Statement of Physicians for Human Rights on Behalf of Falun Gong

Thursday, July 19, 2001

Physicians for Human Rights joins Members of Congress, the faith community, and human rights organizations in denouncing gross abuses committed by the Chinese authorities against Falun Gong practitioners, and appeals to those authorities to end such persecution and to bring to justice those who engage in it.

As an organization of medical professionals dedicated to using the scientific tools of the medical community to investigate and expose abuses of human rights, Physicians for Human Rights is particularly alarmed by the practice of torture against Falun Gong adherents and others imprisoned on political grounds within China. We respectfully appeal to the Government of China to uphold its obligations under international human rights law to end the practice immediately and to set in place effective restraints to prevent its recurrence.

Now that China has achieved its long-sought goal of hosting the 2008 Olympics, the spotlight of world attention will be on the country as never before. There is no practice that degrades China's stature around the world more than the practice of torture. The continued use of barbaric cruelty against the Falun Gong and others inevitably becomes known internationally and prevents China from being received as an honorable member of the international community.

The Government of China can immediately enhance its international esteem and respectability by taking simple steps to eradicate torture. First, it must provide immediate access to all those in detention to independent physicians, family members, and advocates. Medical care is a particular necessity for those who have been tortured or who have spent long years in detention; medical parole on humanitarian grounds for such individuals would be welcomed in the West. Second, the Chinese authorities should take immediate action by publicly announcing that torture and ill treatment are illegal and that persons engaging in such cruel acts will be prosecuted. Third, the Government of China should invite neutral humanitarian organizations as well as the U.N. Rapporteur on Torture to China to carry out unhindered investigations of all places of interrogation and detention so as end abuse and provide services to the victims.

Physicians for Human Rights commends those members of Falun Gong for their faithfulness in gathering in Washington on behalf of their imprisoned colleagues in China.