LONDON, UK / AGILITYPR.NEWS / December 09, 2020 / Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December — the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is the most translated document in the world and proclaims the inalienable rights which every human being is entitled to.

As this day is marked across the world, the Falun Dafa Association UK is asking people to remember the suffering of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) followers in China. The followers of this spiritual movement, which teaches truth, compassion and tolerance, have long been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party for their faith. This is in direct contravention of the UDHR.

In October alone, at least 433 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested and 644 harassed for their faith. This brings the total for the year to the end of October to more than 10,000 cases – 5,179 arrests and 5,908 cases of harassment.

Falun Gong is a peaceful, spiritual practice based on ancient Chinese traditions and Buddhist teachings of compassion. It became extremely popular in China in the late 1990s and initially it was a practice welcomed and celebrated by the Chinese regime. However, once the number of followers reached about 100 million and eclipsed the members of the CCP, things changed.

Twenty-one years ago, the CCP set out to eradicate Falun Gong - the largest spiritual group in China to be persecuted. As with its other campaigns, the CCP began with a massive propaganda offensive that incited hatred and dehumanised the practice’s followers. Tens of thousands of practitioners are believed to have been killed and hundreds of thousands remain imprisoned by the CCP. Since Falun Gong practitioners refuse to give up their faith, they are subjected to abuse, torture and even the horrific practice of forced organ harvesting, which also brings in revenue for the CCP.

In October Lord Alton of Liverpool said during a debate: "In June 2019, the China Tribunal … chaired by the redoubtable lawyer Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, said in a unanimous determination that it was 'certain that Falun Gong was a source—probably the principal source—of organs for forced organ harvesting'."

Chairman of the Falun Dafa Association UK, Dr Wei Liu commented: “As we come together to celebrate Human Rights Day on December 10, we must take a moment to remember all of the people around the world who are still the victims of human rights abuses. So far this year more than 10,000 Falun Gong followers have been subjected to arrest or harassment because of their faith by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). How many more will there be before the year ends? How many more will there be next year? And the years after that? This is an unacceptable disregard for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the CCP cannot be allowed to continue with its campaign to eliminate Falun Gong.”

The ability of the CCP to inflict fear and persecute followers of Falun Gong isn’t confined by China’s borders.

Most British Falun Gong practitioners grew up in China and still have family there. Often these family members receive threats from CCP security agents. The CCP monitors the actions of practitioners outside its borders, then bullies them through their families. These security agents have been known to threaten to kill family members still in China. Many practitioners in Britain do not feel they can visit China, for fear of being arrested, tortured, and possibly killed.

In its latest report, “The Persecution of Falun Gong in China and the UK”, the Falun Dafa Association UK documented cases detailing how the CCP has been systematically slandering and marginalising Falun Gong followers overseas.

More than 800 lawmakers from 32 countries and across political party lines have now signed a joint statement calling on the CCP to immediately stop the “systematic and brutal campaign to ‘eradicate’ the spiritual discipline of Falun Gong.”

“The persecution of Falun Gong in China has been one of the harshest campaigns against a faith group in modern times,” said the joint statement. “Since July 1999, millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China have been arbitrarily arrested and jailed without due process and many have been tortured and even killed.”

“We … urge the Chinese government to respect international norms and … to immediately stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China, and to unconditionally release all detained Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience.”

The Falun Dafa Association UK is calling on the UK Government to impose sanctions on China for its treatment of Falun Gong and has established a petition. The sanctions called for are in line with the Magnitsky Act, which is already applied by the UK Government to a number of regimes that perpetrate human rights abuses. You can support their calls by signing the petition here https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/551488

To view the latest report by the Falun Dafa Association UK, into the situation faced by practitioners in the UK, click here: www.zsr.org.uk/UK-FalunGong-Report.pdf.