Letter to Blinken Requests New Sanctions for Persecutors of Falun Gong
UPDATE, July 20, 2024: State Dept. issues statement on the anniversary of Falun Gong’s persecution:
“We solemnly mark 25 years today since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began a campaign of repression against practitioners of Falun Gong, a self-described spiritual practice. For two and a half decades, PRC authorities have targeted Falun Gong practitioners and their families in a campaign of abuses and rights violations.
The United States will continue to speak out for human rights, including freedom of religion or belief. We will also continue to promote accountability for those responsible for human rights abuses and violations. We call upon the PRC to cease its repressive campaign and release all who have been imprisoned for their beliefs.”
July 20th, 2024 marks the 25th year that the Chinese Communist Party has been persecuting members of the Falun Gong faith. Since 1999, hundreds of thousands of Chinese who practice the traditional meditation have been unlawfully kidnapped, arrested, and subjected to brutal torture at the hands of the state. Forced organ harvesting from the huge prisoner-of-conscience population has also become one form of this religious persecution.
Sixteen prominent human rights and religious freedom advocates have signed onto a letter by Friends of Falun Gong asking Secretary of State Antony Blinken to issue new sanctions on Chinese nationals who have been found to participate in the crackdown on Falun Gong. The letter also asks the Biden administration to issue a public statement condemning the persecution and calling for its end.
The letter follows the House’s approval of H.R.4132— the Falun Gong Protection Act—which would call for an immediate end of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong. It also includes fines, jail time, and entry bans for perpetrators. It proposes that the U.S. avoids any cooperation with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the organ transplantation field while the Chinese Communist Party remains in power.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a meditation practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, and follows in the spiritual traditions of the Buddha and Tao schools. In the 1990s, at the height of its popularity in China, it was estimated that one out of every 13 people practiced it.