(Minghui.org) In June 2013, the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) launched a country-wide "Stop organ harvesting" campaign in Heidelberg, Germany. Since then, rallies have been successfully held in many cities including, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Munich, and Nuremberg.
The purpose of the campaign is to highlight the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) crime of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners in China and to persuade Western governments to take concrete measures to prevent citizens in their respective countries to go to China for organ transplants.
Human rights advocate, Mr. Koerper, speaks at rally
Passersby sign petition condemning the CCP's practice of organ harvesting
President of State of Hamburg Greens, Ms. Fegebank, speaks at rally
On August 27-28, IGFM held signature rallies in downtown Hamburg and Bremen. The president of State of Hamburg Greens, Ms. Katharina Fegebank, attended the event in her home city and gave a speech.
"My hair stood on end when I heard that organs were taken from living bodies,” exclaimed Ms. Fegebank, “especially when Falun Gong practitioners were the main victims… We have been paying close attention to this issue and are in regular contact with representatives of Falun Gong.
“While promoting political and economic relations [with China], we have to pay close attention to whether the human rights of Chinese are being respected and protected. I often feel that this issue has not yet received sufficient attention."
In her speech, Ms. Fegebank thanked Falun Gong practitioners for their "daily efforts to improve human rights."
She was very pleased that a IGFM rally was held in Hamburg and hoped that Falun Gong practitioners would remain strong in the face of the ongoing atrocities in China. "Organ harvesting is a topic we need to step up our efforts to tackle next," she said.
In 2006, IGFM council member and China economics expert, Man yang Wu, said that David Kilgour and David Matas’ behind the scenes investigation into China's alleged organ harvesting provided positive proof that these atrocities were indeed taking place there.
"Organ harvesting in China is operated by the entire state apparatus for profit," Mr. Wu said. “Although organ harvesting is taking place in many parts of the world, as far as I know, only in China is there a complete system in place involving the police, army, labor camps, the entire court system, and large state hospitals.
“According to the CCP, China conducts 12,000 organ transplants each year. The source of the organs are said to come from the bodies of executed prisoners. However, the Party acknowledges that on average, only 1,700 prisoners are executed each year. Then how does the Party explain how 1,700 people could provide organs for 12,000 transplants each year?"
"We will initiate a draft among German politicians to stop or limit 'transplant tourism' in China,” said IGFM board member, Hubert Koerper, in his rally speech.
He also recommended that the IGFM put forward four requirements:
1) Send an independent international investigator delegation to China to investigate the sources of tens of thousands of organs and the mass killings of political prisoners
2) Set out appropriate laws and regulations to prevent European tourists from going to China for organ transplants
3) Terminate cooperation between European hospitals and Chinese organ transplant agencies, including the training of Chinese transplant surgeons in Germany
4) Require that insurance companies in Germany and Europe not pay out on any organ transplant operation undertaken in mainland China
In addition, he recommended that medical supplies necessary for organ transplant surgeries, such as drugs that curb rejection reactions to organ transplants, should not be exported to China.
Category: Organ Harvesting
