Kilgour-Matas report
Encyclopedia
The Kilgour-Matas report is an investigative report by Canadian MP David Kilgour
and human rights lawyer David Matas
into allegations of organ harvesting from live practitioners of the banned Falun Gong
spiritual movement in China, which was published July 2006 and revised in January 2007. The investigation was requested by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
, and concluded that "there has been, and continues today to be, large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners." China has repeatedly denied the organ harvesting allegations in the report.
The report received a mixed reception. A Congressional Research Service
report by Dr. Thomas Lum stated that the Kilgour-Matas report relied largely on logical inference, without bringing forth new or independently-obtained testimony; the credibility of much of the key evidence was said to be questionable. U.N. special rapporteur Manfred Nowak said in March 2007 that the chain of evidence Kilgour and Matas were documenting showed a "coherent picture that causes concern", which the United Nations Committee Against Torture followed up in November 2008 with a request for "a full explanation of the source of organ transplants", to investigate the claims of organ harvesting, and to take measures to prosecute those committing abuses. Investigations by Ethan Gutmann and European Parliament Vice President Edward McMillan-Scott, however, generally sided with the Kilgour-Matas report. Glen McGregor of the Ottawa Citizen
was sceptical about the logistical plausibility of the allegations after visiting the site. He said that, depending on who you believe, "the Kilgour-Matas report is either compelling evidence that proves the claims about Falun Gong ... or a collection of conjecture and inductive reasoning that fails to support its own conclusions". Professor David Ownby of the University of Montreal, a noted expert on Falun Gong, wrote: "it seems likely that Falun Gong practitioners who are part of the prison population would be candidates for harvesting," but also noted that while "organ harvesting is happening in China, [...] I see no evidence proving it is aimed particularly at Falun Gong practitioners."
Upon release of the initial report on 6 July, Chinese officials declared that China abided by World Health Organization
principles that prohibit the sale of human organs without written consent from donors. They denounced the report as smears "based on rumours and false allegations", and said the Chinese government had already investigated the claims and found them without any merit. A Congressional Research Service
report said that some of the report’s key allegations appeared to be inconsistent with the findings of other investigations, though did not provide details. The US state department maintained that "[i]ndependent of these specific allegations, the United States remains concerned over China’s repression of Falun Gong practitioners and by reports of organ harvesting."
The US National Kidney Foundation expressed that it was "deeply concerned" about the allegations. Taiwan urged its citizens not to travel to China to receive transplants. The reports led to the Australian Health Ministry's abolition of training programs for Chinese doctors and the banning of joint research programs with China on organ transplantation, and to Kilgour and Matas receiving the 2009 award bestowed by the International Society for Human Rights
. In 2009, the authors published the report as a book, titled "Bloody Harvest."
programmes in the world, peaking at over 13,000 transplants a year in 2004. Involuntary organ harvesting
is illegal under Chinese law, although under a 1984 regulation it became legal to remove organs from executed criminals with the prior consent of the criminal or permission of relatives. By the 1990s, growing concerns about possible ethical abuses arising from coerced consent and corruption led medical groups and human rights organizations to start condemning the practice. These concerns resurfaced in 2001, when The Washington Post
reported claims by a Chinese asylum-seeking doctor that he had taken part in organ extraction operations.
By 2005 the WMA had specifically demanded that China cease using prisoners as organ donors. In December of that year, China's Deputy Health Minister acknowledged that the practice of removing organs from executed prisoners for transplant was widespread – as many as 95% of all organ transplants in China derived from executions, and he promised steps to prevent abuse.
noted arbitrary arrests and physical torture of Falun Gong practitioners in the Chinese government's suppression campaign, sometimes resulting in deaths. The Congressional Executive Commission on China reports that Falun Gong prisoners represent a large portion of China's labor camp population—as much as half, according to some estimates. Since the ban, Falun Gong practitioners have set up international media organizations to promote their cause and criticize the Communist Party of China
. These include The Epoch Times
newspaper (ET), NTDTV, Sound of Hope
radio station, and Epoch Press Inc.
The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
requested David Kilgour and David Matas in May 2006 to look into the allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
, Liaoning
province, March 2006. The story received media attention, but within one month some third party investigators, including representatives of the US Department of State, said that there was insufficient evidence to prove the allegations. Chinese dissident Harry Wu similarly argued that the allegations were not supported by concrete evidence. Soon after, Falun Gong representatives asked former Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour
, and Canadian human rights Lawyer David Matas
, to investigate the broader allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong adherents in China. Kilgour and Matas agreed to investigate, though they were not paid to do so.
The report presents 33 strands of circumstantial evidence that, taken all together and in the absence of any disproof, the authors believe lead to their stated conclusion. In 2007, they presented an updated report under the title: "Bloody Harvest: Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China." The authors qualify that there are inherent difficulties in verifying the alleged crimes. For example, no independent bodies are allowed to investigate conditions in China, eyewitness evidence is difficult to obtain, and official information about organ transplantation is often withheld. Kilgrour and Matas themselves were denied visas to go to China to investigate.
Among the information considered in the report:
In the absence of evidence that would invalidate the organ harvesting allegations (such as a Chinese government registry showing the identity of every organ donor and donation), Kilgour and Matas concluded that the allegations of China's harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners are true and that the practice is ongoing; they also called for a ban on Canadian citizens traveling to China for transplant operations.
In 2009, Kilgour and Matas published the report as a book, titled "Bloody Harvest." That year, Kilgour and Matas also received the 2009 Human Rights Award by the German-based International Society for Human Rights
; and were nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize
, once by Canadian federal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj
, and once by Balfour Hakak, chairman of the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel
, according to media reports.
Through his interviews Gutmann attempted to ascertain questions such as the proportion of Falun Gong practitioners compared to non-Falun Gong populations in labor camps, the rate at which they are subject to medical tests (specifically, tests that would be used to ascertain the health of their organs, blood and tissue type), the average length of their imprisonment, among other questions. With this information he attempted to establish how many were individuals had been examined as serious organ harvesting candidates. Using research by the Laogai Foundation to determine the number of detention facilities in China, he put the information together and estimated the number of practitioners detained at a given time, and how many are medically examined. He concluded that of the total percentage of Falun Gong practitioners examined in custody, those selected for organ harvesting were between 2.5% and 15%. Based on these estimates he obtained the high-end and low-end estimates. He notes that his median figure is similar to that of an adjusted estimate from Kilgour and Matas (to cover 2000-2008).
Kirk C. Allison, Associate Director of the Program in Human Rights and Medicine in the University of Minnesota, wrote that the "short time frame of an on-demand system [as in China] requires a large pool of donors pre-typed for blood group and HLA matching," and would be consistent with the Falun Gong allegations about the systematic tissue typing of practitioners held prisoner. He wrote that the time constraints involved “cannot be assured on a random-death basis,” and that physicians he queried about the matter indicated that they were selecting live prisoners to ensure quality and compatibility. He said the current level of evidence calls for an independent investigation from the U.S. Congress’s Committee on International Relations.
European Parliament Vice President Edward McMillan-Scott
went to China on a fact finding mission during May 2006. He interviewed two individuals: Cao Dong and Niu Jinping, one of whom, Cao Dong, said he knew of organ harvesting camps, and he had seen the cadaver of one of his friends, a Falun Gong practitioner, with holes in his body where the organs had been removed.
A Yale PhD thesis took the form of an economic analysis to look at the allegations. It concluded that "The detained population of Falun Gong practitioners... are the only prison group that provides an adequate explanation for the explosive growth in the volume of China’s organ transplants between 2000 and 2005." The paper, drawing on the Kilgour-Matas conclusions, reached the same result: "That the organs of detained Falun Gong practitioners are being systematically harvested for use in China’s organ transplant industry—and that such practice is an industrialized form of the Communist Party’s systematic persecution against Falun Gong."
Tom Treasure of Guy's Hospital, London, said the Kilgour-Matas report was "plausible from a medical standpoint" based on the numerical gap in the number of transplants and the short waiting times in China compared with other countries. He noted the existence of blood tests of imprisoned Falun Gong followers, which is not useful for the victims but is critical to organ donation, and said the allegations were “credible.”
Questions as to the final answer to the allegations remain. Due to the nature of the claims and the availability of only circumstantial, rather than direct, evidence, several observers have expressed reservations with endorsing the Kilgour and Matas’s conclusions. Amnesty International at the time said it was “continuing to analyze sources of information” about the allegations; David Ownby, a noted expert on Falun Gong, allowed that while Falun Gong practitioners that were part of the prison population may have been killed for their organs, he was not convinced that there was or is a program specifically to harvest the organs from them (to the exclusion of other prisoners); a Congressional Research Service
report by Thomas Lum said that the report relies on logical inferences and telephone call transcripts which, he suggests, may not be credible.
Chinese officials have repeatedly and angrily denied the organ harvesting allegations in the report. Upon release of the initial report on 6 July, a spokesperson immediately declared that China abided by World Health Organization
principles that prohibit the sale of human organs without written consent from donors. They denounced the report as smears "based on rumours and false allegations", and said the claims had been investigated and found to be without any merit.
In August 2006 three Special Rapporteurs raised questions about the sources of organs, the short waiting times for finding perfectly-matched organs, and the correlation between the sudden increase in organ transplants in China and the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. These requests were met with categorical denials, but not answers, from the Chinese authorities. In May 2008 two Special Rapporteurs reiterated the previous request for the Chinese authorities to adequately respond to the allegations and to explain the source of organs which would account for the sudden increase in organ transplants in China since 2000. This too was met with an inadequate response, and in November 2008 the United Nations Committee Against Torture noted its concern at the allegations and called for China to "immediately conduct or commission an independent investigation of the claims", and take measures "to ensure that those responsible for such abuses are prosecuted and punished".
The allegations at the center of the Kilgour-Matas report have been the basis of a novel by author Dean Koontz, where a heart transplant recipient is unknowingly given the organ of an executed Falun Gong practitioner.The non-fiction writer Scott Karney also included the allegations in his book “The Red Market.” He wrote: “No one is saying the Chinese government went after the Falun Gong specifically for their organs… but it seems to have been a remarkably convenient and profitable way to dispose of them. Dangerous political dissidents were executed while their organs created a comfortable revenue stream for hospitals and surgeons, and presumably many important Chinese officials received organs.”
Organizations that have made public statements or taken action on the matter include:
David Kilgour
David Kilgour, PC is a former Canadian politician.Kilgour graduated from the University of Manitoba in economics in 1962 and the University of Toronto law school in 1966. From crown attorney in northern Alberta to Canadian Cabinet minister, Kilgour ended his 27 year tenure in the Canadian House of...
and human rights lawyer David Matas
David Matas
David Matas is the senior legal counsel of B'nai Brith Canada. He has maintained a private practice in refugee, immigration and human rights law since 1979. He has published various books and manuscripts and currently resides in Winnipeg....
into allegations of organ harvesting from live practitioners of the banned Falun Gong
Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
spiritual movement in China, which was published July 2006 and revised in January 2007. The investigation was requested by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China is an international non-governmental organization established in the United States on April 5, 2006 by the Falun Dafa Association. The organization also has offices in Canada...
, and concluded that "there has been, and continues today to be, large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners." China has repeatedly denied the organ harvesting allegations in the report.
The report received a mixed reception. A Congressional Research Service
Congressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service , known as "Congress's think tank", is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a...
report by Dr. Thomas Lum stated that the Kilgour-Matas report relied largely on logical inference, without bringing forth new or independently-obtained testimony; the credibility of much of the key evidence was said to be questionable. U.N. special rapporteur Manfred Nowak said in March 2007 that the chain of evidence Kilgour and Matas were documenting showed a "coherent picture that causes concern", which the United Nations Committee Against Torture followed up in November 2008 with a request for "a full explanation of the source of organ transplants", to investigate the claims of organ harvesting, and to take measures to prosecute those committing abuses. Investigations by Ethan Gutmann and European Parliament Vice President Edward McMillan-Scott, however, generally sided with the Kilgour-Matas report. Glen McGregor of the Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
was sceptical about the logistical plausibility of the allegations after visiting the site. He said that, depending on who you believe, "the Kilgour-Matas report is either compelling evidence that proves the claims about Falun Gong ... or a collection of conjecture and inductive reasoning that fails to support its own conclusions". Professor David Ownby of the University of Montreal, a noted expert on Falun Gong, wrote: "it seems likely that Falun Gong practitioners who are part of the prison population would be candidates for harvesting," but also noted that while "organ harvesting is happening in China, [...] I see no evidence proving it is aimed particularly at Falun Gong practitioners."
Upon release of the initial report on 6 July, Chinese officials declared that China abided by World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
principles that prohibit the sale of human organs without written consent from donors. They denounced the report as smears "based on rumours and false allegations", and said the Chinese government had already investigated the claims and found them without any merit. A Congressional Research Service
Congressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service , known as "Congress's think tank", is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a...
report said that some of the report’s key allegations appeared to be inconsistent with the findings of other investigations, though did not provide details. The US state department maintained that "[i]ndependent of these specific allegations, the United States remains concerned over China’s repression of Falun Gong practitioners and by reports of organ harvesting."
The US National Kidney Foundation expressed that it was "deeply concerned" about the allegations. Taiwan urged its citizens not to travel to China to receive transplants. The reports led to the Australian Health Ministry's abolition of training programs for Chinese doctors and the banning of joint research programs with China on organ transplantation, and to Kilgour and Matas receiving the 2009 award bestowed by the International Society for Human Rights
International Society for Human Rights
The International Society for Human Rights is an international non-governmental, non-profit human rights organization with Participative Status with the Council of Europe and is a member of the Liaison Committee of the Non-Governmental Organisations at the Council of Europe...
. In 2009, the authors published the report as a book, titled "Bloody Harvest."
Organ transplantation in the People's Republic of China
China has had an organ transplantation programme since the 1960s; it is one of the largest organ transplantOrgan transplant
Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
programmes in the world, peaking at over 13,000 transplants a year in 2004. Involuntary organ harvesting
Organ harvesting
Organ harvesting refers to the removal, preservation and use of human organs and tissue from the bodies of the recently deceased to be used in surgical transplants on the living...
is illegal under Chinese law, although under a 1984 regulation it became legal to remove organs from executed criminals with the prior consent of the criminal or permission of relatives. By the 1990s, growing concerns about possible ethical abuses arising from coerced consent and corruption led medical groups and human rights organizations to start condemning the practice. These concerns resurfaced in 2001, when The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
reported claims by a Chinese asylum-seeking doctor that he had taken part in organ extraction operations.
By 2005 the WMA had specifically demanded that China cease using prisoners as organ donors. In December of that year, China's Deputy Health Minister acknowledged that the practice of removing organs from executed prisoners for transplant was widespread – as many as 95% of all organ transplants in China derived from executions, and he promised steps to prevent abuse.
Suppression of Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual movement founded in China in May 1992. It was banned by the government of China in July 1999 on the grounds that it was "jeopardizing social stability" Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
noted arbitrary arrests and physical torture of Falun Gong practitioners in the Chinese government's suppression campaign, sometimes resulting in deaths. The Congressional Executive Commission on China reports that Falun Gong prisoners represent a large portion of China's labor camp population—as much as half, according to some estimates. Since the ban, Falun Gong practitioners have set up international media organizations to promote their cause and criticize the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
. These include The Epoch Times
The Epoch Times
The Epoch Times is a multi-language, international media organisation. As a newspaper, the Times has been publishing in Chinese since May 2000. It was founded in 1999 by supporters of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline....
newspaper (ET), NTDTV, Sound of Hope
Sound of Hope
Sound of Hope is a global, non-profit provider of radio news, cultural programming, talk shows and commentaries. SOH was established by Chinese immigrants in the United States in June 2003 and now has operating teams spread across North and South America, Asia, Australia and Europe...
radio station, and Epoch Press Inc.
The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China is an international non-governmental organization established in the United States on April 5, 2006 by the Falun Dafa Association. The organization also has offices in Canada...
requested David Kilgour and David Matas in May 2006 to look into the allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Sujiatun
The first allegations of systematic organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners were made in March 2006 by two individuals claiming to possess knowledge of the involuntary organ extractions at the Sujiatun Thrombosis Hospital in ShenyangShenyang
Shenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu...
, Liaoning
Liaoning
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...
province, March 2006. The story received media attention, but within one month some third party investigators, including representatives of the US Department of State, said that there was insufficient evidence to prove the allegations. Chinese dissident Harry Wu similarly argued that the allegations were not supported by concrete evidence. Soon after, Falun Gong representatives asked former Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour
David Kilgour
David Kilgour, PC is a former Canadian politician.Kilgour graduated from the University of Manitoba in economics in 1962 and the University of Toronto law school in 1966. From crown attorney in northern Alberta to Canadian Cabinet minister, Kilgour ended his 27 year tenure in the Canadian House of...
, and Canadian human rights Lawyer David Matas
David Matas
David Matas is the senior legal counsel of B'nai Brith Canada. He has maintained a private practice in refugee, immigration and human rights law since 1979. He has published various books and manuscripts and currently resides in Winnipeg....
, to investigate the broader allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong adherents in China. Kilgour and Matas agreed to investigate, though they were not paid to do so.
The Kilgour-Matas report
On July 20, 2006, Kilgour and Matas presented the findings of their two-month investigation. It was the first version of their report, titled "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China". The report finds that “the government of China and its agencies in numerous parts of the country, in particular hospitals but also detention centres and 'people's courts', since 1999 have put to death a large but unknown number of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. Their vital organs, including kidneys, livers, corneas and hearts, were seized involuntarily for sale at high prices, sometimes to foreigners, who normally face long waits for voluntary donations of such organs in their home countries.”The report presents 33 strands of circumstantial evidence that, taken all together and in the absence of any disproof, the authors believe lead to their stated conclusion. In 2007, they presented an updated report under the title: "Bloody Harvest: Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China." The authors qualify that there are inherent difficulties in verifying the alleged crimes. For example, no independent bodies are allowed to investigate conditions in China, eyewitness evidence is difficult to obtain, and official information about organ transplantation is often withheld. Kilgrour and Matas themselves were denied visas to go to China to investigate.
Among the information considered in the report:
- Healthcare and army facilities in China are self-reliant for funding and hospitals are known to profit from illegally selling organs of death-row prisoners (this policy might be easily transferred to Falun Gong practitioners, “a prison population who the Chinese authorities vilify, dehumanize, depersonalize, marginalize” they say).
- Of 60,000 organ transplants officially recorded between 2000 and 2005, 18,500 came from identifiable sources (including death row inmates), making the source of 41,500 transplant organs unexplained. Traditional sources of transplants such as executed prisoners, donors, and the brain dead "come nowhere near to explaining the total number of transplants across China" (they therefore conclude that the only other identified source which can explain the “skyrocketing” transplant numbers is Falun Gong practitioners).
- The meteoric increase in organ transplantation in China corresponds with the timeline of the Falun Gong suppression.
- There are very short waiting times in Chinese hospitals for transplants. One hospital boasted a wait of one week for a transplant, another claimed to provide a liver in two weeks. In Canada, the waiting time for a kidney can be up to 32.5 months. Meanwhile, the survival period for a kidney is between 24-48 hours and a liver about 12 hours. The authors contend that only a large bank of living 'donors' could account for the “astonishingly short” waiting times.
- Recipients of organs from China say that the transplant surgery is “conducted in almost total secrecy,” the recipient is not told the identity of the donor or shown written consent, the identity of the doctor and nurses are often withheld, operations sometimes take place in the middle of the night, and “the whole procedure is done on a 'don't ask, don't tell' basis”
- Mandarin speaking investigators, posing as potential organ transplant recipients or their relatives, called several Chinese hospitals inquiring about organ availability and obtained admissions that Falun Gong practitioners’ organs were being used (the original recordings of these conversations remain available).
- Information on Chinese hospital websites is "self-accusatory" in that it admits to waiting times of one week, or organ swap intervals of one week (these websites were later taken offline, but Kilgour and Matas archived them); many Chinese transplant websites showed graphs with soaring organ transplantation figures, showing a sharp rise soon after the persecution of Falun Gong began.
- Organ transplanting is a highly profitable industry in China, with a kidney worth US$62,000, a heart worth US$130,000-160,000;
- Anecdotal evidence indicates that Falun Gong practitioners are blood and urine tested and have their organs examined while in custody, while other prisoners, who are not practitioners, are not tested.
In the absence of evidence that would invalidate the organ harvesting allegations (such as a Chinese government registry showing the identity of every organ donor and donation), Kilgour and Matas concluded that the allegations of China's harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners are true and that the practice is ongoing; they also called for a ban on Canadian citizens traveling to China for transplant operations.
In 2009, Kilgour and Matas published the report as a book, titled "Bloody Harvest." That year, Kilgour and Matas also received the 2009 Human Rights Award by the German-based International Society for Human Rights
International Society for Human Rights
The International Society for Human Rights is an international non-governmental, non-profit human rights organization with Participative Status with the Council of Europe and is a member of the Liaison Committee of the Non-Governmental Organisations at the Council of Europe...
; and were nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize
2010 Nobel Peace Prize
The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to imprisoned Chinese human rights activist "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China"...
, once by Canadian federal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj
Borys Wrzesnewskyj
Borys Wrzesnewskyj is a Canadian politician who represented the riding of Etobicoke Centre in the Canadian House of Commons in the 38th, 39th and 40th Parliaments. He is a member of the Liberal Party.-Background:...
, and once by Balfour Hakak, chairman of the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel
Hebrew Writers Association in Israel
The Hebrew Writers Association in Israel is a professional association of writers and poets, who write in the Hebrew language in Israel....
, according to media reports.
Ethan Gutmann's research
Ethan Gutmann, adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, approached the allegations by conducting extensive interviews around the world with a variety of former prisoners from Chinese labor camps and prisons, including Falun Gong practitioners and non-practitioners. He calculates that the number of practitioners killed for organs could be as high as 120,000, with a low estimate of 9,000, and 65,000 being the median. Estimates have been revised downwards from earlier numbers to reflect changing estimates of the overall Laogai System population by the Laogai Research Foundation.Through his interviews Gutmann attempted to ascertain questions such as the proportion of Falun Gong practitioners compared to non-Falun Gong populations in labor camps, the rate at which they are subject to medical tests (specifically, tests that would be used to ascertain the health of their organs, blood and tissue type), the average length of their imprisonment, among other questions. With this information he attempted to establish how many were individuals had been examined as serious organ harvesting candidates. Using research by the Laogai Foundation to determine the number of detention facilities in China, he put the information together and estimated the number of practitioners detained at a given time, and how many are medically examined. He concluded that of the total percentage of Falun Gong practitioners examined in custody, those selected for organ harvesting were between 2.5% and 15%. Based on these estimates he obtained the high-end and low-end estimates. He notes that his median figure is similar to that of an adjusted estimate from Kilgour and Matas (to cover 2000-2008).
Other reports
Several additional reports have been published which draw similar conclusions to that of Kilgour and Matas, or offered affirmatory explanation.Kirk C. Allison, Associate Director of the Program in Human Rights and Medicine in the University of Minnesota, wrote that the "short time frame of an on-demand system [as in China] requires a large pool of donors pre-typed for blood group and HLA matching," and would be consistent with the Falun Gong allegations about the systematic tissue typing of practitioners held prisoner. He wrote that the time constraints involved “cannot be assured on a random-death basis,” and that physicians he queried about the matter indicated that they were selecting live prisoners to ensure quality and compatibility. He said the current level of evidence calls for an independent investigation from the U.S. Congress’s Committee on International Relations.
European Parliament Vice President Edward McMillan-Scott
Edward McMillan-Scott
Edward Hugh Christian McMillan-Scott is a British Member of the European Parliament and one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament...
went to China on a fact finding mission during May 2006. He interviewed two individuals: Cao Dong and Niu Jinping, one of whom, Cao Dong, said he knew of organ harvesting camps, and he had seen the cadaver of one of his friends, a Falun Gong practitioner, with holes in his body where the organs had been removed.
A Yale PhD thesis took the form of an economic analysis to look at the allegations. It concluded that "The detained population of Falun Gong practitioners... are the only prison group that provides an adequate explanation for the explosive growth in the volume of China’s organ transplants between 2000 and 2005." The paper, drawing on the Kilgour-Matas conclusions, reached the same result: "That the organs of detained Falun Gong practitioners are being systematically harvested for use in China’s organ transplant industry—and that such practice is an industrialized form of the Communist Party’s systematic persecution against Falun Gong."
Tom Treasure of Guy's Hospital, London, said the Kilgour-Matas report was "plausible from a medical standpoint" based on the numerical gap in the number of transplants and the short waiting times in China compared with other countries. He noted the existence of blood tests of imprisoned Falun Gong followers, which is not useful for the victims but is critical to organ donation, and said the allegations were “credible.”
Response
The allegations of involuntary organ removal from Falun Gong adherents have received considerable media coverage, particularly in Canada, Europe, and Australia, and elsewhere. The United Nations, several governments, and other researchers have tightened transplant tourism practices and requested more information from the Chinese government.Questions as to the final answer to the allegations remain. Due to the nature of the claims and the availability of only circumstantial, rather than direct, evidence, several observers have expressed reservations with endorsing the Kilgour and Matas’s conclusions. Amnesty International at the time said it was “continuing to analyze sources of information” about the allegations; David Ownby, a noted expert on Falun Gong, allowed that while Falun Gong practitioners that were part of the prison population may have been killed for their organs, he was not convinced that there was or is a program specifically to harvest the organs from them (to the exclusion of other prisoners); a Congressional Research Service
Congressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service , known as "Congress's think tank", is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a...
report by Thomas Lum said that the report relies on logical inferences and telephone call transcripts which, he suggests, may not be credible.
Chinese officials have repeatedly and angrily denied the organ harvesting allegations in the report. Upon release of the initial report on 6 July, a spokesperson immediately declared that China abided by World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
principles that prohibit the sale of human organs without written consent from donors. They denounced the report as smears "based on rumours and false allegations", and said the claims had been investigated and found to be without any merit.
In August 2006 three Special Rapporteurs raised questions about the sources of organs, the short waiting times for finding perfectly-matched organs, and the correlation between the sudden increase in organ transplants in China and the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. These requests were met with categorical denials, but not answers, from the Chinese authorities. In May 2008 two Special Rapporteurs reiterated the previous request for the Chinese authorities to adequately respond to the allegations and to explain the source of organs which would account for the sudden increase in organ transplants in China since 2000. This too was met with an inadequate response, and in November 2008 the United Nations Committee Against Torture noted its concern at the allegations and called for China to "immediately conduct or commission an independent investigation of the claims", and take measures "to ensure that those responsible for such abuses are prosecuted and punished".
The allegations at the center of the Kilgour-Matas report have been the basis of a novel by author Dean Koontz, where a heart transplant recipient is unknowingly given the organ of an executed Falun Gong practitioner.The non-fiction writer Scott Karney also included the allegations in his book “The Red Market.” He wrote: “No one is saying the Chinese government went after the Falun Gong specifically for their organs… but it seems to have been a remarkably convenient and profitable way to dispose of them. Dangerous political dissidents were executed while their organs created a comfortable revenue stream for hospitals and surgeons, and presumably many important Chinese officials received organs.”
Impact on international transplant policies
Some governments and transplant organizations around the world have reacted to the report by tightening restrictions on “transplant tourism,” expressing concern over the allegations, and in general terms distancing themselves from involuntary organ transplant practices.Organizations that have made public statements or taken action on the matter include:
- The US National Kidney Foundation (NKF), which said it was "deeply concerned about recent allegations regarding the procurement of organs and tissues through coercive or or exploitative practices";
- The Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council, whose chairman condemned "in the strongest possible terms" China's harvesting of human organs from executed Falun Gong practitioners, and the country’s Department of Health, which urged Taiwanese doctors to not encourage patients to get commercial organ transplants in mainland China;
- The Australian Health Ministry, which announced in December 2006 the abolition of training programs for Chinese doctors in organ transplant procedures;
- Israeli health insurance carriers in 2007, who stopped sending patients to China for transplants, and a prominent Rabbi, who prohibited Jews from using Chinese organs;
- Canadian physicians and members of that country’s parliament, the former of which petitioned the government and the latter of which in February 2008 introduced a bill to ban Canadians from receiving organs taken from unwilling victims.
External links
- The Kilgour and Matas report
- Videos of a press conference with Kilgour and Matas
- "CNN Caught In Genocidal Correctness" by China democracy activist, John Kusumi.