III 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 220 

Expressing solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners who have lost lives, 

freedoms, and 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 13, 2017 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. MORAN, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. 

MARKEY, Mr. BROWN, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. 

COONS) 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 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; 


rfrederick on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
2 

•SRES 220 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 October 2013 recommended that China ‘‘[s]top the prosecuVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jul 14, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR220.IS SR220

rfrederick on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
3 

•SRES 220 IS 

tion and persecution of people for the practice of their religion or belief including Catholics, other Christians, Tibetans, Uyghurs, 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 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 its transplant system; 

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 United States Department of State Country Report on Human Rights for China for 2014 stated, ‘‘AdvoVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jul 14, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR220.IS SR220

rfrederick on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
4 

•SRES 220 IS 

cacy groups continued to report instances of organ harvesting from prisoners.’’; 

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 the Congressional-Executive Commission on China 

(CECC) stated in 2016 that ‘‘international observers, including the U.S. House of Representatives and the European Parliament, expressed concern over reports that numerous organ transplantations have used the organs of 

detained prisoners, including Falun Gong practitioners’’ 

and also noted that international medical professionals 

‘‘expressed skepticism of reforms raised by discrepancies 

in official data’’; and 

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’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 


rfrederick on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
5 

•SRES 220 IS 

1 (1) expresses solidarity with Falun Gong practi2 tioners and their families for the lives, freedoms, and 

3 rights they lost for adhering to their beliefs and 

4 practices; 

5 (2) emphasizes to the Government of the Peo6 ple’s Republic of China that freedom of religion in7 cludes the right of Falun Gong practitioners to free8 ly practice Falun Gong in China; 

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

10 immediately cease and desist from its campaign to 

11 persecute Falun Gong practitioners and promptly re12 lease all Falun Gong practitioners who have been 

13 confined, detained, or imprisoned for pursuing their 

14 right to hold and exercise their spiritual beliefs; 

15 (4) condemns the practice of non-consenting 

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

17 (5) calls on the Government of the People’s Re18 public of China and the Communist Party of China 

19 to immediately end the practice of organ harvesting 

20 from all prisoners of conscience; and 

21 (6) calls on the People’s Republic of China to 

22 allow an independent and transparent investigation 

23 into organ transplant abuses. 

Æ 


rfrederick on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS