English Minghui.org

February 27, 2004

From the International Conference on "Genocide in the New Era": Strengthening the Tools to Prevent and Punish Genocide

By Attorney Morton Sklar, Executive Director of the World Organization for Human Rights USA, Judge of the Administrative (Labor) Tribunal of the Organization of American States

The understanding of the international and human rights communities about the nature of the crime of genocide has been changing radically in recent years, in recognition that the international treaty prohibiting this practice covers a much broader range of abuses than previously believed. The treaty prohibiting genocide and making it an international crime was first adopted in 1948 in direct response to the Holocaust -- a widespread campaign by the government of Germany to eradicate an ethnic and religious minority group through a carefully planned and executed campaign of extermination that resulted in the death of over 6 million Jewish people. What we have come to experience and to understand is that many of the more modern forms of the most serious human rights abuses that have been taking place, for example, in Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Burma, China, Mexico and Iraq, do not have to involve the killing of millions of people on the scale of the Holocaust in order to be recognized as involving the international crime of genocide. Nor do they require specific laws and policies of a national government mandating the abuses of the type used by the German government to authorize the interment and execution of Jews. Instead, it is recognized that genocide can be carried out by private and paramilitary groups and individuals, not just government officials.

A Middle School Teacher is Confirmed to Have Died of Torture Two Years Ago

(Clearwisdom.net) The Falun Dafa Information Center reported on February 18 that a middle school teacher from Boli County was tortured to death on August 23, 2001.

Liu Xin, female, 40, was a teacher of Dasizhan Town Middle School in Boli County, Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province. On November 22, 1999, Liu went to the Boli County Police Department to advise police not to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. She was arrested by the political security section chief at that time, Sun Chengyi. Later she was jailed in the county detention center for 45 days. She wasn't released until the police extorted 4,000 yuan from her. [the average monthly income of a Chinese worker is about 500 yuan.]

Dafa Practitioner Mr. Ma Xinxing from Shanghai Tortured to Death (Photo)

(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Ma Xinxing was a 40-year-old Dafa practitioner from Shanghai. After the persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20, 1999, he went to Beijing many times to appeal for Falun Gong and clarify the truth, and he was arrested many times. He was once put in a mental hospital and tortured for three months. In November 2003, he was in grave danger due to the torture he received at the Qingpu Labor Camp in Shanghai. Not wanting to take the responsibility should he die, the camp released him. In December 2003, when fellow practitioners went to visit him, he was just skin and bones. Moreover, he was bedridden and could not eat or drink anything. He would throw up whatever he took in. His family members told the practitioners that he could no longer recognize people. When practitioners mentioned the experience of clarifying the truth together with him, he only had a blank look. However, when the practitioners mentioned "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," his eyes brightened, and there was a little smile on his face. Then tears welled up in his eyes. On December 14th, 2003, he passed away.