Chinese house-church Christians among victims of forced organ harvesting

The practice of forced organ harvesting is still going on in China and Christians who attend house churches are among the victims, according to two investigators who spent 10 years researching the subject, the Christian Times reported.

David Kilgour. / Wikimedia (CC)

International human rights lawyer David Matas and former Canadian Crown attorney and Cabinet minister David Kilgour presented the findings of their report at the parliamentary international human rights subcommittee hearing in Ottawa on November 3.

The report, which was initially released in June, revealed that an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 organ transplants have been performed in Chinese hospitals every year since 2000.

MAINLY FALUNG GONG PRACTICIONERS, ALSO CHRISTIANS

Organs were harvested mainly from citizens practising the Falun Gong religion.

Other prisoners of conscience such as Uyghurs, Tibetans and House Christians have also been victims of the practice.

Organ transplants were the largest source of revenue of hospitals with transplant centers. Kilgour stated that the government and health institutions are involved in the practice of forced organ harvesting.

‘ALL INSTITUTIONS ARE COMPLICIT’

“Organ pillaging in China is a crime in which the Communist Party, state institutions, the health system, hospitals, and the transplant profession are all complicit”, said Kilgour.

Matas and Kilgour described the practice as “the kernel at the center of human rights violations in China”.

In December 2014, the Ottawa subcommittee adopted a motion that condemned forced organ harvesting in China and called for the practice to end. The subcommittee amended the motion in March to indicate that Falun Gong and Uyghurs are the main targets of organ harvesting.

GERMANY: DENY ENTRY OF DOCTORS INVOLVED

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Germany held a public forum in Berlin where they laid out several proposals to stop the abuses committed in China.

Martin Patzelt, a conservative German MP, noted that many Chinese surgeons have been trained in Western countries and added that laws should be passed to prevent institutions from training Chinese doctors.

German MP Martin Patzet speaking in Berlin on Oct. 28, 2016. / Jason Wang/Epoch Times

Arne Schwarz, an independent researcher of organ trafficking, recommended that Germany should adopt a policy that would deny entry to foreign doctors who are involved in killing for human organs.

Schwarz pointed out that Western pharmaceutical companies have supplied organ transplant drugs to China and conducted unethical clinical trials.

Another lawmaker suggested that Germany should pass laws against “transplant tourism”.

“Some members of the parliament said, ‘This is impossible’”, said Patzelt, referring to Germany's involvement in preventing the practice of organ harvesting in China. “I would say, ‘It is not impossible. We've just never done it.' We should have the courage to embark on this path, and then we will be able to change a lot of things’”, he added.