DAFOH petition to the United Nations sets historic record

On July 20, a DAFOH delegation of doctors and lawyers hand delivered the DAFOH petitions to the United Nations in Geneva. In addition to requesting action on forced organ harvesting in China, the petition requests an immediate end to the 18-year persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, the primary victims of China’s illicit transplant practices. DAFOH is asking the UN Human Rights Council to create a commission dedicated exclusively to ongoing objective investigations into China’s transplant medicine and organ donation system.

The UN has taken some initial steps towards addressing forced organ harvesting in China. In 2012, representatives from the NGO International Educational Development spoke  about forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners  at the UN Human Rights Council meeting. In 2014, at the UN’s headquarters in Geneva, Canada’s human rights adviser to the UN, Anne-Tamara Lorre, set a precedent during the Interactive Dialogue on Freedom of Religion when she acknowledged reports of unethical organ harvesting in China. Her comments prompted responses from specific countries and staunch denials by Chinese regime authorities who categorically rejected her comments.

Multiple sources of evidence for extensive forced organ harvesting, including eyewitness accounts and reports of implausible transplant numbers, made it clear to DAFOH that the Chinese state is involved in a massive program of killing on demand for organs. After repeated failures by the Chinese government to verify reform of the nation’s nefarious transplantation practices, DAFOH initiated the petition to the UN High Commissioner in 2012, recognizing that only international action would prompt real change in China.

The success of the petition is the result of strong support by volunteers around the globe who agree that China must not be granted immunity from human rights abuses.