Organ harvesting in the People's Republic of China

Tabled by Helga Trüpel, Barbara Lochbihler, Werner Schulz, Nicole Kiil-Nielsen, Bart Staes, Raül Romeva i Rueda on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group

The European Parliament,

having regard to its previous resolutions on China and in particular the one on EU-China relations of 14 March 2013,

- having regard to its resolution on the Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World of 13 December 2012,

- having regard to the hearings of 21 November 2009 and 6 December 2012 held by the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the respective testimonies of former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas on the large scale organ harvesting of unwilling Falun Gong practitioners in China since 2000;

- having regard to Rule 122 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas, the People’s Republic of China performs more than 10,000 organ transplantations per year and Chinese organ transplant centres advertise that matching organs can be found within 2-4 weeks, yet as of May 2013 it did not have an organized or effective public system of organ donation or distribution,

B. 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, and the government of the People’s Republic of China has resisted independent scrutiny of the system,

C. whereas, the People’s Republic of China has very low rates of voluntary organ donations due to traditional beliefs; whereas, the People’s Republic of China implemented regulations in 1984 that permitted the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners,

D. whereas, Mr Huang Jiefu, Director of the China Organ Donation Committee and former Vice-Minister of Health has mentioned that around 90% of transplant organs extracted from deceased donors stemmed from executed prisoners in China, and has said that by mid-2014, all hospitals licensed for organ transplants will be required to stop using organs from executed prisoners and only use those voluntarily donated and allocated through a fledging national system,

E. whereas the People’s Republic of China has announced its intention of phasing out the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners by 2015 and the introduction of the China Organ Transplant Response System (COTRS), a computerized organ-allocation system,

F. whereas, the United Nations Committee Against Torture and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 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,

1. Expresses its deep concern over persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience, in the People’s Republic of China, including from large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned for their religious beliefs, and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups;

2. Calls on the Chinese authorities to respond thoroughly to the requests of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Special Rapporteur on religious freedom asking the Beijing government to explain the source of extra-organs following the increase in organ transplant operations and allow them to eventually conduct an investigation into organ transplant practices in the Chinese territory;

3. Urges the immediate phasing out of the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners;

4. Calls on the European Union and the Member Countries to publicly condemns organ transplantation abuses in China and raise awareness among its citizens travelling to the People’s Republic of China on this issue; calls for a full and transparent investigation by the European Union into organ transplant practices in the People’s Republic of China, and for the prosecution of those found to have engaged in such unethical practices;

5. Calls for the immediate release of all Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience;

6. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, the UN Secretary-General, the UN Human Rights Council and the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese National People's Congress.