Dear Colleague,

With the start of the UN General Assembly, human rights efforts have shifted to New York, and I would be pleased to have your cooperation. I raised the ban on the spiritual movement Falun Gong at the Sub-Commission in August. I enclose a brief piece The Ban on Falun Gong and the After-Shocks with background, part of my presentation and the reply of the Chinese Ambassador Qiao Zonghuai.

The ban and the subsequent arrests of Falun Gong practitioners are, I believe, direct violations of article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - signed but not yet ratified by China - and the spirit of the Declaration on Religion and Belief. As you know, freedom of thought is a non-derogable right of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights whose article 4 permits derogation from the obligations of the Covenant during emergencies. While the Falun Gong practitioners have been accused in the Chinese press and television of causing social instability, no state of emergency has been declared.

I believe that it would be useful to raise the issue with Chinese diplomats whom you meet during the General Assembly or in other ways you think correct. There are, I am sure, cooler heads in China who must feel that the ban, the arrests, the public destruction of books and videos are way out of proportion to the "dangers" posed by spiritual efforts such as Falun Gong. You might stress that the start of the Year 2000 as the UN-designated International Year of the Culture of Peace would be auspicious for a gesture for freedom of thought.

Your help is appreciated.

With best wishes,

René Wadlow