A strong message was sent to the Chinese regime against forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, the majority being Falun Gong practitioners, by the American Congress.
When "Hard To Believe" was in production, we interviewed members of Congress, media representatives, medical professionals and legal experts about why previous U.S. House Resolutions on this issue were being ignored. So the fact that this resolution has now passed is extremely encouraging!
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) speaks about organ harvesting in China on the House floor on June 13, 2016.
It would seem that the long term efforts of the amazing advocates we interviewed in "Hard To Believe" are finally paying off. Congratulations to Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, End Organ Pillaging and the individual investigators, such as Ethan Gutmann, David Matas, and David Kilgour, who have continued to spearhead the issue despite the terrible obstacles of "compassion fatigue" and soft power ploys by the Chinese Communist Party.
There is still a way to go to stop forced organ harvesting in China and bring those to responsible to justice, but this is a very, very big step forward.
Stay tuned for more good progress to come...
“These allegations are particularly egregious: Authorities in Chinese prisons targeting prisoners, because of their religious beliefs, and then making a profit by trafficking these victims’ organs. I cannot think of hardly anything that is more disgusting than that.”
— Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.)
“This legislation is an important step in bringing accountability and transparency, to maybe one of the great crimes of the 21st century: the 17-year effort to eliminate [the] Falun Gong practice from China”
— Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)
“My experience is that opposition to human rights violations starts slowly, with the voice of the victims who are initially met with incredulity and indifference. The effort builds momentum over time and eventually becomes inexorable. The struggle starts from the fringes and eventually moves to the center. The U.S. resolution, to quote Winston Churchill, is the end of the beginning.”
— David Matas