Two reports from the U.S. Department of State, the Country Reports on Human Rights Abuses and the Annual Report on Religious Freedom, highlight the persecution and organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
A new organ harvesting sub-section in the Country Reports states: “Some activists and organizations accused the government of forcibly harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, including religious and spiritual adherents such as Falun Gong practitioners and Muslim detainees in Xinjiang. In June several UN experts issued a statement expressing alarm concerning allegations of organ harvesting ‘targeting minorities, including Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims and Christians, in detention in China.”
The Country Report statement on China was seen as too weak by some, given the strength of the available evidence for the highly profitable and state-organized transplant industry.
The Annual Report on Religious Freedom dedicated 140 pages to abuses in China. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on June 2, “The People’s Republic of China continues to harass adherents of other religions that it deems out of line with Chinese Community Party doctrine, including by destroying Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, and Taoist houses of worship and by erecting barriers to employment and housing for Christians, Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, and Falun Gong practitioners.”
Beginning in 2021, officials implicated in the persecution of Falun Gong face visa restrictions to the US.
