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VOA: UK Parliament Hearing on China’s Organ Transplant Practice

The Chinese edition of Voice of America reported that a special hearing on organ transplants was held in the UK parliament on June 29, 2016. The hearing came one day after the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission published its report on the range of China’s appalling human rights abuses.

The 68-page report, titled the Darkest Moment: The Crackdown on Human Rights in China 2013-2016 examined the severe repression of human rights lawyers, violations of freedom of expression, suppression of democratic movements in Hong Kong, and topics on Tibet and Xinjiang, Falun Gong, and harvesting organs.

Both the commission’s report and the hearing in parliament highlighted new findings that indicated that the scale of organ harvesting [from prisoners of conscience] in China is far greater than previously estimated. The latest research, from distinguished human rights lawyer David Matas, former Canadian member of parliament David Kilgour, and journalist Ethan Gutmann, concluded that over 60,000 organs are transplanted each year in Chinese hospitals, not around 10,000 as acknowledged by the Chinese government.

Fiona Bruce, Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, called on the UK government, during the parliamentary hearing, to initiate an urgent investigation into China’s organ harvesting practice, to place a ban on organ tourism to China, and a travel ban on those who perform such bloody acts. When asked by a VOA reporter whether the Chinese government would be infuriated by the commission’s report in the wake of the Brexit referendum which had brought political and economic shock to Britain, Bruce acknowledged the inconvenience of the timing; yet she believed that, despite displeasure from the Chinese government, China’s human rights should take priority, and Britain must speak volumes on behalf of Chinese people.

Sources: Voice of America, June 30, 2016
http://www.voachinese.com/a/voaconnect-organ-20160630/3398774.html
Voice of America, June 28, 2016
http://www.voachinese.com/a/uk-concervative-party-china-human-rights-20160628/3396133.html