In the early morning on Oct. 4, 2006, former Canadian Kilgour (left) and Matas (right)
Matas: More Evidence Supporting Conclusion of Investigation Report Mr. Mr. Matas said Mr. Matas said that more evidence has been discovered since the Mr. Kilgour told the audience that he and Mr. Matas had gone to fifteen Kilgour said, “Four significant breakthroughs towards a global consensus a) We understand that the government and b) c) In late September, at the new Human Rights It's important here d) Last Friday, Mr. Kilgour and representatives of sixteen Amnesty International branches
Secretary of State David Kilgour and international human rights attorney David
Matas gave a talk and answered questions about their investigative report on organ
harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) to a group of reporters, politicians, experts and scholars at the Newsmaker
Breakfast at the National Press Club of Canada.
talk about their investigative report on organ harvesting from living Falun Gong
practitioners by the CCP at the Newsmaker Breakfast.
Matas said that the investigation didn't follow the conventional method.
The typical way for human rights organizations to prove a violation is to find
two independent witnesses. Each one's testimony should verify the other's.
Mr. Matas said that the special nature of organ harvesting made it impossible
to prove it using that conventional method. The surgeries were done behind closed
doors, and you could only find the offenders or the victims. The victims died
and their bodies were cremated, and it was impossible to track down the autopsy
doctors. The offenders are unlikely to confess to murder, and the operating rooms
were cleaned up. It was said that the records were destroyed as well, and even
if they did still exist, it would be impossible to obtain.
that the difficulty of this investigation was one of the reasons that he and Mr.
Kilgour undertook it. Conventional human rights organizations were unlikely to
make such investigation, so they had to come up with their own methodology. By
assessing eighteen elements of proof or disproof, the two investigators drew their
conclusion.
publication of the initial report, and currently 26-27 methods of determination
have been found. Mr. Matas assured the audience that the conclusion remained the
same.
countries and areas to introduce their investigation report to government officials,
non-governmental organizations, diplomats, medical experts, religious groups,
media outlets and the public. The report has been translated into nine languages.
Mr. Kilgour pointed out the fact that neither he or Mr. Matas have been paid to
do this.
on this issue have now occurred:
Official Opposition in Australia have agreed to ask the government of China to
permit an independent international investigation into the allegations.
At the EU-China summit in Helsinki in early September, we're informed that
the Foreign Minister of the host country raised the matter with China's Foreign
Minister. The latter was encouraged to be proactively open about the issue, which
was described as attracting much attention among Europeans, and the government
of China was invited to undertake an independent study into the allegations. Before
the Summit, a strong resolution from the European Parliament about China's
human rights record was passed.
Council second session in Geneva, I was permitted to speak at the plenary about
organ seizures from Falun Gong prisoners in China. This occurred after the Special
UN Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, presented his report, which was critical
of governments including the government of China. Nowak had earlier reported that
Falun Gong practitioners made up the vast majority of torture victims in China,
who experienced beatings, electric shocks, painful shackling of limbs, denial
of medical treatment and medication and hard labour.
to stress that some Falun Gong practitioners who have managed to get out of China
told David Matas and myself that they, without any charges or court proceeding,
worked as unpaid workers in ” re-education” camps for up to sixteen hours daily
in unhygienic and brutal conditions, making chop sticks, shoes, garments and various
promotional items for foreign companies, all for export markets.
four of us presented evidence in Washington to the Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations of the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations.”
agree that the human rights condition in China is getting worse. This development
is contrary to the Chinese government's promise to improve human rights when
it applied to host the Olympic Games.
Posting
date: 8/Oct/2006
Original article date: 7/Oct/2006
Category: World
News