Falun Gong Protection Act
This bill requires the President to impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions on foreign persons that are knowingly responsible for, are complicit in, or have engaged in the involuntary harvesting of organs in China. The sanctions shall not apply to certain activities, such as authorized U.S. intelligence or law enforcement activities.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4132 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4132
To provide for the imposition of sanctions with respect to forced organ
harvesting within the People's Republic of China, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 14, 2023
Mr. Perry (for himself, Mr. Burchett, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Salazar, Mr.
Fallon, Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Bilirakis, and Mr. Fitzpatrick) introduced the
following bill; 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
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the imposition of sanctions with respect to forced organ
harvesting within the People's Republic of China, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Falun Gong Protection Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Falun Gong is a spiritual practice in the Buddhist
tradition that espouses the principles of truthfulness,
compassion, and forbearance. The practice was introduced in
China by Mr. Li Hongzhi in 1992 and aims to improve physical,
psychological, and spiritual well-being through exercise,
meditation, and moral improvement.
(2) On July 20, 1999, after years of escalating harassment
by the government, then-General Secretary Jiang Zemin launched
an intensive, nationwide persecution designed to eradicate
Falun Gong. Since then, the People's Republic of China (PRC)
has detained hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners.
(3) In its 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom,
released on May 12, 2021, the Department of State stated in its
entry on China, ``Prior to the government's 1999 ban on Falun
Gong, the government estimated there were 70 million adherents.
Falun Gong sources estimate tens of millions continue to
practice privately, and Freedom House estimates seven to 20
million practitioners.''.
(4) Freedom House in its Freedom in the World 2021 report
entry on China stated that ``the regime's campaign to eradicate
the Falun Gong spiritual group continued in 2020. Hundreds of
Falun Gong practitioners have received long prison terms in
recent years, and many others are arbitrarily detained in
various `legal education' facilities. Detainees typically face
torture aimed at forcing them to abandon their beliefs,
sometimes resulting in deaths in custody.''.
(5) In its 2021 report, the United States Commission on
International Religious Freedom stated in its key findings for
China, ``according to reports, thousands of Falun Gong
practitioners were harassed and arrested during 2020 for
practicing their faith, and some likely died due to abuse and
torture while in custody. Credible international reports also
suggested that organ harvesting, including from Falun Gong
practitioners, likely continued.''.
(6) The widespread, systematic, state-sponsored persecution
of the Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party leadership of
the PRC constitutes a clear violation of Falun Gong
practitioners' basic human rights and may constitute genocide.
(7) The campaign against Falun Gong is overseen by central
branches of the Chinese Communist Party, including the so-
called ``Central Leading Group on Preventing and Dealing with
Heretical Religions''. On May 12, 2021, Yu Hui, a former Office
Director of this group, was targeted for sanctions by the
United States Government.
(8) Reports, such as those mentioned in this legislation,
suggest that China's organ transplantation system does not
comply with the majority of the World Health Organization's
Guiding Principles on Human Cell, Tissue and Organ
Transplantation, insofar as organs are said to be primarily
sourced from prisoners without voluntary consent, organs are
reported to be traded for payment, the level of transparency
and traceability in the organ procurement process is low, and
the Chinese Communist Party has prevented independent or
impartial inspection, scrutiny and verification of its
transplant system.
(9) On June 14, 2021, a joint statement by United Nations
human rights experts expressed extreme alarm over ``reports of
alleged `organ harvesting' targeting minorities, including
Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims, and
Christians in detention in China''.
(10) Based on independent research and official statistics,
it is clear that many organ transplants conducted in the PRC do
not meet internationally accepted ethical standards.
(11) Freedom House in its Freedom in the World 2021 report
entry on China stated that ``The government claims it has ended
the transplantation of organs from executed prisoners. However,
the scale of the transplantation industry and the speed with
which some organs are procured far exceed what is feasible via
the country's nascent voluntary donation system and there is
growing international attention to possible crimes against
humanity in connection with the practice.''.
(12) A 2019 forensic statistical analysis of organ donation
data in the PRC, published in the BMC Medical Ethics journal,
concluded the following: ``China's apparent systematic
falsification of national organ donation data severely
undermines the good faith efforts being made to integrate China
into the international transplantation community.''.
(13) The United States had approximately 145 million
registered organ donors in 2019: 19,257 persons donated their
organs, resulting in 39,719 transplants; the ratio of actual
donors to registered donors is approximately 0.00013. Similar
ratios are observed in the United Kingdom, Canada and other
countries. By contrast, the PRC claimed to have more than
900,000 registered organ donors by early 2019; data from China
also indicates 5,818 organ donors and 19,454 transplants in
2019, resulting in a ratio of actual donors to registered
donors of 0.0057. Although this comparison does not control for
other possible variables, the fact that China's nascent organ
donation program yielded 44 times more organ donors from its
organ donation pool than that of the United States in 2019
merits international scrutiny.
(14) Credible evidence suggests that Falun Gong
practitioners are subject to widespread forced organ harvesting
and are specifically targeted for this barbaric practice.
(15) In January of 2007, Canadian human rights attorney
David Matas and former Canadian Secretary of State for the Asia
Pacific region David Kilgour published findings confirming the
likelihood that forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong
practitioners was occurring in China. They also concluded that
there was no evidence of a voluntary donation system in the PRC
at the time and that, in spite of this, the Chinese Government
reported a dramatic escalation in its organ transplantation
infrastructure (a three-fold increase) between 1999 and 2004,
parallel to the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong.
(16) In 2016, Matas, Kilgour, and investigative journalist
Ethan Gutmann published an exhaustive report concluding that it
is likely that between 60,000 and 100,000 organ transplants had
been conducted per year since 2000, and that Falun Gong
practitioners are the main source of organs for transplant in
China.
(17) In its annual report for 2020, the Congressional-
Executive Commission on China referenced reports raising
concerns about the PRC falsifying organ donation data, casting
additional doubt on the CCP's claim to have ended forced organ
harvesting.
(18) On March 1, 2020, the Independent Tribunal into Forced
Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China, an
investigative entity known as a people's tribunal commissioned
by the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in
China, composed of relevant legal, cultural, and medical
experts and led by Sir Geoffrey Nice, released its final
judgment, including--
(A) very large numbers of transplant operations
have been carried out in the PRC. The Tribunal assessed
as credible the numbers of operations being between
60,000 and 90,000 annually in the years 2000 to 2014.
The number of eligible registered donors was reportedly
5,146 in 2017, leaving an incomprehensible gap;
(B) ``Forced organ harvesting has been committed
for years throughout China on a significant scale and
that Falun Gong practitioners have been one--and
probably the main--source of organ supply'';
(C) ``Falun Gong practitioners in detention were
systematically subjected to blood tests and organ
examinations'' while other prisoners were not tested,
suggesting that Falun Gong practitioners were
specifically selected or targeted for these medical
examinations; and
(D) ``. . . the PRC and its leaders actively
incited the persecution, the imprisonment, murder,
torture and the humiliation of Falun Gong practitioners
with the sole purpose of eliminating the practice of,
and belief in, the value of Falun Gong.''.
(19) The international nongovernmental organization Doctors
Against Forced Organ Harvesting presented a petition with over
three million signatures collected worldwide between 2012 to
2018 to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
calling for an investigation into forced organ harvesting of
Falun Gong that went unheeded.
(20) In June 2016, the House of Representatives passed its
fifth resolution condemning China's persecution of Falun Gong
with H. Res. 343 114, ``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'' and calling for an end to the
``eradication'' campaign of Falun Gong and forced organ
harvesting.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) killing a human being through involuntary organ
extraction is an egregious violation of universal standards of
medical ethics and is in direct contradiction of basic
standards of human decency;
(2) the forced harvesting of organs violates article 3 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that
``Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person.'', and article 4, which states that ``No one shall be
held in slavery or servitude.'';
(3) the United Nations Human Rights Council should issue a
formal condemnation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) for
its persecution of Falun Gong;
(4) any collaboration with or participation in the PRC's
organ transplant system by the United States Government or a
United States person or organization presents serious ethical
challenges that would jeopardize the integrity of the United
States organ transplantation system; and
(5) the Chinese Communist Party's state-sponsored
persecution of Falun Gong must come to an immediate end.
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to--
(1) avoid any cooperation with the PRC in the organ
transplantation field while the Chinese Communist Party remains
in power;
(2) take appropriate measures, including using relevant
sanctions authorities, to coerce the Chinese Communist Party to
end any state-sponsored organ harvesting campaign; and
(3) work with allies, partners, and multilateral
institutions to highlight China's persecution of Falun Gong and
coordinate closely with the international community on targeted
sanctions and visa restrictions.
SEC. 5. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO FORCED ORGAN HARVESTING
WITHIN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
(a) Imposition of Sanctions.--The President shall impose the
sanctions described in subsection (c) with respect to each foreign
person included in the most recent list submitted pursuant to
subsection (b).
(b) List of Persons.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a list of foreign persons,
including senior government officials, military leaders, and
other persons who the President determines are knowingly
responsible for or complicit in, or have directly or indirectly
engaged in, the involuntary harvesting of organs within the
People's Republic of China.
(2) Updates of lists.--The President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees an updated list under
paragraph (1)--
(A) as new information becomes available;
(B) not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act; and
(C) annually thereafter for five years.
(3) Form.--The list required by paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified
annex.
(c) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this
subsection are the following:
(1) Blocking of property.--The President shall exercise all
of the powers granted to the President by the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (except
that the requirements of section 202 of such Act (50 U.S.C.
1701) shall not apply) to the extent necessary to block and
prohibit all transactions in property and interests in property
of the person if such property and interests in property are in
the United States, come within the United States, or are or
come within the possession or control of a United States
person.
(2) Inadmissibility of certain individuals.--
(A) Ineligibility for visas, admission, or
parole.--A foreign person included in the most recent
list submitted pursuant to subsection (b) is--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other
documentation to enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted
or paroled into the United States or to receive
any other benefit under the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(B) Current visas revoked.--A foreign person
described in subparagraph (A) is also subject to the
following:
(i) Revocation of any visa or other entry
documentation regardless of when the visa or
other entry documentation is or was issued.
(ii) A revocation under clause (i) shall
take effect immediately and automatically
cancel any other valid visa or entry
documentation that is in the foreign person's
possession.
(3) Exception.--Sanctions under paragraph (2) shall not
apply to an alien if admitting or paroling the alien into the
United States is necessary to permit the United States to
comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the
United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and
entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United
Nations and the United States, or other applicable
international obligations of the United States.
(d) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections (b) and
(c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person who violates, attempts to
violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of regulations
promulgated to carry out subsection (a) to the same extent that such
penalties apply to a person who commits an unlawful act described in
section 206(a) of that Act.
(e) Exception To Comply With National Security.--The following
activities shall be exempt from sanctions under this section:
(1) Activities subject to the reporting requirements under
title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et
seq.).
(2) Any authorized intelligence or law enforcement
activities of the United States.
SEC. 6. REPORT.
(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the
Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the National
Institutes of Health, shall submit to the appropriate congressional
committees a report on the organ transplant policies and practices of
the People's Republic of China.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under subsection
(a) shall include--
(1) a summary of de jure and de facto policies toward organ
transplantation in the PRC, including with respect to prisoners
of conscience (including Falun Gong) and other prisoners;
(2)(A) the number of organ transplants that are known to
occur or are estimated to occur on an annual basis in the PRC;
(B) the number of known or estimated voluntary organ donors
in the PRC;
(C) an assessment of the sources of organs for transplant
in the PRC; and
(D) an assessment of the time, in days, that it takes to
procure an organ for transplant within the Chinese medical
system and an assessment of whether such timetable is possible
based on the number of known or estimated organ donors in the
PRC;
(3) a list of all United States grants over the past ten
years that have supported research on organ transplantation in
the PRC or in collaboration between a Chinese and a United
States entity; and
(4) a determination as to whether the persecution of Falun
Gong practitioners within the People's Republic of China
constitutes an ``atrocity'' (as such term is defined in section
6 of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of
2018 (Public Law 115-441; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note)).
(c) Form.--The report required under subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
SEC. 7. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees''
means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
<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.
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 33 - 0.
Mr. McCormick moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H4133-4136)
DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 4132.
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4134)
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On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4134)
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.