(Clearwisdom.net) The following statement of support was read on February 3rd at a press conference outside the Chinese Embassy in London. The statement was by a Belgian Member of Parliament. The press conference was held to announce the establishment of the European branch of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG-Europe). To find out more about the event, please see http://en.clearharmony.net/articles/200702/37890.html .
China and the Chinese authorities continue to have a fundamental problem as far as a normal recognition of human rights is concerned. Since the massive student protests in 1989 were bloodily crushed on Tiananmen Square (the Square of Heavenly Peace) in Beijing, the human rights situation in China clearly has not improved.
We see a continuing violation of human rights, which even cannot be openly protested against without facing the consequence of immediate liquidation. It is also impossible for organizations to help people, because of the ever increasing corruption and abuse of power in China, as seen from the reports of Amnesty International. The most distinguished group of victims at the moment are Falun Gong practitioners. There is a whole case of evidence about the brutal persecution of this group of people.
To address this situation, I requested an official hearing in the Commission on Foreign Affairs of the Flemish Parliament about the human rights situation in China, referring to the independent investigation (by David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State and MP, and David Matas, international human rights lawyer) into the accusations of organ harvesting on living Falun Gong practitioners in China. At the press conference in the Flemish Parliament, on the occasion of this hearing, Mr Kilgour and Mr Matas highlighted their findings.
I fully support the investigation by the CIPFG and demand the Chinese communist regime to give access to prisons, labor camps and all other relevant facilities where Falun Gong practitioners are detained.
Furthermore, as a Flemish Parliament member, I am more and more annoyed by the lack of criticism and the economical approach of our government towards China, the new so-called ‘promised land’, whereby little attention is paid to human rights. I want to point out to our policy makers that we have to continue to pay attention to respect for the diversity of cultures, identity and human rights, also in the contacts with the Chinese authorities.