Press Release from Rights & Democracy: Message Of Support To The Falun Gong Movement

International Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Development

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Press Release

Message Of Support To The Falun Gong Movement

Montréal, 17 August 2000

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedomto manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

Article 18, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

On the first anniversary of the crackdown on Falun Gong practitioners, Rights & Democracy calls upon the Government of China to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to stop persecuting members of the movement.

Despite systematic government repression, Falun Gong followers continue to practice peaceful resistance through spiritual discipline, disseminate information on the Web, and courageously protest the illegal detentions and harsh punishments of fellow practitioners.

Rights & Democracy is deeply concerned at reports of violations suffered by Falun Gong members in the year that followed the ban on the movement: the harsh prison sentences of between seven and 18 years imprisonment of four members whose cases were heard in a sham trial; the secret trials which have sent hundreds more to prison; the illegal administrative detentions of thousands of followers in forced labour camps and psychiatric hospitals; the torture of scores in detention centres and the death in custody of at least 10 practitioners. These abuses flagrantly deny the basic rights guaranteed to Chinese citizens by domestic legislation and by international instruments ratified by China including the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Rights & Democracy deplores the Chinese governments manipulation of the countrys judiciary, which has been instructed to fulfil its political duty by punishing members of Falun Gong and other similar organizations. These instructions make a mockery of the universally espoused principle of an independent and impartial judiciary.

Rights & Democracy calls on the Government of Canada to address these issues as part of its human rights dialogue with China and to provide support for Falun Gong practitioners as they struggle for their basic human rights.

First issued on July 20, 2000

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Rights & Democracy is a Canadian institution with an international mandate. It works with civil society and governments in Canada and abroad to promote human rights and democratic development through dialogue, advocacy, capacity building and public education. It focuses on four themes: democratic development, womens rights, indigenous peoples rights, and globalization and human rights.

( http://www.ichrdd.ca/111/english/commdoc/prelease/supportFalunGong.html )