Practitioners Visit China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva

We are two Australian practitioners (J and B) who were in Geneva for the European Experience Sharing Conference. Since the Report on Human Rights Violations in the Suppression of Falun Gong in the PRC compiled by practitioners in the US was available, we undertook to pass it on to the Chinese Permanent Mission to the UN.

We rang up for an appointment but no one was available to see us, as they were all at the UN meetings. We decided to drop in and see what would happen. At the very least, we could deliver the documents.

We arrived at the gate of the compound and B spoke through the microphone, explaining we were there to deliver some information on human rights issues. The gate opened and we entered the yard. I was feeling calm and without limits.

We approached the glass reception area and B explained to the man at the counter that we rang earlier and would like to see a representative about human rights issues in China. The man said in Chinese, "You spoke to me. But there is no one here to see you. They're all at UN meetings." We looked around and the yard was full of Mercedes cars. Then B translated for me that maybe we could see a secretary or someone else? The man said in Chinese, "I am the first secretary. You can leave the information with me and I will pass it on." Obviously he wanted to get rid of us; that was his job.

"Maybe we can see someone else?" we asked again, as I produced the list of contact persons at the Mission. The man looked it over and said, "They're all not here." We then produced our documents from the bag. The man's face changed subtly when he saw and heard, "Falun Gong."

We explained how the human rights abuses were escalating in China. The man said, "We each have our own point of view," and wanted to end the meeting that way. We said, "Having different views is fine, but torturing and killing people because they have different views is not."

Then the man said something like, "One thousand Falun Gong practitioners cut their belly open." We asked, "How do you know that?" He replied, "I saw it on China television." I asked, "Why don't you believe what you see in reality instead of on TV? You will only find practitioners being peaceful and non-violent." We asked, "Why kill people for meditating?" He replied with something like, "To keep social stability in society, sometimes killing is necessary."

I said, "The whole world knows what is happening to Falun Gong practitioners in China." We asked again, "Are you sure there isn't someone else we could speak to?"

The man went through our list of names at the Mission. He said it was out of date by 2 years and proceeded to tell us some current names to update the list. B wrote them down and we ended up with 3 human rights contact people at the Mission. B asked the man to be sure to pass on the documents to the current human rights contact staff. We shook hands and off we went.

The next day, B rang up again for the 3 current contact people, but we were told they were still at the UN meetings. The First Secretary assured B that he did pass on the documents. Although we were not invited to see the Chinese Ambassador or the Human Rights Mission representative, we succeeded in delivering our message with open hearts.

From two Australian practitioners