Refugee Assistance by Friends of Falun Gong
Friends of Falun Gong has been assisting refugees since 2003. Refugees were finally finding ways to escape the persecution in China. They were putting themselves at great risk, in many cases, trekking overland through the jungles, seeking refugee protection in Thailand.
Those that made it found themselves in a foreign country with battered and bruised souls, feeling lost and vulnerable. After what they had been through in China, where their own government made them criminals based only on their spiritual beliefs, they had a fear and skepticism of all government and public officials.
The refugee process could be daunting and most Falun Gong refugees found themselves having various issues with the process.
The first refugee that we advocated for was Ms. Li Weixun in 2005. Her story (fofg.org/personal-stories/li-weixun-rescued-from-hell/) was quite compelling and all too typical of the persecution practitioners of Falun Gong were experiencing in China. For many of the officials at UNHCR she was the first practitioner that they had met and were able to interview. There was a lot they wanted to know about how she personally experienced the persecution and why she was persecuted. The tragic stories that were coming out of China were brought to life with this young lady. She was quickly resettled in the United States.
The process continued as there seemed to be a never ending stream of lies and innuendo, emanating from the CCP (the persecution has ended, the Tiananmen self-immolation episode, organ harvesting, etc.), that needed clarifying to the officials.
With the CCP unable to hide it’s shameful conduct any longer and with the knowledge that any practitioner of Falun Gong could face imminent danger because of their spiritual beliefs, refugee officials are very sensitive to the situation.