With the trademark Amnesty International (AI) candles burning on every table, David Kilgour stepped up to the podium and informed the roomful of letter-writers why they need to raise awareness about the harvesting of organs from prisoners of conscience in China.
The former parliamentarian spoke at AI Canada's headquarters in Ottawa on Dec. 7 as part of the rights group's Write for Right letter writing campaign in the run-up to Human Rights Day on December 10.
"Believe it or not," Kilgour told AI, "we [Kilgour and David Matas] have been in 26 countries talking about this and Amnesty shows up at all of our meetings. They are very supportive—you are very supportive—and I only wish, if I could make a little plea in advance, that you would call for an international investigation of this matter… it would be extremely helpful, and as you will hear in just a moment, it is a very disturbing matter."
In July, Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas released their report based on an independent investigation into allegations that organs were being taken from detained Falun Gong practitioners in China. Their findings have been making waves ever since.
The "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China" stated: "Based on what we now know, we have come to the regrettable conclusion that the allegations are true. We believe that there has been and continues today to be large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners.
Because Kilgour and Matas were not allowed into China to conduct their investigation, much of the 18 forms of evidence presented in the report is circumstantial, as there is little evidence available to prove the allegations in a deductive way. Instead, each factor was considered as either proof or disproof of the crimes.
For example, the report states that although 60,000 organ transplants were recorded in China from 2000 to 2005, sources for only 18,500 organs could be identified. The authors question where the rest of the organs came from and how that many organs could be found so readily in a country that traditionally prefers to bury its dead with the body intact.
Kilgour and Matas also found it ominous that a significant increase in the number of transplant operations occurred soon after the persecution against Falun Gong was launched by the Chinese regime in 1999. At that time, many thousands of practitioners were arrested and incarcerated.
While Kilgour and Matas informed many of the world's governments and NGOs of their findings, little has actually been done since the report was released. In particular, the Canadian government, although publicly condemning China for it's human rights abuses in general, has not stepped forward to lead or even participate in an investigation.
Although words of concern and support have come from many quarters, gaining entry China to conduct an onsite investigation has so far proven difficult. The communist regime denies the charges but won't allow a full-scale independent investigation.
While the report has attracted some naysayers, its authors stand by their conclusions. Kilgour described a conversation at a world transplant conference in Boston, in which a transplant surgeon from China replied simply, "Ask the [Falun Gong] protestors outside the building" when asked the source of the two thousand livers he had transplanted that year.
Citing statistics, Kilgour outlined an extensive list of religious groups, democracy advocates, journalists, and others who face persecution in China. He also discussed the myth of businesses making large sums of money in China and the corruption evident in China's judiciary.
Kilgour also mentioned the case of renowned Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who was arrested in August after months of surveillance and harassment. He praised AI's action in putting out a bulletin on Gao.
"I'm really proud of that and I think it was extremely helpful to Gao that Amnesty did do that."
Canada can make a difference, Kilgour contends. He suggested that raising the issue of religious freedom with every official visitor from China, holding public human rights dialogues, basing Canada-China relations on human values and not on trade alone, and barring Canadian companies from supplying "suppression technologies" to the Chinese communist regime are all ways to bring about change.
The Kilgour-Matas report appears to have changed the way people look at the ethics of China's organ transplant industry. The Irish parliament recently decided to summon the Chinese ambassador for questioning, and Australian Minister of Health Stephen Robertson has announced that two hospitals in Queensland have banned training of Chinese transplant physicians out of concern for the source of the organs. Training in other surgical techniques will continue.
Branches of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) have sprung up in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Australian branch has asked for permission to enter China to conduct an independent investigation of China's transplant industry.
Since the report's publication in July, Kilgour and Matas have gathered an additional 10 forms of evidence which will soon be published in an update.
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