(Clearwisdom.net) Prior to the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG), and more than 300 political leaders from 18 countries jointly wrote to the United Nations Human Rights Council to ask the United Nations to take effective action to stop the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of Falun Gong.

The political leaders, including members of Congress, state and local council members, county magistrates, and city mayors are from 18 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. They jointly wrote to the president of the UN Human Rights Council and UN Secretary-General to express their support for the global "Millions of Signatures" campaign launched by CIPFG and to call on the UN and the international community to take effective actions to stop the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of Falun Gong.

The "Global Millions of Signatures" Campaign, which was launched in January 2008 in Hong Kong, has collected signatures from 1.35 million supporters in 133 countries. The political leaders from these countries also expressed their support for their citizens' appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong.

The United Nations Committee against Torture released an investigative report on November 21, 2008, expressing concern for China's widespread use of torture. The report particularly asked for an investigation of the torture, mistreatment, and harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.

The proposal of the UN Committee against Torture has attracted worldwide attention. CIPFG states that, from the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution in July 1999 to the present, it has been violating the international conventions on human rights. The UN Human Rights Council should require the Chinese Communist regime to improve by a certain time, otherwise the council should submit a report to the UN to sanction it.

Lawyer Chu Wan-chi, representing CIPFG's global "Millions of Signatures" campaign, sent the letter to the UN Human Rights Council by global mail to the Secretary-General and the President of the UN Human Rights Council on December 5, 2008.

Ms. Chu stated, "Over the past nine plus years, the Chinese Communist Party has misused the nation's resources to persecute Falun Gong practitioners and human rights advocates. The ongoing brutal persecution raises questions as to whether the Chinese Communist Party can truly and peacefully co-exist with the international community."

Ms. Chu stressed, "The UN Human Rights Council should even more strictly question the Chinese Communist Party about all incidents that violate human rights and ask it to immediately stop the persecution of Falun Gong. If the Chinese Communist Party continues to deny or does not respond within a prescribed time, the Human Rights Council should submit a proposal to the UN to sanction it regarding the Chinese Communist Party's violation of international conventions on human rights for so many years."

The Vice President of the Asia Branch of CIPFG, lawyer Chiu Huang-chuan, stated that the UN Human Rights Council's concerns about the Chinese Communist Party's violation of human rights, particularly its persecution of Falun Gong, is a matter of fundamental justice. He said that the council should further send special investigators to China to carry out an investigation, make a report, and then, according to the report, specifically require the Chinese Communist Party to improve its human rights conditions.

Following is the letter, signed by political leaders from 18 countries:

To: President, UN Human Rights Council
Cc: UN Security Council, UN Secretary-General

Dear Mr. President,
I have been made aware of the global "Millions of Signatures" Campaign launched by Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) since January 2008 and I have been shown the evidence of such signature collection. I am impressed by the overwhelming support the campaign has received from both my country and people world-wide. Apart from my support for the CIPFG's endeavor to uphold human rights, I sympathize with the Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime and understand the local signers' appeal against the persecution. All human rights are universal. I hope the United Nations, my government and all human rights organizations can provide effective assistance to call on the Chinese regime to immediately stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.