(Minghui.org) A rally commemorating International Human Rights Day was held in the Vietnamese community in Houston on December 11, 2021. Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) practitioners and other representatives from the community were invited to the rally. December 10, 2021, marks the 73^rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The UDHR is a milestone document that lists the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being.

Rally in the Vietnamese community in Houston to commemorate Human Rights Day

The rally was held in front of the Vietnam War Memorial at 11 a.m. Two Falun Gong practitioners called for an end to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of the spiritual practice.

Mr. Song, a representative of the Southern USA Falun Dafa Association, recounted many examples of how the CCP has violated Falun Dafa practitioners’ human rights and called for all of society to help stop the persecution.

“Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the principles of Falun Gong, aren’t in line with the regime’s atheism. The CCP launched the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, and inflicted it upon lawful practitioners by various means, including beatings, shocking with electric batons, deprivation of sleep, and other forms of torture. The CCP has extended its persecution overseas by threatening and harassing practitioners who live in other countries,” Mr. Song said.

Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Fu described the CCP’s crime of harvesting organs from practitioners while they are still alive. After a witness testified about Falun Gong practitioners being killed for their organs in 2006, she joined a research center to help analyze the organ transplant data from China. “After ten years of research and investigations, we drew the conclusion that the CCP has been seizing organs from prisoners of conscience for over 20 years, and Falun Gong practitioners have been the major target since 1999.”

Fu also pointed out that organ transplant tourism has increased in recent years. Many people in need of a transplant, including some from Texas, are told that fresh organs are available within days or weeks in China. She called for more people to step forward and oppose the CCP’s conduct. “This is a day for brave people to stand up and tell more people about those who have lost their freedom and even lives because of their belief.”

Background: What Is Falun Dafa?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people who have embraced the teachings—which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance—and learned the five gentle exercises have experienced uplifted health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the CCP, perceived the spiritual discipline's growing popularity as a threat to the Party's atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, issued an order to ban the practice.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 22 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.

Under Jiang's personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.