Senate of the Italian Republic
Resolution of the Special Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights
Sponsored by Senator Manconi
Approved March 5, 2014
At the conclusion of the committee’s review of the matter assigned to it concerning the fundamental rights of those persons belonging to the Falun Gong, and regarding in particular the harvesting of organs of prisoners in China.
This Commission,
Given that
On December 18, 2013, it listened to the testimony of the Canadian attorney David Matas, candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010, and for many years active in the protection of human rights, during which testimony was presented the phenomenon of the forced harvesting of organs practiced upon and to the detriment of prisoners sentenced to death by the government of the Chinese People’s Republic, and upon and to the detriment of members of Falun Gong movement;
and that
On December 12, 2013 the European Parliament approved a resolution condemning the systematic harvesting of organs of political prisoners of conscience without their consent;
And it having been revealed that:
In the Chinese People’s Republic more than 10,000 organ transplants are carried out each year, and the 165 Chinese centers for organ transplants publicize their ability to find compatible organs within a two to four-week period, even though at the present time, China does not currently have in place an organized or efficient state system in terms of the donation and distribution of organs, and does not follow the norms established by the World Health Organization with respect to the source and traceability of donated organs;
Since 1984 there has been in place in China an official norm which authorizes the forced harvesting of organs of prisoners sentenced to death, and that, according to the data which has emerged from the Madrid Conference regarding the donation and transplant of organs in 2010, in China more than 90 percent of the transplanted organs harvested from deceased donors actually derive from political prisoners; of such prisoners, according the information gathered by the attorney Matas, many are members of the Falun Gong religious movement, which has been persecuted by the Chinese government since 1999;
The People’s Republic of China has announced that only beginning in 2015 will it begin a gradual ban on the forced harvesting of the organs of prisoners;
The United Nations Commission Against Torture has expressed its concern regarding the accusations of compulsory harvesting of the organs of prisoners, and has asked the government of the People’s Republic of China to increase its level of accountability and transparency in the system of organ transplants, not to mention its punishment of those responsible for abuses in this regard;
Hereby pledges the Italian Government:
• to ask the government of the People’s Republic of China for the immediate release of all political prisoners of conscience in China, including the members of the Falun Gong movement;
• to reconsider/re-evaluate its programs currently in place in Italian hospitals for the training of Chinese doctors in the techniques of organ transplants, and its research programs, in collaboration with China, in the area of transplants;
• to gather, by way of our diplomatic representatives, data and information necessary in order to delineate in complete and clear fashion the situation regarding the practices of organ transplants in the territory of China;
• to prosecute the trafficking of human organs, according to the international agreements to which Italia has subscribed, and according to the norms of law, by promoting a more severe application of sanctions against those intermediary parties involved in such activity.
