Condemns the practice of state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China.
Calls on China and the Communist Party of China to end the practice of organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience.
Encourages the U.S. medical community to help raise awareness of unethical organ transplant practices in China.
Demands an end to the 17-year persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice and the release of all Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience.
Calls on China to allow an independent investigation into organ transplant abuses.
Calls on the Department of State to: (1) conduct a more detailed analysis on state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience in the annual Human Rights Report, and (2) report annually to Congress on implementation of the immigration provision prohibiting visas to Chinese and other nationals engaged in coerced organ or bodily tissue transplantation.
[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 343 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 343
Expressing concern regarding persistent and credible reports of
systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting
prisoners of conscience in the People's Republic of China, including
from large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners and members of other
religious and ethnic minority groups.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 25, 2015
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Poe
of Texas, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Farr, and
Mr. Valadao) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on
the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing concern regarding persistent and credible reports of
systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting
prisoners of conscience in the People's Republic of China, including
from large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners and members of other
religious and ethnic minority groups.
Whereas when performed in accordance with ethical standards, the medical
discipline of organ transplantation is one of the great achievements of
modern medicine;
Whereas Chinese authorities reported in 2011 that the majority of organs used
for transplantation in China were procured from executed prisoners;
Whereas voluntary and informed consent is the precondition for ethical organ
donation and international medical organizations state that prisoners,
deprived of their freedom, are not in the position to give free consent
and that the practice of sourcing organs from prisoners is a violation
of ethical guidelines in medicine;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China and Communist Party of
China continue to deny reports that many organs are taken without the
consent of prisoners yet at the same time prevents independent
verification of its transplant system;
Whereas the organ transplantation system in China does not comply with the World
Health Organization's requirement of transparency and traceability in
organ procurement pathways;
Whereas the United States Department of State Country Report on Human Rights for
China for 2013 stated, ``Advocacy groups continued to report instances
of organ harvesting from prisoners'';
Whereas Huang Jiefu, director of the China Organ Donation Committee, announced
in December 2014 that China would end the practice of organ harvesting
from executed prisoners by January 1, 2015, but failed to address organ
harvesting from prisoners of conscience;
Whereas rates of voluntary organ donation in China remain severely depressed and
are insufficient to account for the volume of organ transplant
procedures performed;
Whereas Falun Gong, a spiritual practice involving meditative ``qigong''
exercises and centered on the values of truthfulness, compassion, and
tolerance, became immensely popular in the 1990s;
Whereas in July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party launched an intensive,
nationwide persecution designed to eradicate the spiritual practice of
Falun Gong, reflecting the party's long-standing intolerance of large
independent civil society groups;
Whereas since 1999, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been
detained extra-legally in reeducation-through-labor camps, detention
centers, and prisons, where torture and abuse are routine;
Whereas in many detention facilities and labor camps, Falun Gong prisoners of
conscience comprise the majority of the population, and have been said
to receive the longest sentences and the worst treatment;
Whereas former Falun Gong prisoners of conscience have reported receiving
targeted medical exams in detention designed to assess the health of
their organs, which other prisoner groups were generally not subjected
to;
Whereas Freedom House reported in 2015 that Falun Gong practitioners comprise
the largest portion of prisoners of conscience in China, and face an
elevated risk of dying or being killed in custody;
Whereas in 2006, Canadian researchers David Matas, human rights attorney, and
David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific,
conducted an independent investigation into allegations of organ
harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners in China, and concluded that Falun
Gong prisoners were the only plausible source for 41,500 organ
transplants performed from 2000 to 2005;
Whereas their report found that agents of the Chinese state have conducted
``large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners'',
whose vital organs ``were seized involuntarily for sale at high prices,
sometimes to foreigners, who normally face long waits for voluntary
donations of such organs in their home countries'';
Whereas Matas and Kilgour have implicated state and party entities in illicit
organ harvesting, including domestic security services and military
hospitals;
Whereas researcher and journalist Ethan Gutmann estimates that approximately
65,000 Falun Gong adherents may have been killed for their organs from
2000 to 2008, and that a number of other religious and ethnic minorities
may also have been targeted;
Whereas Gutmann published findings that Chinese security agencies began
harvesting organs from members of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur ethnic
minority group in the 1990s, including from Uyghur political prisoners;
Whereas the United Nations Committee Against Torture and the Special Rapporteur
on Torture have expressed concern over the allegations of organ
harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners, and have called on the Government
of the People's Republic of China to increase accountability and
transparency in the organ transplant system and punish those responsible
for abuses; and
Whereas the killing of religious or political prisoners for the purpose of
selling their organs for transplant is an egregious and intolerable
violation of the fundamental right to life: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns the practice of state-sanctioned forced organ
harvesting in the People's Republic of China;
(2) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of
China and Communist Party of China to immediately end the
practice of organ harvesting from all prisoners of conscience;
(3) demands an immediate end to the 16-year persecution of
the Falun Gong spiritual practice by the Government of the
People's Republic of China and the Communist Party of China,
and the immediate release of all Falun Gong practitioners and
other prisoners of conscience;
(4) encourages the United States medical community to help
raise awareness of unethical organ transplant practices in
China;
(5) calls on the People's Republic of China to allow a
credible, transparent, and independent investigation into organ
transplant abuses; and
(6) calls on the United States Department of State to
conduct a more detailed analysis on state-sanctioned organ
harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience in the
annual Human Rights Report, and report annually to Congress on
the implementation of section 1182f of title 8, United States
Code, barring provision of visas to Chinese and other nationals
engaged in coerced organ or bodily tissue transplantation.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by Voice Vote .
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
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Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by Unanimous Consent.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen moved to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, as amended.
Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H3727-3730)
DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H. Res. 343.
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.(text: CR H3728)
On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3728)