Speech in the 56th Session of the Commission on Human Rights

Item 12: Violence against Women

Mr. Chairman,

I speak on behalf of the Association of World Citizens, in expression of our dismay over the treatment of female Falun Gong practitioners in the People's Republic of China in recent months. We would like to highlight three important elements.

First, the violence against female Falun Gong practitioners is widespread and systematic. It is not limited to one province but has become countrywide, a reflection of a deliberate policy rather than a failing of individual policemen or jail authorities.

You are aware of some of the acts committed by the Chinese Government towards female practitioners of Falun Gong. There are numerous cases of denial of food and water, dousing with ice water, horrendous beatings (including 6 deaths by torture), monetary and material punishments, including loss of work and housing.

Second, violence is not limited to prison conditions but also is found in reform through labor camps, mental institutions and police posts.

Many practitioners have been sent to reform-through-labor camps, some have received harsh punishments for publicizing the facts of what is now happening in China, some have undergone show-trials sentencing them to long jail terms, and others have been sent to mental hospitals for specialized torture or have disappeared. These offenses have been more or less gender neutral, pertaining to both male and female practitioners.

The punishments endured by women have taken on added dimensions through gender-specific brutality and humiliation. There are the many forms of sexual harassment (including beatings and tauntings of victims in the nude), the handcuffing of practitioners to prevent them from changing their sanitary pads or clothing during menstruation, forced abortions, and even the encouragement of male criminals to rape these women. In other cases, it has been the state-employed guards who have raped practitioners. Many women have attempted to recite Falun Gong's writings while in prison, only to have dirty underwear, rags and other items stuffed into their mouths before they are taped shut.

In the annex to our oral statement, we present four case studies as examples. Many more could be documented.

Thirdly, what is striking in the consideration of these many case studies is that the reaction of the women to this systematic violence has been one of compassion, in keeping with the principles of Falun Gong which have many times shined forth even in the darkest and most inhumane of Chinese prisons. The principle of truthfulness-compassion-forbearance is understood as the essential nature of life and is the guidance to Falun Gong's self-cultivation.

The efforts of this Commission in its work on violence against women has two main tasks. The first is universal as the establishment of right relations between women and men is a world-wide task and must take many different forms. The second task is to look at country-specific situations and the precise social-economic and political context. We must work with each Government and society to overcome this violence. For the government of the Peoples Republic of China, the first step is to revise its ban upon Falun Gong practice as the ban was the openning of the door to this form of violence against women.

Annex:

1. Zhu Hang, a female professor at Dalian Polytech University, was arrested on August 30, 1999, while practicing the Falun Gong exercises in the park. She was forced into a torture device reserved for China's most vicious criminals, known as di lao, or "prison in hell," a device which immobilizes a person in excruciating positions and prevents such basic actions as walking, eating, falling asleep, or going to the bathroom. Because Ms. Zhu didn't want to make difficulties for other detained practitioners and there wasn't enough food for everyone, she decided to start fasting. After 7 days and nights, prison authorities force-fed her, causing severe injury to her mouth and causing her to lose consciousness. When the photos showing her tortured body were reported overseas, she was charged with the crime of "leaking state secrets," and sent to a mental hospital. Now not even her family members know where she is. Ms. Zhu was well aware of the risks she faced with fasting and could have avoided all of this had she simply renounced the practice. Instead, however, she put her own well-being on the line to defend the practice she knew to be true and good.

2. Ding Yan, a 31-year-old woman was arrested for her attempt to appeal peacefully to Beijing authorities. Once detained, she and a dozen other practitioners were handcuffed with one hand reaching over the shoulder and the other up from the back. The Beijing police stepped on her back and pulled her handcuffs, swinging her back and forth, right and left. She almost stopped breathing because of the severe pain. The police also told her that the skin necrosis she was suffering could cause permanent crippling of the hands. Ms. Ding endured all of this without anger or even retort. When the police finally removed her handcuffs after three hours of torture, she couldn't help but notice tears sparkling in their eyes. Her endurance had touched them, opening their hearts. She told them: "Thank you. I don't believe what I've done is not enough to touch your hearts. How can you treat so many good people like this? I will tell you with my life that Falun Dafa is great! By all means you should remember this. You must keep your benevolent hearts and never lose them."

3. Prof. Zhang Chunqing, a woman of 58 years from Dalian who was arrested September 2nd, 1999, for practicing Falun Gong's exercises in the park with her granddaughter. While detained, she decided to practice the exercises again, and was immediately beaten severely. She was hit hard on both sides of the face with large, hard binders, and slapped repeatedly. She was verbally insulted throughout her beatings, being told, "You filthy, shameless ... I'll see who is harder, you or the Communist Party!" Ms. Zhang was also placed in the terrible "prison in hell," di lao, device for an extended period of time.

4. Female practitioners have dared to utilize their harsh prison environments as opportunities to share Falun Gong with other, long-term inmates. The case of Prof. Lili Feng's detention is representative. Ms. Feng, a Chinese-born American citizen, was arrested in Shenzhen, China, when travelling to visit her family. While detained in jail, she was forced to assemble hairbrushes and sneakers 14 hours a day before their export to the United States.

Despite this and having to sleep on freezing cement floors with minimal clothing, Ms. Feng utilized her time as an opportunity to share what she knew to be true and good with her cell inmates. She was happy to answer the many questions about Falun Gong asked by her companions, most of whom were prostitutes and drug addicts. They found Ms. Feng's stories and example to be deeply touching and inspiring, things more powerful than the Chinese Government's accusatory anti-Falun Gong propaganda. By day 13, the end of Ms. Feng's detention, most-if not all-inmates had expressed sincere interest in practicing Falun Gong. Fighting, beatings and abuses were dramatically reduced, and the three most powerful and vicious inmates announced that they were going to adopt Falun Gong's principle of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance to run the cell.

One of Ms. Feng's inmates, a 19-year-old prostitute, made a statement that silenced the entire cell and moved people to tears. She promised Ms. Feng: "Professor, I will never sell my body once I get out. The next time I'm in jail it will be for Falun Gong." The inmate even made known her plans of going to Beijing after her release to tell the government how Falun Gong had saved her. Another inmate, at the time of her release, begged the police: "Can I stay for a few more days? I want to learn more about Falun Gong." When Ms. Feng first met this woman, she was talking about revenge against her neighbors using sulfuric acid. Now, however, she was telling Ms. Feng that she would never do a bad thing after learning Falun Gong.