SHAWN LI’S LETTER TO EDITOR
Falun Gong
A concerted effort from both the House and the Senate is needed to halt illegal organ harvesting in China. The Falun Gong Protection Act, which passed unanimously in the House in June, now awaits passage in the Senate.
It has been alleged that prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong practitioners, are killed for their organs. The Falun Gong Protection Act would challenge this alleged barbarism, described by human rights lawyer David Matas (who was a speaker at the organ harvesting film screening hosted by Virginia Wesleyan University in 2019) as “a form of evil we have yet to see on this planet.”
Senate legislation about Falun Gong is long overdue. Launched in 1999, the persecution of Falun Gong is now in its 25th year and is one of the largest, most brutal and longest-running human rights atrocities in China today.
Although some House-passed resolutions about Falun Gong in the past have condemned human rights abuses in China, they mainly target peripheral regions such as Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, China, rather than specifically protecting Falun Gong with many practitioners living in central or eastern China. A broader focus is needed for greater impact. Now, the lawmakers in the Senate should act on this and vote for this act.
Shawn Li, Virginia Beach