(Clearwisdom.net) From November 25 to December 3, 2009, well-known human rights attorney Mr. David Matas plans to attend the International Conference on Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region and visit Australia. During this period, he is giving seminars to introduce the new book Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong practitioners for their organs, co-authored with David Kilgour. The seminars expose the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of human rights and its atrocities of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners.
While in Canberra, Mr. Matas addressed the Human Rights Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade at Parliament House at 4:30 p.m. on November 25. Mr. Matas presented new information from the book Bloody Harvest and answered questions from Subcommittee members. The Human Rights Subcommittee will consider a request from the Falun Dafa Association of Australia for an inquiry into organ sourcing from Falun Gong practitioners.
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Below is a transcript of an interview with ABC Radio and Mr. Matas.
ABC Radio: While Mr. Matas says there's still a long way to go for Falun Gong in China, there have been dramatic changes in the Chinese organ transplant market overall, since the issues were first raised in 2007.
Mr. Matas: Transplant tourism into China has more or less stopped partly because of foreign efforts and partly because of Chinese efforts. The Chinese government in July 2007 said that they would give priority to Chinese customers. But other governments have reacted as well. The Israeli government used to finance transplant into China and they stopped the financing. The Taiwanese used to allow brokers and have charters into China and that's all stopped. Australia used to allow training for Chinese transplant doctors in Australian hospitals and that's stopped. So what we see in China now is a shift in the patient market. But you don't see a decrease in the volumes of transplants, in fact if anything the volume has gone up. But what you do see is a decrease in the only other sorts besides the Falun Gong death penalty. So the sourcing from Falun Gong has increased.
ABC Radio: As well China has set up a registration system for hospitals permitted to undertake transplants. That doesn't include military hospitals, which are said to be a big part of the problem. But it's a big shift from what David Matas calls the "anything goes" capitalism that saw hospitals, even the Peoples Liberation Army, forced to go into whatever business they could to get funds.
Mr. Matas: When we first started, the official Chinese response was "all our organs come from voluntary donations," but now they acknowledge that's not the case, instead they acknowledge they pretty well all come from prisoners. So the debate between them and us is which sort of prisoners.
ABC Radio: David Matas also says countries like Australia should be more vocal about China's persecution of Falun Gong.
Mr. Matas: I've met with many foreign affairs bureaucrats around the world who say that they raise the issue privately in bilateral talks but that doesn't have the same impact as raising the matter publicly would do.
Category: Organ Harvesting
