The allegations of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China represent one of the most alarming human rights issues in modern history. This article provides a detailed examination of the background, evidence, international response, and implications of these allegations.
1. Introduction to Falun Gong
1.1 What is Falun Gong?
Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) is an ancient spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition.
Falun Gong combines meditation and gentle exercises (similar to yoga or tai chi) with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance (or in Chinese, Zhen 真, Shan 善, Ren 忍). Falun Gong practitioners aspire to live by these principles in their daily lives.
In traditional Chinese culture, the process of perfecting and refining mind and body is called “cultivation.” Our modern language uses the word qigong to describe it.
What differentiates Falun Gong from other forms of qigong is its emphasis on one’s morality, character, and the cultivation of virtue.
1.2 Falun Gong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Initially endorsed by the CCP as a form of traditional qigong, Falun Gong’s popularity grew rapidly, with millions practicing by the late 1990s. The CCP grew wary of its independence and large following, culminating in the nationwide ban in 1999. Falun Gong practitioners were labeled as enemies of the state, leading to:
- Mass Arrests: Practitioners were detained in prisons, labor camps, and reeducation centers.
- Torture and Repression: Reports of severe human rights abuses, including torture and coerced “reeducation,” began to emerge.
2. Background on Organ Transplantation in China
A growing body of evidence indicates that Chinese hospitals have been colluding with the country’s police in a nefarious scheme known as “organ harvesting.” They hold prisoners of conscience against their will, often illegally, examine them for organ compatibility, and then systematically remove their healthy organs to supply transplants for a booming organ transplantation industry.
2.1 The Rapid Growth of China’s Transplant Industry
- In the 1990s, China saw a dramatic rise in organ transplants. By the early 2000s, it had become a global leader in the industry.
- Short Wait Times: Chinese hospitals advertised transplant wait times of mere weeks, compared to months or years in other countries, raising suspicions about the source of organs.
2.2 Official Explanations
For years, China relied on executed prisoners as its primary source of organs. In 2015, Chinese authorities claimed they had transitioned to a voluntary donation system, but critics pointed to the lack of transparency and discrepancies in organ availability.
3. Allegations of Organ Harvesting from Falun Gong Practitioners
The allegations state that Falun Gong practitioners are a primary source of organs in China’s transplant system. These claims are supported by testimonies, reports, and circumstantial evidence.
3.1 How It Allegedly Happens
- Arrest and Detention: Practitioners are detained in labor camps, prisons, and reeducation centers.
- Medical Screening: Prisoners undergo blood tests, organ function tests, and tissue typing — procedures not conducted on other prisoners but crucial for organ matching.
- Organ Harvesting: Allegedly, healthy practitioners are killed or left to die after their organs are removed.
3.2 Key Allegations
- Organs from Falun Gong practitioners are harvested while they are alive or shortly after death.
- Organs are sold to Chinese citizens or international patients seeking transplants.
- The practice is facilitated by state institutions, including hospitals, military facilities, and local governments.
3.3 What is Forced Organ Harvesting?
Presentation of what forced organ harvesting actually is and what it means to the victims. It is not only about a definition. And everyone can help to end it.
4. Investigative Reports and Evidence
The vast majority of prisoners of conscience targeted in this manner are believed to be Falun Gong practitioners — possibly running into tens of thousands annually, according to estimates by Ethan Gutmann, an investigative journalist, David Matas, an international human rights lawyer, and David Kilgour, a former Canadian member of parliament, who published their findings in 2016.
4.1 Kilgour-Matas Report (2006)
David Kilgour, a former Canadian Secretary of State, and David Matas, a human rights lawyer, conducted an independent investigation. Their report, “Bloody Harvest,” concluded:
- Falun Gong practitioners were being killed for their organs.
- Evidence included phone calls to Chinese hospitals, where officials admitted to using organs from Falun Gong detainees.
The Bloody Harvest report by David Matas and David Kilgour included transcripts of recorded phone calls with personnel from 15 Chinese hospitals and detention facilities who admitted that they used or could obtain vital organs of Falun Gong practitioners for transplant. Some doctors implicated local courts and security agencies in the procurement process. Some stated that Falun Gong practitioners’ organs are healthier than those from criminals.
4.2 Ethan Gutmann’s Research
In The Slaughter (2014), journalist Ethan Gutmann estimated that 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners were killed for their organs between 2000 and 2008. His findings were based on interviews with former detainees, doctors, and defectors.
4.3 The China Tribunal (2019)
The China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice, independently examined evidence of forced organ harvesting. Key findings:
- Forced organ harvesting had occurred on a substantial scale.
- Falun Gong practitioners were the primary victims.
- The tribunal concluded that these acts constituted crimes against humanity.
As fore-mentioned, the China Tribunal concluded in 2019:
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…. The Tribunal has had no evidence that the significant infrastructure associated with China’s transplantation industry has been dismantled and absent a satisfactory explanation as to the source of readily available organs concludes that forced organ harvesting continues ’till today.
China Tribunal, “Judgement”, China Tribunal, June 17, 2019, https://chinatribunal.com/final-judgment/.
4.4 Testimonies from Witnesses and Experts
- Former Doctors: Some Chinese surgeons admitted to removing organs from living prisoners.
- Former Detainees: Survivors reported being subjected to medical tests unrelated to their health but consistent with organ compatibility checks.
The first known survivor of forced organ harvesting by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has stepped forward. The man, who had parts of his lung and liver removed, escaped a Chinese prison and recently revealed his story during a press conference in Washington. The case highlights one of the more brutal atrocities carried out by the CCP against religious believers in China. We’ll discuss the horrors of China’s state-sanctioned organ harvesting practice, and how the U.S. Congress is moving to hold the CCP accountable, in this episode of Crossroads.
More recently, The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong conducted hundreds of phone calls into organ transplantation centers and hospitals in 2020 and 2021, and uncovered irrefutable proof that the CCP’s unethical transplantation industry continued throughout the pandemic. This report also reveals that Falun Gong practitioners continue to be a source of organs.
The United Nations issued a statement in 2021 that their human rights experts were extremely alarmed by these credible findings.
Documentary Exposing China’s Forced Organ Harvesting Screening in New York:
5. Circumstantial Evidence
5.1 Suspicious Wait Times
- In countries with ethical organ donation systems, transplant wait times often exceed months or years.
- In China, hospitals advertise organ availability within weeks, indicating a large and readily available source.
5.2 Lack of a Voluntary Donation System
- Historically, China had one of the lowest organ donation rates in the world.
- Despite claims of reform, inconsistencies in reported organ donation figures raise doubts about the true source.
In November 2017, South Korean TV Chosun released an undercover documentary The Dark Side of Transplant Tourism in China: Killing to Live. It explores the ethical dilemma of receiving organ transplants in China while uncovering the rapid availability of organs and lack of transparency in the supply.
6. China’s Response
6.1 Denial of Allegations
- The CCP has consistently denied forced organ harvesting, dismissing it as “anti-China propaganda.”
- Officials claim all organ transplants now come from voluntary donors.
The Chinese government claims that it stopped harvesting organs from death-row prisoners in 2015 and has been using organs only from voluntary donation since then. But a research paper published by BMC Medical Ethics in 2019 found that the growth curves of China’s voluntary donations for three organ types followed an impossibly smooth upward rise that formed nearly perfect quadratic equations, which suggests the data were falsified. The paper also concluded that the “voluntary system appears to operate alongside the continued use of nonvoluntary donors (most plausibly prisoners) who are misclassified as ‘voluntary.’”
Due to traditional beliefs, most Chinese prefer to keep the body intact after death, so voluntary organ donation in China is rare. Before 2009, there were only 120 voluntary donations in total, while in the following few years executed prisoners still accounted for the majority of “donated” organs, said former vice minister of health Huang Jiefu. Though China started building a national organ donation program in 2013, only 262,500 (about 0.02% of Chinese population) registered as voluntary organ donors at the end of 2017. In the U.S., more than 145 million people (44% of U.S. population) are registered organ donors. If we assume the same ratio of annual transplants (35,582 in 2017 in the U.S.) vs. the size of donor pool (145 million) in the U.S. to China, China would only be able to perform about 65 transplants a year out of voluntary donation. But China conducted 16,687 transplants in 2017. Where did the rest of the organs come from?
6.2 Lack of Transparency
- Independent investigators are denied access to detention centers and transplant facilities.
- Data on organ donation and transplantation remains opaque.
BBC World News’ 2018 exclusive on China’s organ transplant trade reports on the claims that China is using detained Falun Gong practitioners as an illicit source of vital organs for its booming transplant industry.
7. International Reaction
7.1 Governments and Resolutions
- United Nations: Special rapporteurs have repeatedly requested explanations and called for investigations.
- U.S. Congress: Passed resolutions condemning forced organ harvesting in China.
- European Parliament: Adopted a 2013 resolution urging China to end organ harvesting practices.
7.2 Advocacy Groups
Organizations like Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) and the Falun Dafa Association have played crucial roles in raising awareness and lobbying for international action.
8. Ethical and Human Rights Implications
8.1 Violation of Medical Ethics
- Organ harvesting without consent violates fundamental medical ethics.
- If true, the complicity of medical professionals in such practices represents a profound betrayal of the Hippocratic oath.
8.2 Crimes Against Humanity
- Forced organ harvesting constitutes a gross violation of human rights and may qualify as genocide, given its targeting of a specific group.
Watch: What is Forced Organ Harvesting in China – Explainer
9. Challenges in Verifying Allegations
9.1 Restricted Access
- Independent investigations are hindered by China’s restrictions on access to detention facilities and hospitals.
9.2 Circumstantial Nature of Evidence
- While extensive, much of the evidence is circumstantial or testimonial, making it difficult to definitively prove.
10. Conclusion
The allegations of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners remain one of the most shocking human rights abuses in contemporary history. While definitive proof is elusive due to the CCP’s opacity, the consistency and volume of evidence suggest systematic and large-scale abuses.
The issue calls for continued international scrutiny, transparency, and action to hold perpetrators accountable and ensure the protection of human rights worldwide.
This analysis underscores the gravity of the allegations and the need for further investigation to confirm the extent of these practices.