On the twenty-first anniversary of the persecution of Falun Gong

Twenty-one years ago the Chinese Communist Party began a campaign of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. We take this solemn moment to remember also the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Christians and other religious minorities that have been targeted with increasingly severe repression and grave violations of human rights.

Over the past two decades the campaign against Falun Gong practitioners has resulted in the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of its followers, where they have been subjected to some of the most severe forms of torture.

Particularly troubling are reports of the targeting of Falun Gong prisoners for their human organs. Evidence of forced organ harvesting in China emerged 15 years ago and an independent and rigorous legal project – the China Tribunal – last year found beyond reasonable doubt that this practice had been perpetrated on a widespread, state-sponsored, and systematic level.

Today we highlight the plight of the Falun Gong together with all religious minorities who have suffered from repression under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. We remind the world of the depravities they continue to suffer, and urge the world to stand up and speak out for an end to such repression, an end to impunity, and for justice, accountability, human rights and human dignity for all the peoples of China.