cult’ or cultivation practice ...... 27 6.5 China’s ban on Falun Gong is illegal ...... 28

7 Recommendations ...... 29

Appendix A Torture victims in Australia ...... 31

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1 Introduction 1.1 What is Falun Dafa? Falun Dafa 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 are traditionally passed down secretly from a master to disciples and rarely made public. However, in 1992, the founder of Falun Dafa, Mr Li Hongzhi1 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)2 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. Falun Dafa exercise and meditation classes are taught by volunteers in Australia and around the world. These classes are always free. Falun Dafa is also known as Falun Gong; the terms are used interchangeably and refer to the same practice. Falun Gong was used during the early years in China, and Falun Dafa from around 1995 onwards. 1.2 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.3 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.4 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 Gong5 – more than the number of members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Practitioners were to be found not

1 Practitioners of Falun Dafa respectfully refer to Li Hongzhi as Shifu, or Master Li, following traditional Chinese practice. He is referred to as Mr Li in this submission. 2 Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun, 2014 Taipei: Yih Chyun Book Co. Ltd. 3 The Falun Dafa Information Center lists many awards at http://faluninfo.net/topic/24/ To give one example, in December 1993 at the Asian Health Expo in Beijing Mr Li was awarded the ‘Most Acclaimed Qigong Master’, and in March 1995 Mr Li was invited by the Chinese Ambassador to introduce Falun Gong at the Chinese Embassy in France. 4 David Palmer, ‘Qigong Fever: Body, Science and Utopia in China.’ New York, Cambridge University Press, 2007 5 Seth Faison, ‘In Beijing: A Roar of Silent Protestors,’ New York Times, 27 April 1999

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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. Jiang Zemin, then the Communist Party General Secretary, was quick to realise that the Communist Party was losing the hearts and minds of a significant section of the people and was powerless to compete. If Falun Gong could not be controlled by the Communist Party, then the alternative was to destroy Falun Gong. But more than that, a typical CCP political campaign, reminiscent of the Mao era, could be used to consolidate Jiang’s personal power and that of his supporters at all levels of the state apparatus. That is precisely what the Jiang faction was able to achieve – accusing all those who were unenthusiastic about the campaign of being disloyal to the party and forcing them out of office – the most notable casualty being Premier Zhu Rongji. By early 1999, it was clear that the previous support for Falun Gong and Mr Li was being undermined and the rights of practitioners were under threat. On 25 April 1999, between 10 and 20 thousand6 Falun Gong practitioners peacefully gathered at the State Council Appeals Office, which is next to the government compound in Zhongnanhai, to appeal for their right to freely practise Falun Dafa. This was the largest gathering in Beijing since the Tiananmen Square Massacre. As practitioners assembled, the police directed the practitioners around the compound, so that it appeared as if they were purposely surrounding the facility. Jiang then used this as a pretext to wrongly portray Falun Gong practitioners as anti-government so that he could justify his launch of a nationwide crackdown. Two months later, during a meeting of senior CCP cadres, Jiang Zeminʼs decision to eradicate Falun Gong was announced. He gave the directive to ‘Defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically.’11 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.’7 Taipei’s China Times reported on 1 September 2000 that the CCP planned to eradicate Falun Gong within three months.8 Jiang Zemin escalated the persecution using his security head Zhou Yongkang to build an internal security apparatus (the 610 Office) whose funding rivalled that of the

6 Estimates for the number of practitioners who gathered at Zhongnanhai vary. This figure comes from Zong Hairen, in Excerpts From Book ‘Zhu Rongji in 1999’ (Part 5). Hong Kong Hsin Pao (Hong Kong Economic Journal) in Chinese 18 Sep 01 p 11, which states ‘None of the 20,000 or so Falun Gong followers who appeared in Zhongnanhai held up any slogans or distributed any leaflets. None of them shouted any slogans.’ 7 John Pomfret, 'Cracks in China's Crackdown - Falun Gong Campaign Exposes Leadership Woes', Washington Post Foreign Service, November 12, 1999; Page A01. Retrieved 4 February 2017 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1999-11/12/062r-111299-idx.html 8 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 4 February 2017 from http://www.upholdjustice.org/node/89 )

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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 (see Section 2.2.2). 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. The Falun Dafa Information Center, one of the official websites of Falun Dafa, provides two detailed timelines for further information:  Falun Gong: Timeline (1951 to 1999) http://faluninfo.net/topic/24/  Persecution: Timeline (1996 to 2008) http://faluninfo.net/topic/4/

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2 Term of reference 1 The enjoyment of freedom of religion or belief globally, the nature and extent of violations and abuses of this right and the causes of those violations or abuses.

This section addresses each of these points separately. (Chronologically, it makes more sense to address them in reverse order.) 2.1 Causes of violations or abuses

2.1.1 The 610 Office The persecution of Falun Gong was initiated by former Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin and carried out through a Gestapo-like extra-legal organisation that he set up, called the 610 (‘six-ten’) Office (after the date of its creation on June 10, 1999). The 610 Office is a secretive entity whose structure extends throughout the CCP, government and military, with the power to command all police and judicial organs.9 Branches have been established in provinces, cities, autonomous regions, and municipalities around the country.10 The 610 Office adopted Jiang Zemin’s policy to ‘defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically’ in an attempt to eradicate Falun Gong.11 A derivative of the policy is ‘beating them to death counts as suicide’. Police officers responsible for these deaths were recognised as model officers of the anti-Falun Gong campaign and rewarded with promotions and financial incentives. The violations and abuses summarised below were carried out through the 610 Office.

2.1.2 Main perpetrators of the persecution The five key figures responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong, with their former titles, are:  Jiang Zemin, Communist Party General Secretary.  Zeng Qinghong, member of the Politburo Standing Committee, Vice-President, head of the CCP Organisation Department.  Luo Gan, member of the Politburo Standing Committee and Secretary of Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

9 Sarah Cook, Leeshai Lemish 'The 610 Office: Policing the Chinese Spirit', China Brief Volume 11, Issue 17, 16 September 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2017 from https://jamestown.org/program/the-610-office-policing-the- chinese-spirit/#sthash.sX1kDSCE.dpuf 10 A detailed description, including a visual depiction of the structure and influence of the 610 Office, is provided at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/610 Office 11 According to Li Baigen, former director of the Reconnaissance and Design Administration Division of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning and Design (who currently lives in the United States), Li Lanqing, 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

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 Bo Xilai, Minister of Commerce, member of the Central Politburo and Secretary of the Communist Party's Chongqing branch.  Zhou Yongkang, member of the Politburo Standing Committee, Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. Luo, Bo and Zhou have been arrested under the anti-corruption campaign of current President Xi Jinping, while Jiang and Zeng are currently under investigation.

2.1.3 Propaganda The persecution includes a massive media operation to slander Falun Gong, conducted throughout China to all levels of society (section 5.81 of the Conviction with Compassion report mentions an early example of the official propaganda). The vilification was continued in workplaces and education institutions, right down to primary schools. Overseas, propaganda continues to be spread through Chinese embassies and consulates (including in Australia). Embassy staff spread misinformation about Falun Gong to government leaders and influential people throughout the world. Clive Ansley, a Canadian barrister and solicitor who has practised and taught in China for 14 years, was living in China when the persecution began. He described the media barrage in an affidavit:12 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. The single most influential piece of propaganda to date was the staged self-immolation on Tiananmen Square. On 23 January 2001, five individuals were reported to have set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square. The scene was caught on camera and within hours, state-controlled media was flooded with reports that the self-immolators were Falun Gong practitioners. In the weeks following the event, a wealth of evidence (including a Washington Post article finding that two of the self-immolators never practised Falun Gong13) indicated that the entire incident was staged. This was supported by later analysis of the video footage.14 The Chinese state-run media continued a frenzied campaign to portray the ‘self-immolators’ as Falun Gong practitioners, which succeeded in generating much hatred against Falun Gong inside China and scepticism about it overseas.

12 Clive Ansley, ‘Canadian Lawyer’s Testimony’, Falun Dafa Australia, 27 September 2006, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from http://falunau.org/2006/09/canadian-lawyer-s-testimony/ 13 Philip P. Pan, ‘Human Fire Ignites Chinese Mystery’, The Washington Post, 4 February 2004, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/02/04/human-fire-ignites-chinese- mystery/e27303e3-6117-4ec3-b6cf-58f03cdb4773/?utm term=.96cba67596ea 14 The video False Fire: China's Tragic New Standard in State Deception can be viewed online at http://www.falsefire.com/

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2.2 Nature and extent of violations and abuses Several Falun Dafa websites are dedicated to documenting the atrocities against Falun Gong, and recording the details of the victims, perpetrators and events. Some of the information below is from these website, particularly the Falun Dafa Information Center and the Friends of Falun Gong websites.15

2.2.1 Death toll It is very difficult to determine how many Falun Gong practitioners have been killed since the crackdown started in July 1999, because the information is highly protected by the CCP. Relatives are often told that family members have committed suicide or died from an accident or illness, but the bodies of the victims are cremated before they can be examined for evidence. Of the cases that have been verified, an unusually high percentage are people who died of their injuries shortly after being released from prison. The English Falun Dafa Minghui website has confirmed the details of 4069 deaths. This figure represents deaths where the name and circumstances have been verified.16 For years we have believed the actual death toll to be at least in the tens of thousands. The latest 680-page report17 into China’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting provides compelling evidence that the Chinese regime has been performing up to 100,000 organ transplants per year, since the year 2000, most of which are from Falun Gong practitioners.

2.2.2 Organ harvesting Organ harvesting 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. Stories about organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners were first reported by the Epoch Times newspaper in March 2006 when a woman claimed that as many as 4,000 Falun Gong had been killed for their organs at the hospital where she had worked. 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, CCP 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

15 The Falun Dafa Information Center (http://faluninfo.net/) is both the official press office for Falun Gong as well as a primary resource for information about the persecution of Falun Gong. Friends of Falun Gong (http://fofg.org/) is a US-based non-profit organisation founded in 2000 to support the freedom of belief of Falun Gong practitioners. 16 Details of individual cases are published on the English Minghui.org site at http://en.minghui.org/emh/special column/death cases/ 17 David Matas, Ethan Gutmann and David Kilgour, Bloody Harvest / The Slaughter - An Update. 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017 from http://endorganpillaging.org/an-update/

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2006 (updated in 2007) by former Canadian secretary of state for Asia Pacific David Kilgour and international human rights lawyer David Matas, who stated: When we began our work, we had no views whether the allegations were true or untrue. The allegations were so shocking that they are almost impossible to believe. We would have much rather found the allegations to be untrue than to be true. The allegations, if true, represent a disgusting form of evil which, despite all the depravities humanity has seen, are new to this planet. The very horror made us reel back in disbelief. But that disbelief does not mean that the allegations are untrue.18 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. 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. 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 CCP, 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.17 The report is a meticulous examination of the transplant programs of hundreds of hospitals in China. The authors concluded that the CCP has been performing 60,000 to 100,000 transplants per year, since the year 2000 (as opposed to the official Chinese claim of 10,000 per year) and the primary source was Falun Gong practitioners. The CCP denies the allegations and refuses to allow independent investigations within China.

2.2.3 Physical torture Human rights workers have compiled over 100 methods of physical torture methods used against Falun Gong practitioners. These have been documented by the United States Department of State19, Amnesty International20, the United Nations21, Human

18 David Kilgour and David Matas, ‘Bloody Harvest - Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting from Falun Gong Practitioners in China’, C. Working Methods, 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2007 from http://organharvestinvestigation.net/report0701/report20070131.htm 19 Documented in their annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in China. Retrieved 2 February 2017 from https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/index.htm 20 ‘China: No End in Sight – Torture and Forced Confessions in China’, Amnesty International, 11 November 2015, Index number ASA 17/2730/2015, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ASA17/2730/2015/en/ 21 ‘Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 19 of the Convention’, Committee against Torture, 21 November 2008, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/CAT.C.CHN.CO.4.pdf

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Rights Watch22 and many other sources and investigations. In a report by the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Torture in 2006, two-thirds of the torture cases listed for China were of Falun Gong.23 Often family members are involved in the torture. Sometimes the family members are forced to plead with the victim to sign confessions or give up their belief, or the family members might be attacked or tortured in front of the victim. Appendix A gives details of some practitioners who were tortured in China and are willing to give testimony to the Committee. Below is a brief summary of some of the main forms of physical torture. The English Mingui.org website has been recording details of individual cases for the past 17 years.24 Beating Falun Gong practitioners in police custody are often brutally beaten, sometimes to death. Known cases include beating with wooden clubs, steel and iron bars, iron rods, whips made of twisted copper wire, bamboo sticks, rubber sticks, electric batons, wooden planks, steel wire locks, rattan, electric wire whips and rope whips. Piercing Fingertips are pierced with pins and bamboo nails, which are also hammered under the fingernails. In many cases, torturers pull out the practitioners’ fingernails by the root. Women’s breasts are also pierced with sharp wires. Force-feeding Force-feeding has been the cause of death in approximately 10 percent of all known death cases. It is often carried out by labour camp staff with no medical training, or by criminal inmates who are coerced to assist. Unsanitary rubber tubes are shoved into the detainee’s nose and down the stomach, often rupturing or damaging tissue; sometimes the tube enters the lungs. Force-feeding includes irritants such as highly concentrated salt water, hot pepper oil, boiling water, detergent, and even human faeces. Burning Hundreds of practitioners have reported being burned with cigarettes, lighters, fire, irons, or hot iron bars. Water dungeon In ‘water dungeon,’ the detainee spends many days in total darkness while inside a small cage and immersed in chest deep water. Often the water is from sewage lines. Some detainees have died under such conditions, while others have been driven insane from this torture.

22 Dangerous Meditation – China’s Campaign Against Falungong, Chapter V. Falun Gong in Custody: Competing Accounts’, Human Rights Watch, January 2002, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/china/China0102-04.htm#P650 166807 23 Manfred Nowak, ‘ Report on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: Mission to China’, UN Commission on Human Rights, 10 March 2006, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from http://www.refworld.org/docid/45377b160.html 24 The English version of Minghui.or is www.en.minghui.org. The persecution stories are at http://en.minghui.org/cc/1/.

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Electric shocks High-voltage electric batons are used to shock sensitive areas, such as inside the mouth, top of the head, breasts, genitals, buttocks, thighs, etc. Several electric batons are often used simultaneously on different parts of the body. Other methods of torture Other method include sleep deprivation, injections with toxic substances, being physically restrained in painful positions, being forced to stand facing a wall for hours on end, or stand outside in freezing temperatures.

2.2.4 Psychiatric torture Falun Gong detainees are injected with unknown psychotropic drugs in toxic doses. Some report being used as guinea pigs and falling into prolonged periods of hallucinations after being injected. Others have suffered severe damage to their central nervous system from the injections. Others, who are mentally healthy when forced into the hospital for political reasons, became deranged after being ‘treated’ there. British scholar and human rights advocate Robin Munro dedicates a chapter to the psychiatric torture of Falun Gong practitioners in his book China’s Psychiatric Inquisition: Dissent, Psychiatry and the Law in Post-1949 China25.

2.2.5 Brainwashing Brainwashing (‘re-education’) often includes physical torture, with the goal of ‘transforming,’ or reprogramming practitioners to the point that they abandon their spiritual practice. This approach involves isolating a practitioner (either alone or with criminals), stripping them naked, depriving them of sleep until they begin to go insane, forcing them to watch videos vilifying Falun Gong for hours on end, bringing in family members to beg them to come home, taking away their jobs, pensions or university enrolment, and threatening the same for their family members. The end goal is to force the practitioner to renounce their belief. If the practitioner breaks (is ‘transformed’), they are then required to help brainwash other practitioners.

2.2.6 Rape and sexual assault There are countless reports of rape and sexual assault of detained Falun Gong practitioners. Women have been violated with broomsticks or electric batons causing bleeding from the vagina. They have had their breasts pierced with barbwire, and have been gang-raped. Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng,26 wrote this in his book, A China More Just:

25 Robin Munro, China’s Psychiatric Inquisition: Dissent, Psychiatry and the Law in Post-1949 China (Law in East Asia), Wildy, Simmonds and Hill Publishing, 2007. ISBN-10: 1898029857 26 Gao Zhisheng is one of China’s leading human rights lawyers and an outspoken government critic. He was imprisoned and tortured after he wrote a series of open letters to China’s authorities detailing his investigation into the torture of Falun Gong practitioners.

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The immoral act that has shaken my soul most is the 6-10 Office and policemen’s regular practice of assaulting women’s genitals...Of those persecuted, almost every woman’s genitals and breasts and every man’s private parts have been sexually assaulted in a most vulgar fashion.27 A report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women cites an October 2000 case in Masanjia prison in Shenyang, Liaoning province in which 18 female Falun Gong practitioners were stripped naked and put into cells containing convicted male criminals.28

2.2.7 Slave labour Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are held in China's detention centres and labour ‘re-education’ camps29 and forced to work up to 20 hours a day. Those who refuse are beaten, tortured or starved. Many of the products they make, such as Christmas tree lights, toys and chopsticks, are sold in Australia, America and Europe. Writer Jennifer Zeng described her imprisonment in Beijing’s Xin’an Labor Camp, where she and worked long hours making toy rabbits for Beijing’s Mickey Toys Co. Ltd, a project reportedly subcontracted from Nestle. After she was released and sought asylum in Australia, she was shocked to find the toys she had made being sold on store shelves here.30

2.2.8 Economic deprivation and forced homelessness There are several reasons why practitioners are forced into homelessness. If they refuse to give up their beliefs, they are fired from their jobs, expelled from school and universities, denied opportunities for employment and are unable to support themselves financially. Many are forced into bankruptcy due to extortion from the police and CCP officials. Some become homeless to avoid further persecution – after repeated imprisonment and torture, and ongoing harassment after release.

2.2.9 Family and loved ones Spouses, parents, children and siblings of Falun Gong practitioners have suffered various degrees of persecution, from loss of employment to torture. Some relatives have directly taken part in persecuting their family and loved ones, often under extreme levels of pressure from the CCP. Children whose parents practise are left alone or orphaned when their parents are arrested or killed. Spouses of practitioners are pressured to divorce, and children are expelled from school if their parents continue to practise Falun Gong.

27 Gao Zhisheng, A China More Just, Broad Press USA, 2007, ISBN-10: 1932674365 28 ‘Integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective: violence against women’, Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Addendum. UN document number E/CN.4/2001/73/Add.1. Retrieved 6 February 2017 from https://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/4422847.33057022.html 29 Journalist Ethan Gutmann estimated between 450,000 and one million at any given time in the mid to late 2000s. Ethan Gutmann, The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China’s Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem, (Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2014). 30 Jennifer Zeng and Sue Wiles, Witnessing History, Allen & Unwin Book Publishers, March 2005.

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2.2.10 Persecution at work and school When the persecution started, teachers and students throughout China who practised Falun Gong were ostracised. Schools and workplaces were forced to implement study sessions that included public denunciations of Falun Gong based on People’s Daily editorials and other party propaganda about Falun Gong. Primary school students were forced to sign huge banners attacking Falun Gong. High school students must answer national standardised tests according to the official CCP line or risk being expelled or denied college education. 2.3 Enjoyment of freedom of belief globally

2.3.1 Influence of CCP to extend persecution to other countries While Falun Gong has only been actively persecuted in China, Chinese embassies and consulates in Australia and many countries have sought to undermine the legitimate activities of Falun Gong practitioners and, in some instances, have severely harassed and orchestrated acts of violence against individuals and groups. In their 2002 report, Dangerous Meditation, China’s Campaign Against Falungong [sic], Human Rights Watch noted: Foreign governments generally have been unwilling or unable to do much in the face of the Chinese crackdown on Falungong beyond providing rhetorical defense for practitioners' basic rights. In some cases, foreign governments have responded to Chinese government pressure by turning their backs on reports of abuses, denouncing Falungong, or, in isolated instances, limiting Falungong members' freedom of association and expression in their own countries.31 Defector Chen Yonglin, formerly employed at the Sydney consulate, revealed that one of his main tasks was to monitor Falun Gong practitioners in Sydney. Perhaps even more disturbing was his revelation that NSW state politicians and local councillors were among the influential figures and informants who were used by the Chinese government to push its political and economic interests. They were called on to help when the Chinese government wanted to stop the Falun Gong participating in publicly funded events, like the Chinese New Year parade.32 The activities of Chinese embassy and consular officials around the world have seemingly repeatedly violated the terms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 196133 Article 41.1, which states: Without prejudice to their privileges and immunities, it is the duty of all persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State. They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State. Falun Gong is practised in over 80 countries worldwide and practitioners in virtually all those countries have, at one time or another, experienced interference in their activities. Such interference ranges from consular letters to local politicians and festival

31 Dangerous Meditation - China’s Campaign Against Falun Gong, Human Rights Watch, January 2002, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from http://www.icnl.org/research/library/files/China/falun.pdf 32Tom Allard, ‘Local Politicians Helped Push Barrow for China, Says Defector’, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 July 2005 33 Retrieved 7 February 2017 from http://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/9 1 1961.pdf

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organisers exhorting them to have nothing to do with Falun Gong related activities, to more serious incidents such as violent thugs attacking information stalls (Flushing, New York and San Francisco), house breaking and harassment of peaceful protestors (Australia), torching of a car (Chicago) and a drive by shooting in South Africa. Countries that once suffered under authoritarian regimes or where one political party dominates (such as Russia, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia), and where democratic values are weak, have been especially vulnerable to pressure from the CCP which might promise a lucrative trade deal, or outright financial assistance in the case of smaller countries, if those countries agree to give Falun Gong practitioners a hard time.34 Hong Kong is a unique case, being part of China, but under the ‘one country two systems’ doctrine. The provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which operated in Hong Kong under British jurisdiction, continued after reunification,35 allowing Falun Gong to freely practice in public, much to Jiang Zemin’s chagrin. This freedom came under threat in 2002, with the proposed introduction of the controversial Article 23 legislation of anti-subversion law, which met with widespread protests and was not enacted.36 Martin Lee, a lawyer, leading opposition politician in Hong Kong and Legislative Council member, noted that Article 23 was pushed by Jiang Zemin, as he didn't like Falun Gong and wanted their activities stopped.37 However, even today, the rights of Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong are harassed by the United Front Work Department, an organ of the CCP’s Central Committee, whose mission is to propagate the goals of the Communist Party. A lengthy Reuters special report about Hong Kong, described the increase in pro-Beijing groups, such as the United Front group ‘Care for the Youth Group Association’ whose members hurl abuse at Falun Gong practitioners, with loudspeakers blaring ‘Wipe out the evil cult Falun Gong’, and physically assault practitioners in public areas in Hong Kong.38

2.3.2 CCP influence in Australia Chen Yonglin’s revelations give some indication of the highly organised campaign by the CCP since 1999 to disrupt Falun Gong activities and harass individual Falun Gong practitioners within Australia. This was also confirmed by Mr Hao Fengjun, another defector who was a former officer in the 610 Office of the Public Security Bureau from 2000 to 2004. Mr Hao stated that: One of our main tasks at the 610 Office was to collect information on Falun Gong practitioners. This included practitioners from overseas as well as those living in China.

34 ‘Persecution Outside China’, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from http://en.minghui.org/cc/11/. 35 Chapter II, Article 153 of The Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR states: ‘International agreements to which the People's Republic of China is not a party but which are implemented in Hong Kong may continue to be implemented in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.’ 36 BBC News ‘Q&A: HK's anti-subversion bill’. Retrieved 4 February 2017 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia- pacific/3035226.stm 37 Hamish Robertson, 'Hong Kong politician speaks out about new security measures', The World Today, 18 August, 2003. Retrieved 5 February 2017 from http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2003/s926719.htm 38 Greg Torode, James Pomfret and Benjamin Kang Lim, ‘Special Report- The Battle for Hong Kong’s Soul’, Reuters, 1 July 2014, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-hongkong-china-specialreport- idUKKBN0F62Y620140701

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We collected as much information on overseas practitioners as the locals. We even had files on Caucasian practitioners living in overseas countries.39 There have been several instances of Falun Gong practitioners, who were peacefully exercising their civil rights by distributing information material outside the PRC embassy or consulates, being physically and verbally harassed by individuals who came out of the buildings specifically to cause disruption.40 Beginning March 2002, under pressure from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, former foreign minister Alexander Downer issued certificates to prevent Falun Gong protestors having fixed or large banners across the street from the Chinese embassy in Canberra.41 The issuing of those certificates did not cease until December 2006, after a successful legal challenge by Falun Gong practitioners in the ACT Supreme Court. Individual practitioners have also been the victims of suspicious home invasions, while they were away from their property, during which no items of value were removed – only documents or electronic equipment containing Falun Gong-related information. This suggests the intruders were not normal burglars. Perhaps the most common form of interference has been letters to politicians and other prominent members of the community, as well as various institutions,42 such as theatres, warning them not to have anything to do with Falun Gong practitioners or their activities otherwise there would be repercussions with regard to that person’s or institution’s future relations with China.43 This resulted in legally registered Falun Dafa associations being refused participation in parades and festivals in their own cities. To rectify the situation, it was necessary to resort to the courts, hire legal representation, and spend a great deal of time and energy, which should not have been necessary. The 21st century has witnessed a significant escalation of CCP ‘soft power’ initiatives around the world. Hundreds of Confucius schools and institutes have been established in Australia and around the world under the guise of promoting Chinese language and culture, 44 but the curriculum is controlled from China and certain subjects such as Taiwan, Tibet and Falun Gong are taboo. Moreover, employment practices have been condemned as being discriminatory. McMaster University in Canada closed their Confucius Institute after a fully qualified applicant for a teaching position was turned down because she practised Falun Gong.45

39 Statutory declaration by Hao Fengjun, Melbourne, November 2005. 40 Documentary and photographic evidence can be provided to the Committee, if required. 41 Craig Skehan, 'Downer shackles Falun Gong for visiting minister', Sydney Morning Herald, 20 March 2002. Retrieved 5 February 2017 from http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2002/3/20/20051.html. Press clipping available from http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22media%2Fpressclp%2FBJ466%22;src 1=sm1 42 Examples of these letters can be supplied on request. 43 Tom Hyland, ‘Hard Power Soft Targets’, The Age, 11 November 2007. Retrieved 4 February from http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/hard-power-soft-targets/2007/11/10/1194329562764.html. 44 Hagar Cohen, ‘Australian universities the latest battleground in Chinese soft power offensive’, ABC Background Briefing, 14 October 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017 from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-14/universities- latest-battleground-in-chinese-soft-power-offensive/7931958 45 Colin Freeze, James Bradshaw and Mark MacKinnon, ‘Canadian universities, colleges confront questions about Chinese ties’. Globe and Mail, 19 June 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2017 from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/are-schools-too-eager-to-forge-chinese- ties/article4353705/?cmpid=rss1

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As part of the same soft power campaign, the CCP has also slowly gained control of the vast majority of Chinese language media in Australia.46 Using a combination of financial inducements and subtle coercion, newspapers are periodically persuaded to publish CCP-prepared propaganda articles defaming Falun Gong and its founder with the aim of whipping up hatred and demonising Falun Gong and its adherents among the Chinese immigrant community. Another notable attempt to incite hatred was the showing of an exhibition of fabricated atrocities supposedly committed by Falun Gong practitioners in China. This exhibition was mostly shown to privately invited politicians and community leaders in the Chinese embassy and consulates, but was also displayed outside Melbourne’s Chinese Museum in Little Bourke Street in May 2002. A vilification complaint was duly lodged and referred to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. In conclusion, it should be acknowledged that ASIO has asked to be notified of any episodes of harassment or other episodes in which Chinese diplomats may be overstepping the terms of the Vienna Convention. This seems to have had some effect in terms of the harassment of individuals, but in other areas they are powerless to intervene. An outstanding example of the latter would be the CCP’s latest soft power coup whereby the China Daily has brokered a deal with Fairfax Media Ltd47, as well as other newspaper publishers around the world, allowing them to pay for a supplement entitled China Watch containing CCP propaganda articles to be periodically given away with The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Financial Review. The supplement published on 13 January 2017 contained articles with a number of defamatory statements relating to Falun Gong. The ultimate purpose is to undermine Australian and democratic values in favour of the CCP authoritarian system and world view. It is also an overseas extension of Jiang’s directive to ‘destroy their reputation’.

46 Kelsey Munro and Philip Wen ‘Chinese language newspapers in Australia: Beijing controls messaging, propaganda in press’, The Age, 10 July 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017 from http://www.theage.com.au/national/chinese-language- newspapers-in-australia-beijing-controls-messaging-propaganda-in-press-20160610-gpg0s3.html 47 ‘Fairfax Prints Chinese Propaganda’, ABC Media Watch, episode 19, 6 June 2016, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4476824.htm

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3 Term of reference 2 Action taken by governments, international organisations, national human rights institutions, and non-government organisations to protect the freedom of religion or belief, promote religious tolerance, and prevent violations or abuses of this right.

In the past 17 years, some members of Parliament have openly spoken out against the persecution of Falun Gong. Some have attended public rallies – usually, but not exclusively, opposition or minority party parliamentarians – while others have supported Falun Gong in private, but were not prepared to speak out publicly. Those who were publicly vocal in their support generally became far less vocal as they rose higher in the ranks of the Australian Government. 3.1 Government actions Four motions have been passed in the Australian Senate between December 2003 and November 2016. The first two specifically addressed the issue of the persecution of Falun and included the statement that: ‘the practise of religion should not form the basis of the incarceration of any individual’. The second two motions sought to address the issue of force organ harvesting. Resolutions on these topics have also been passed by the US Congress, European Parliament and others. Some of these are listed below.  Australia – Senate Motion no. 704,1 December 2003; (Journals of the Senate - No. 121 - 1 December 2003 p11)  Australia – Senate Motion no. 127, 24 June 2008  Australia – Senate Motion no. 1212, 21 March 2013  Australia – Senate motion - Organ Procurement in Foreign Countries, 24 November 2016  H.Con.Res.188 — 107th Congress, 25 July 2002  US House of Representatives, House Resolution 605, 16 Mach 2010  US House of Representatives, House Resolution 343, 13 June 2016  European Parliament resolution on organ harvesting in China (2013/2981(RSP)), 11 December 2013 3.2 Human rights institutions Amnesty International has run regular campaigns to protect and call for the release of individual Falun Gong practitioners over many years. In 2013 they produced a comprehensive report, Changing the soup but not the medicine,48 on China’s supposed

48 Amnesty International, ‘Changing the soup but not the medicine? Abolishing re-education through labour in China’, 17 December 2013, Index number: ASA 17/042/2013. Retrieved 7 February 2017 from https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/042/2013/en/

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closure of labour camps and its use of other forms of detention to incarcerate Falun Gong practitioners. Human Rights Watch has also reported widely on the abuse of Falun Gong practitioners. In 2002, Sidney Jones, executive director of the Asia division, noted: The charge that Falungong [sic] threatens the stability of China does not hold up. Its claim that belief in Falungong is a public health menace is equally bogus. The danger to health comes from the treatment its practitioners receive at the hands of the police and prison officials.49 3.3 International organisations The United Nations has not been an effective vehicle to protect Falun Gong practitioner’s right to freedom of belief, largely because China uses its extensive resources to influence member states voting in the Human Rights Council to avoid scrutiny of human rights abuses within China. China has also become expert at responding to questions under its Universal Periodic Review by claiming rights are protected under Chinese law and concealing the reality that is not accessible to Western observers. The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council 2013 Universal Periodic Review report on China50 noted Australia’s recommendation to China: 186.136. Expedite legal and institutional reforms to fully protect in law and in practice freedom of expression, association and assembly, and religion and belief (Australia); and China’s response under item B. Interactive dialogue and responses by the State under review: 87. China opposes torture, and those who commit torture are punishable by law. The freedom of assembly and association is protected in accordance with the Constitution. There is no arbitrary detention or forced disappearance in China. 90. China protects the lawful rights and interests of religious groups and religious sites. Citizens enjoy full range of religious freedom. Those who engage in unlawful or criminal activities under the disguise of “religions” are punishable by law.

The UN Committee Against Torture called on China in 2008 to investigate reports of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners:

49 ‘China: Repression Against Falun Gong Unabated’, Human Rights Watch, 7 February 2002, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from https://www.hrw.org/legacy/english/docs/2002/02/07/china3725.htm 50 United Nations, Human Rights Council, 25th session, ‘Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review - China (including Hong Kong, China and Macao, China)’, A/HRC/25/5. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2017 from https://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/8006587.02850342.html

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The State party should immediately conduct or commission an independent investigation of the claims that some Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to torture and used for organ transplants, and take measures, as appropriate, to ensure that those responsible for the claims that some Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to torture and used for organ transplants, and take measures, as appropriate, to ensure that those responsible for such abuses are prosecuted and punished.51 However, over eight years later, there has been no investigation and no effective follow up from any UN body.

51 Committee Against Torture, 'Consideration of Reports Submitted By States Parties Under Article 19 of the Convention', (CAT/C/CHN/CO/4), Geneva, 21 November 2008. Retrieved 7 February 2017 from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/CAT.C.CHN.CO.4.pdf

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4 Term of reference 3 The relationship between the freedom of religion or belief and other human rights, and the implications of constraints on the freedom of religion or belief for the enjoyment of other universal human rights.

The campaign to eradicate Falun Gong in China attacks more fundamental freedoms than just freedom of religion or belief and also contravenes the following.  The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR):52 o Freedom of expression (Article 19) o Right to life (Article 6 ) o Right to liberty (Article 9) o Freedom from torture (Article 7)  The United Nations Convention Against Torture:53 o Prevents acts of torture (Article 2 ) o Prevents acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (article 16)  United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child:54 o Right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 14) The Chinese regime not only tortures and kills Falun Gong practitioners, it brazenly abuses the limitations allowed in the above conventions by claiming that its crackdown on Falun Gong is necessary to ‘protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.’

52 Retrieved 8 February from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx 53 Retrieved 7 February from https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%201465/volume-1465-I-24841- English.pdf 54 Retrieved 8 February from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/convention-rights-child

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5 Term of reference 4 Australian efforts, including those of Federal, State and Territory governments and non- government organisations, to protect and promote the freedom of religion or belief in Australia and around the world, including in the Indo-Pacific region.

We note the statements below from the 2000 report and provide the following comments.

6.14 DFAT has made 'strong representations' to the Chinese Government that the actions it has taken infringe the rights of Falun Gong's adherents to peaceful expression of views, freedom of assembly or association, and freedom of thought, conscience or religion.9

We note the Australia-China Bilateral Human Rights Dialogues began in 1997 as an officials-only meeting between foreign ministries and have evolved to include parliamentarians, senior officials from a range of government agencies, and the Australian Human Rights Commission. An extract from a December 2002 letter by former foreign minister Alexander Downer illustrates the government’s support for the dialogues. Australia's policy on human rights in China reflects the Government's judgment that non-confrontational dialogue and well-directed technical assistance are more likely to achieve lasting improvements in China's respect for human rights than the alternative approaches.55 However, the dialogues lack transparency and a results-based evaluation. While we acknowledge that cases of individual Falun Gong practitioners have been periodically raised by DFAT, the Australia-China Bilateral Human Rights Dialogues have provided no improvements for the rights of Falun Gong practitioners over the past 17 years. This is largely because the Chinese officials who attend the dialogues have no power to influence or change the CCP policy of persecuting Falun Gong. Also, the DFAT resources to advocate for human rights are minor compared to its resources to advocate for trade with China.

5.77 In the past, Australia has co-sponsored the UN's resolution in favour of human rights in China. Because of the importance the current Australian Government places on the dialogue process, it has not co-sponsored or voted on this UN resolution since 1997.

As long as human rights discussions continue to be closed-door, with no requirements or consequences, such dialogues will have little or no effect in improving the right to life and freedom of belief for practitioners in China. If Australians’ genuine belief in universal human rights was integrated into our core foreign policy, there may be a place for a reformed dialogue, along with Australia’s engagement in multilateral forums, to support change in human rights in China.

55 The text of this letter is published at http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2003/1/17/31018.html

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6.25 The various resolutions, representations and contributions Australia makes will probably not be able to contribute a great deal to improving the conditions of those whose freedom of religion and belief has been violated. Nevertheless it is important that nations like Australia, with a proven record on religious freedom, make it plain that they do not accept that such violations should occur. They should also, if possible and practicable, try to assist in rectifying problems where they occur.

We concur with the statement at 6.25. To make it plain that Australia does not accept that such violations as the torture and killing of Falun Gong practitioners should occur, it requires more than closed-door posturing. It requires open and public condemnation of such atrocities. Based on our understanding of the current Chinese political landscape, we believe that some of the CCP hierarchy would welcome such action, as it would provide support for the key perpetrators of the genocidal attack on Falun Gong to be singled out in China and brought to justice. (See Recommendations 3 and 5.)

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6 Accusations and misunderstandings 6.1 Introduction This section addresses several common misunderstandings, and accusations levelled against Falun Gong since the persecution began, including several points raised in the Committee’s 2000 report Conviction with Compassion: A Report on Freedom of Religion and Belief. The Falun Dafa association56 was not aware of the Committee’s inquiry in 1999. When the terms of reference were announced in May 1999, the crackdown against Falun Gong in China had not officially started. Although the CCP’s previously positive view had already started changing, their nationwide efforts to eradicate the practice had not begun in earnest. Some of the points about Falun Gong in the Committee’s report are still of concern, 17 years after the report was published, and are addressed below. 6.2 Is Falun Gong a religion or not and does it matter? There are several references in section 5 of the 2000 report about whether Falun Gong is, or should be, classified as a religion. The Committee noted that they were not sure. Falun Gong practitioners do not, in general, refer to the practice as a religion. It has none of the traditional aspects of religion, such as place of worship, tithes or donations, or a hierarchy of ministry. Practitioners in China, in particular, do not refer to the practice as a religion, since (as pointed out in 5.60 of the 2000 report), groups that identify as religions are subject to legal regulation in China. Mr Li wanted the practice to be independent of the government and CCP. The practice has always been taught free of charge in local parks, so there are no means of making an income, or having fixed places of worship (as required under Chinese regulations). Benjamin Penny, a professor of Chinese history at the Australian National University, notes that if Falun Gong had identified as a religion, it would likely have invited immediate suppression.57 Nevertheless, Falun Gong does meet most modern definitions of religion. This has been an important distinction for government officials in Australia (and elsewhere) when mainland Chinese practitioners seek protection status as refugees, based on a well-founded fear of persecution, due to their religious beliefs (in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). While 5.82 goes some way to explaining the initial position of the DFAT on the doctrines or practices of Falun Gong, the repetitive stating of the government’s position of ‘no position’ in letters from DFAT and government officials for 17 years is unnecessary and unhelpful. It would be far more helpful if DFAT made no such

56 The registered association at the time was the Fa Lun Fo Xue Association of Australia Incorporated, the forerunner of the Falun Dafa Association of Australia. 57 Benjamin Penny, The Religion of Falun Gong. Chicago, University Of Chicago Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-226-65501-7.

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comment. It also raises the question: does DFAT include that statement in reference to other belief systems, such as Tibetan Buddhism, or only to Falun Gong? It would certainly send a stronger message to Chinese officials if DFAT instead acknowledged the principles of Falun Gong (truthfulness, compassion and forbearance). Surely these principles, espoused under any religion, belief system or set or values, are something that all nations and peoples should aspire too. In fact, they lie at the heart of all orthodox religions. (See Recommendation 2.) 6.3 Why the ‘political’ label? Since the persecution began in 1999, Falun Gong has been labelled ‘political’ by the CCP. The practice has since been politicised by the CCP, and the term ‘political’ used to somehow discredit practitioners’ actions. The peaceful protests (often with strong statements about the CCP) and the ongoing representations to members of governments around the world reinforces this notion in the minds of western observers. Julie Ching from the Institute of Asian Studies at the University of Toronto made this observation:58 In itself, Falun Gong is not political. However, under persecution, members have developed an astonishing political consciousness. To protect their own group survival, they have become a political force to be reckoned with.

The key points to note are:  From the beginning of the persecution in July 1999 up until about 2004, Falun Gong practitioners both inside and outside China had appealed to the Chinese government to end the campaign against Falun Gong.  At first, practitioners were perhaps naïve and thought the government did not understand the truth of Falun Dafa and would change.  By the end of 2004, it was clear the CCP would not stop attacking Falun Gong.  In November 2004, the Epoch Times published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party which exposed the history of killing and deceit by the CCP.  Falun Gong practitioners realised that the only way to end the persecution was to dissolve the persecutor i.e. help end the CCP by supporting Chinese people to renounce the party.  So in peacefully and righteously exposing the deeds of a brutal regime, trying to protect the lives of incarcerated practitioners, and helping Chinese people see clearly how their own lives and culture had been ruined by a foreign atheist doctrine, Falun Gong practitioners are called ‘political’.  The ‘political’ label has been used by the CCP to silence civil disobedience and rights activism, as though only the CCP is allowed to be political under its rule.  Falun Dafa is a pure spiritual practice. Yet, the actions of Falun Gong practitioners to help save lives and protect fundamental moral values may attract a label of being ‘political’.

58 Julie Ching, ‘The Falun Gong: Religious and political implications’, American Asian Review, 1 January 2001

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 While campaigning for human rights may or may not be seen as ‘political’, from a legal standpoint, any attempt to change the policy of either one’s own national government or that of a foreign government can be deemed to be political.59 6.4 ‘Evil cult’ or cultivation practice Section 5.80 notes that China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs characterised Falun Gong as a cult, rather than a religion. The CCP’s use of the term ‘cult’ or ‘evil cult’ began several months after the crackdown had started and was a deliberate political label. The word ‘cult’ has been used by the Chinese Communists to slander dissident groups since 1949, and it was this label that the CCP slapped on Falun Gong as a political means and a justification for cracking down on practitioners. In order to legitimize its persecution, the CCP has used this term to resonate with the anti-cult movement in the West.60

Benjamin Penny explains the term ‘“Evil cult” translates the Chinese term xiejiao that has been used for centuries by Chinese governments to categorise religious movements which they want to eradicate.’61 Julie Ching gives a further explanation: The accusation of Falun Gong's being an ‘evil cult’ made previous arrests and imprisonments ‘constitutional.’ Of course, the accusation was made after the government already had started to crack down on Falun Gong members. The enumeration of features of an ‘evil cult’ was done by political officials on political premises, not by any religious authority. It was an atheistic, Communist government, handing down an executive decision by the pronouncement of an ‘evil cult,’ without an explanation of what would be its opposite: a good cult, or a good religion. 62

Former Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin was personally responsible for the cult label, as John Pomfret reported in the Washington Post: It was Jiang who ordered that Falun Gong be labelled a ‘cult,’ and then demanded that a law be passed banning cults, a party source said. ‘This obviously is very personal for Jiang,’ said one party official. ‘He wants this organization crushed.’ 63

At the start of the persecution the ‘evil cult’ label was repeated by many western journalists, whose source of information was the Chinese government. Unfortunately, this pejorative term can still linger today, unless people learn about the peaceful nature of the practice and the background to the crackdown in China.

Benjamin Penny notes: The best way to describe Falun Gong is as a cultivation system. Cultivation systems have been a feature of Chinese life for at least 2 500 years and probably much more. They are

59 Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Reference: A72/2003 Falun Dafa Association of Victoria Inc. v Melbourne City Council; p9 section 2 60 ‘Some Points about the Religion of Falun Gong’, p3: Human Rights Law Foundation, Washington DC, Dec 2011 61 Benjamin Penny, The Religion of Falun Gong, 2012 62 Julie Ching, ‘The Falun Gong: Religious and political implications’, American Asian Review, 1 January 2001 63 John Pomfret, ‘Cracks in China's Crackdown-Falun Gong Campaign Exposes Leadership Woes’, Washington Post Foreign Service, 12 November 1999, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- srv/WPcap/1999-11/12/062r-111299-idx.html

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sets of mental and physical regimens that may involve special techniques … that aim at refining the body into a higher form. 64 6.5 China’s ban on Falun Gong is illegal Section 5.80 also notes that China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs declared Falun Gong illegal. However, the ban on Falun Gong is not legal and is against China’s constitution. This was clearly set out in a statement to the European Parliament by Yiyang Xia, Senior Director of Policy and Research at the Human Rights Law Foundation.65 In its 2006 Annual Report, the US Congressional Executive Commission on China noted: Chinese government restrictions on the practice of religion violate international human rights standards. Freedom of religious belief is protected by the Chinese Constitution and laws, but government implementation of Party policy on religion, and restrictions elsewhere in domestic law, violate these guarantees.66

64 Benjamin Penny, ‘The past, present and future of Falun Gong ‘, Lecture given at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2001, Retrieved 2 February 2017 from https://www.nla.gov.au/benjamin-perry/the-past-present-and- future-of-falun-gong 65 Yiyang Xia, 'The illegality of China's Falun Gong crackdown', Human Rights Law Foundation, 2009. Retrieved 8 Feb from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009 2014/documents/droi/dv/506 yiyangxia /506 yiyangxia en.pdf 66 Congressional-Executive Commission on China. 2006 Annual Report. Retrieved 8 February 2017 from http://www.cecc.gov/publications/annual-reports/2006-annual-report

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7 Recommendations We note several comments from the 2000 report as included below, and provide the following recommendations.

8.128 The Committee believes that the human rights area of DFAT lacks the necessary personnel for the variety and the quantity of its workload. No staff member has any specialist knowledge of issues of religious freedom. We believe that some input of additional personnel with specialist expertise in this area could be justified.

Recommendation 1 The Australian Government should expand the resources of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, or establish another independent agency, to strengthen the voice of human rights advocacy, in particular freedom of religion and belief, so that Australia has a clear strategy to protect and promote human rights, as well as, but independent from, its promotion of trade.

5.82 DFAT stated that the Australian Government regarded Falun Gong as a movement, not as a religion, and had not made any statements about its doctrines or practices. It considered that debate on this question deflected attention from the real human rights issues involved in official Chinese treatment of Falun Gong. Banning its activities raises serious concerns about internationally guaranteed freedoms, including freedom of speech, assembly and association, set out in international instruments signed by China.

Recommendation 2 The Australian Government should require the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to remove their standard wording in departmental responses about Falun Gong (“the Government takes no position on the doctrine or practices of Falun Gong”), and should instead:  acknowledge that Falun Gong’s tenets of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance are principles worthy of support in any community or culture; and  acknowledge that reports of organ harvesting from Falun Gong and other prisoners of conscience should be the subject of an urgent independent investigation in China.

Recommendation 3 If the Australia-China Bilateral Human Rights Dialogue continues, it should be revised so that it can perform an effective role in promoting and protecting the right to freedom of religion and belief in China, particularly for Falun Gong practitioners.

9 February 2017 29 of 33 Falun Dafa Association of Australia Submission to the inquiry into the status of the human right to freedom of religion or belief

The Australian Government should continue to co-sponsor joint statements on China’s human rights in United Nations forums, provide recommendations under China’s Universal Periodic Review, and specifically refer to the freedom of belief for Falun Gong practitioners, and call for the perpetrators of the campaign to eliminate Falun Gong to be brought to justice under the rule of law.

8.133 It is unlikely that any government would allow outside bodies, such as religious groups or NGOs, to have such influence in decisions about visas or refugee status. Similarly, governments are unlikely to accept a link between trade, tourism and human rights. Even if such links were established, it would be unacceptable to many governments to undertake the necessary detailed monitoring of activities of other governments.

Over the past 17 years, both Coalition and Labor governments have accepted a link between trade, tourism and human rights, which has manifested in Australia’s weak response to the persecution of Falun Gong, in pursuit of enhanced trade and tourism revenue from China.

Recommendation 4 The Australian Government should urge the People’s Republic of China to:  ratify the ICCPR, and extend to the people of mainland China the same human rights freedoms as in the Hong Kong SAR;  immediately end the practice of organ harvesting from all prisoners of conscience;  allow a credible, transparent, and independent investigation into organ transplant abuses; and  immediately end the persecution of Falun Gong, unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience, and ensure those responsible for the human rights abuses are prosecuted and punished.

Recommendation 5 The Australian Government should develop a direct channel of communication with the President of China, Xi Jinping, to ensure that Australia’s decision making in the promotion of trade and the protection of freedom of religion and belief is not following the requirements of former leader Jiang Zemin’s faction and its persecution of Falun Gong.

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