Posted at 2:46 a.m., Sunday, October 28, 2007
Organ harvesting the topic of talk today at UH forum
Advertiser Staff
Two international human rights experts will review the evidence of large-scale, systematic harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners in China from 3 to 5 p.m. today at the University of Hawaii-Manoa Architecture Building Auditorium.The two will discuss how such a horrific practice could take place there, and examine the challenges posed by these crimes to medical professionals, patients, and citizens outside China.
Mr. David Matas, international human rights lawyer in Canada, will speak about his independent investigation into the allegation of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. He has served on the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Conference on an International Criminal Court, and the Canadian Delegation to the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust.
Dr. Kirk Allison, Director of the University of Minnesota's Program in Human Rights and Health, will discuss medical ethical issues of international organ transplantation in relation to illicit organ harvesting in China. Dr. Allison is an authority on medical ethics, human rights, and public policy.
The forum is the keynote event among activities that mark the Human Rights in China Awareness Week at UH, Oct. 22-29.
Falun Gong, a mind-body practice and spiritual discipline, has been persecuted in China since 1999. Practitioners have been sentenced to prisons and labor camps, and police brutality and torture have been widely reported. For more information: www.faluninfo.net
Allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners first came out in March 2006. David Matas, together with former Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour, conducted an independent investigation into the allegations and published a report entitled "Bloody Harvest" (http://organharvestinvestigation.net).
China has been harvesting organs from death-row prisoners, but organ harvesting from detained prisoners of conscience is a new revelation. These organs have been sold to patients, mostly from outside China, in organ transplantation.
