The second steering committee meeting of the
Council of Europe in 2006 was held in Strasbourg from April 10th to 13th. 11 representatives
of the COE raised a motion to ask for a hearing on the case which was recently
exposed to the public regarding the CCP crimes of organ-harvesting from live Falun
Gong practitioners, and also demand that the Chinese government open all labour
camps to international delegations to conduct independent investigations.
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| The COE board meeting |
This motion entitled “Need for a
public hearing on organ harvesting in China” and document ID is #10904.
Lately
many reports about organ harvesting in communist China have been reaching Europe.
It was mentioned in the motion that, according to a Reuter’s report, the United
Nations’ torture investigator said that thousands of Falun Gong followers were
being held in a Chinese concentration camp, and some had been killed.
The motion
also included the following three requests:
To allow the United Nations and
other rights organisations to conduct independent investigations of all its labour
camps and other detention facilities where prisoners of conscience are held.
To
allow international rights organisations to immediately investigate the conditions
of all Falun Gong practitioners and other dissidents held in all labour camps,
jails and detention centres.
To allow international organisations to investigate
all non-voluntary or undocumented removals and sale of organs from the Chinese
people.
It was said at the end of the motion that, “All these considerations
show that there is a need for a public hearing on the organ harvesting in China.”
This
motion was drafted by the Swedish Parliamentarian, Mr. Lindblad, and jointly signed
by eleven parliamentarians from Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Estonia and Greece.
Note:
Founded on May 5th 1949, the Council of Europe has forty six member countries
and has its headquarters in Strasbourg, France. The COE aims to defend human rights,
parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, to develop continent-wide agreements
to standardise member countries’ social and legal practices, and to promote awareness
of a European identity based on shared values and cutting across different cultures.
The highest decision-making body is the Committee of Ministers, composed of the
forty six Foreign ministers or their Strasbourg-based deputies (ambassadors/permanent
representatives). The European Human Rights Court is a body under the Council
of Europe.
Posting date: 3/May/2006
Original article date: 3/May/2006
Category: World News
