Washington D.C.: Practitioners Participate in the International Religious Freedom Summit

(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners participated in the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington, D.C. on January 30 and 31, 2024. The inaugural convening of this summit was established for the first time in July 2021. This year’s conference marked the fourth IRF Summit. Practitioners introduced Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) to the attendees and told them about their experiences.

The IRF Summit is chaired by Sam Brownback, the former Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom and Katrina Lantos Swett, the President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. Both chairs have supported ending the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong in China, in particular the issue of forced organ harvesting.

Attendees Condemn the Persecution

Multiple speeches addressed the CCP’s atrocities against Falun Gong, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) activist Frances Hui, and Canadian rights lawyer Sarah Teich.

“Tibetan Buddhists and Falun Gong practitioners are placed in forced labor camps, and they have their organs harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,” said Speaker Johnson. “At this moment, the U.S. has an opportunity and an obligation to prevent genocide and punish those who commit it.”

Several UN special rapporteurs visited the booth to learn about the persecution of Falun Gong in China and the transnational repression of practitioners outside China. 

One special rapporteur said she taught English in China and immediately recognized the name “Falun Gong.” She explained that some of her students practiced Falun Gong in the early 1990s, before the CCP’s persecution of the spiritual practice began.

Professors, college students, researchers, journalists, government officials, China watchers, religious leaders, and other summit attendees also stopped at the Falun Dafa Information Center booth to learn more about the practice and current persecution faced by practitioners.

One summit attendee from India was shocked to learn that detention and repression of Falun Gong was happening on such a large scale in 2024. He said, “Thank you for enlightening me.”