RESOLUTION # 13
ADOPTED BY
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL
HUMAN RIGHTS AGENCIES

54th Annual Conference
New Orleans, Louisiana
August 1, 2002

TITLE: FALUN GONG IN CHINA

PURPOSE: TO CONDEMN THE PERSECUTION OF THE PRACTITIONERS OF FALUN GONG BY THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT

Whereas, the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies (IAOHRA) is a professional association of more than 143 national, provincial, state, and local human rights and human relations commissions that has as its purpose and jurisdiction the reduction of discrimination; and,

Whereas, Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice deeply rooted in ancient Chinese culture. The practice is peaceful and apolitical. It consists of meditation, gentle exercises, and the guiding principle of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance; and

Whereas, the government of the People's Republic of China banned the practice of Falun Gong on July 1999 and began a brutal and relentless crackdown on millions of Falun Gong practitioners, which has continued unceasingly up to the present; and

Whereas, this crackdown violates China's own Constitution as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, both of which have been signed by the Peoples Republic of China; and

Whereas, Jiang Zemin's regime has created notorious government ''610'' offices throughout China with the special task of overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong members through organized brainwashing, torture, and murder;

Whereas, propaganda from China's state-controlled media has inundated the public in an attempt to breed hatred and discrimination;

Whereas, official measures have been taken to conceal all atrocities, such as the immediate cremation of victims, the blocking of autopsies, and the false labeling of deaths as from suicide or natural causes;

Whereas, women in particular have been the target of numerous forms of sexual violence, including rape, sexual assault, and forced abortion;

Whereas, the campaign of persecution has been generated by the Chinese Government, carried out by government officials and state police, and permeated every village and every level of government in China; and

Whereas, the Government of the People's Republic of China and its diplomats in the foreign countries should cease its harassment of foreign citizens and residents who practice Falun Gong and cease its pressuring of foreign officials to refuse support to the Falun Gong and its practitioners:

Now therefore, be it resolved that IAOHRA condemn this extremely brutal persecution and call on:

(1) The Government of the People's Republic of China to:

(A) put an immediate end to the killings, the practices of torturing practitioners, abusing practitioners in psychiatric hospitals, and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of the practitioners of Falun Gong and release from detention all Falun Gong practitioners;

(B) repeal the illegal ban on Falun Gong and allow Falun Gong practitioners to pursue their personal belief.

(2) The Government of the United States, Canada and the United Nations to:

(A) condemn the persecution of Falun Gong in China; and

(B) urge the Government of the People's Republic of China to stop killings, torture, mass arbitrary detentions, unfair trials and other human rights violations resulting from the crackdown on Falun Gong and lift the ban on Falun Gong; and

(C) initiate and carry out concrete actions to assist the Falun Gong practitioners.

Beverly L. Watts, President