WRITTEN QUESTION E-3452/06

To the Council.

Subject: Allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

On the 6th of July 2006 David Matas and David Kilgour, both Canadian lawyers, published their 'Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China' following an independent investigation they carried out into the very disturbing stories leaking out of China that allegedly state institutions in the People's Republic of China have been harvesting human organs from innocent unconsenting live Falun Gong Practitioners, and killing the practitioners in the process by extra-judicial executions during the organ removal process. This is allegedly followed by rapid cremation of the mutilated bodies to destroy all evidence of the crime, and it is also alleged that this is occurring in large numbers and in a deliberate and systematic way.

Organ harvesting targeted at an unwilling particular group of individuals is a horrendous crime violating all international legal norms and the Chinese Government has rigorously denied such allegations. Is the Council aware of these most serious allegations, has it read the report cited and will it ask the EU Member State Embassies in China to investigate matters further and report back if there is any truth behind this?

E-3452/06 and E-3570/06

Joint Reply

(4th of October 2006)

The Council is aware of allegations of illicit trade in organ transplants. During the recent round of EU-China human rights dialogue on the 25th of May 2006, the EU raised the issue of organ harvesting from executed prisoners, and asked for clarifications regarding the new regulation on organ transplants, which took effect on the 1st of July 2006. The Council is aware of reports drafted by civil society organisations on the issue of "organ harvesting" and will continue to raise this and related human rights issues with the Chinese authorities. The EU has repeatedly raised its concerns about the Chinese regulations on religious practice and will continue to raise these issues during the next round of dialogue scheduled to take place in October 2006.