III 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 274 

Expressing solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners who have lost lives, 

freedoms, and other rights for adhering to their beliefs and practices, 

and condemning the practice of non-consenting organ harvesting, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11, 2019 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. MORAN, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. 

COONS, Mr. BROWN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. CASEY, Mr. 

RUBIO, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. KING, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. REED, Mr. COTTON, 

and Mr. CASSIDY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners who 

have lost lives, freedoms, and other rights for adhering 

to their beliefs and practices, and condemning the practice of non-consenting organ harvesting, and for other 

purposes. 

Whereas Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is a Chinese spiritual discipline founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992 

that consists of spiritual and moral teachings, meditation, 

and exercise, and is based upon the universal principles 

of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance; 


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•SRES 274 IS 

Whereas, during the mid-1990s, Falun Gong acquired a large 

and diverse following, with as many as 70,000,000 practitioners at its peak; 

Whereas, on April 25, 1999, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 

Falun Gong practitioners gathered in Beijing to protest 

growing restrictions by the Government of the People’s 

Republic of China on the activities of Falun Gong practitioners, and the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China responded with an intensive, comprehensive, and 

unforgiving campaign against the movement that began 

on July 20, 1999, with the banning of Falun Gong; 

Whereas the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China 

guarantees basic rights, including the freedoms of speech, 

association, demonstration, and religion; 

Whereas, in 1993, the Government of the People’s Republic 

of China praised Li Hongzhi for his contributions in 

‘‘safeguarding social order and security’’ and ‘‘promoting 

rectitude in society’’; 

Whereas, in many detention facilities and labor camps, Falun 

Gong prisoners of conscience have at times comprised the 

majority of the population, and have been said to receive 

the longest sentences and the worst treatment, including 

torture; 

Whereas, according to overseas Falun Gong and human 

rights organizations, since 1999, from several hundred to 

a few thousand Falun Gong adherents have died in custody from torture, abuse, and neglect; 

Whereas a review of the Government of the People’s Republic 

of China by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 

Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review in November 2018, recommended that China ‘‘[e]nd prosecuVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:51 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR274.IS SR274

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tion and persecution on the basis of religion or belief, including for Muslims, Christians, Tibetan Buddhists and 

Falun Gong’’; 

Whereas the United Nations Committee Against Torture and 

the Special Rapporteur on Torture have expressed concern over the allegations of organ harvesting from Falun 

Gong prisoners, and have called on the Government of 

the People’s Republic of China to increase accountability 

and transparency in the organ transplant system and 

punish those responsible for abuses; 

Whereas the killing of religious or political prisoners for any 

purpose, including for the purpose of selling their organs 

for transplant, is an egregious and intolerable violation of 

the fundamental right to life; 

Whereas voluntary and informed consent is the precondition 

for ethical organ donation, and international medical organizations state that prisoners, deprived of their freedom, are not in the position to give free consent and that 

the practice of sourcing organs from prisoners is a violation of ethical guidelines in medicine; 

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

and the Communist Party of China continue to deny reports that many organs are taken without the consent of 

prisoners, yet at the same time prevent independent 

verification of the organ transplant system in China; 

Whereas the organ transplantation system in China does not 

comply with the World Health Organization’s requirement of transparency and traceability in organ procurement pathways; 

Whereas the Department of State Country Report on Human 

Rights for China for 2018 reported that ‘‘[s]ome activists 


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and organizations continue to accuse the government of 

involuntarily harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, especially members of Falun Gong’’; 

Whereas Huang Jiefu, director of the China Organ Donation 

Committee, announced in December 2014 that China 

would end the practice of organ harvesting from executed 

prisoners by January 1, 2015, but did not directly address organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience; 

Whereas Freedom House reported in 2015 that Falun Gong 

practitioners comprise the largest portion of prisoners of 

conscience in China, and face an elevated risk of dying 

or being killed in custody; 

Whereas the Department of State Country Report on Human 

Rights for China for 2016 reported that ‘‘some international medical professionals and human rights researchers questioned the voluntary nature of the [transplantation] system, the accuracy of official statistics, and 

official claims about the source of organs’’; 

Whereas a 2017 report by Freedom House concluded that 

there was ‘‘credible evidence suggesting that beginning in 

the early 2000s, Falun Gong detainees were killed for 

their organs on a large scale’’; 

Whereas the Congressional-Executive Commission on China 

(CECC) stated in 2018 that ‘‘[i]nternational organizations continued to express concern over reports that organs of detained prisoners have been used in numerous 

organ transplant operations in China, including those of 

Falun Gong practitioners’’ and also noted that medical 

professionals and international advocacy organizations 

‘‘disputed Chinese health officials’ claims that organ procurement systems have been reformed in compliance with 


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international standards, citing ethical concerns about 

organ sourcing raised by short wait times for organ 

transplants and discrepancies in data on organ transplants’’; 

Whereas the Independent Tribunal Into Forced Organ Harvesting From Prisoners of Conscience in China, chaired 

by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, issued a short form conclusion 

of its final judgment in June 2019 finding that ‘‘forced 

organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale and that Falun Gong 

practitioners have been one—and probably the main— 

source of organ supply’’; and 

Whereas the Tribunal also concluded that it had seen no evidence that the organ transplantation industry in China 

had been dismantled, and absent a satisfactory explanation as to the source of organs, that forced organ harvesting continues in China today: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) expresses solidarity with Falun Gong practi3 tioners and their families for the lives, freedoms, and 

4 rights they lost for adhering to their beliefs and 

5 practices; 

6 (2) emphasizes to the Government of the Peo7 ple’s Republic of China that freedom of religion in8 cludes the right of Falun Gong practitioners to free9 ly practice Falun Gong in China; 

10 (3) calls upon the Communist Party of China to 

11 immediately cease and desist from its campaign to 

12 persecute Falun Gong practitioners and promptly reVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:51 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR274.IS SR274

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1 lease all Falun Gong practitioners who have been 

2 confined, detained, or imprisoned for pursuing their 

3 right to hold and exercise their spiritual beliefs; 

4 (4) condemns the practice of non-consenting 

5 organ harvesting in the People’s Republic of China; 

6 (5) calls on the Government of the People’s Re7 public of China and the Communist Party of China 

8 to immediately end the practice of organ harvesting 

9 from all prisoners of conscience; 

10 (6) calls on the Government of the People’s Re11 public of China to allow an independent and trans12 parent investigation into organ transplant abuses in 

13 China; 

14 (7) urges the President to consider the applica15 bility of existing authorities, including the Global 

16 Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 

17 U.S.C. 2656 note), to impose targeted sanctions on 

18 those individuals responsible for the persecution of 

19 Falun Gong, including those engaging in a pattern 

20 of non-consensual organ harvesting; and 

21 (8) urges the President to ensure that the 

22 United States Government highlights and condemns 

23 human rights abuses perpetrated, ordered, or di24 rected by government officials in China both publicly 


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1 and in private engagements with all relevant govern2 ment officials in China. 

Æ 


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