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China’s Forced Organ Harvesting From Minorities Highlighted At International Religious Freedom Summit

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – China’s reported practice of forcibly harvesting organs from religious minority prisoners was at the center of an address by US House Speaker Mike Johnson at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington DC on Wednesday, Newsweek reports. Johnson referenced the practice by the Chinese Communist Party amid a warning that world governments become “tyrannical” when they suppress religious freedom.

While China has denied allegations of forced organ harvesting, the United Nations reported in 2021 that human rights experts have received credible evidence that detainees from religious and ethnic minorities in China, including Uyghur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, and Falun Gong practitioners, have been detained, trafficked and sometimes killed for organs such as hearts, kidneys, and corneas.

As the issue continues to be of significant concern, Johnson told the IRF summit: “Tibetan Buddhists and Falun Gong practitioners are placed in forced labor camps, and they have their organs harvested by the Chinese Communist Party.”

Johnson’s remarks followed sustained efforts by US lawmakers to bring an end to the CCP’s practices. In March 2023, Republican Senator Tom Cotton and Democratic Senator Chris Coons introduced a bipartisan bill that would deny passports and visas to anyone involved in illegal organ trafficking and mandate annual reporting on the practice in foreign countries.

“There is growing evidence that the Chinese Communist Party has and continues to harvest organs from persecuted religious groups, prisoners of conscience, and inmates,” Cotton said in a statement announcing the legislation. “This bill will identify and punish CCP members involved in forced organ harvesting. It’s past time to hold Beijing accountable for these heinous acts.”

In his speech on Wednesday, Johnson also referenced the CCP’s ongoing genocidal campaign against Uyghur Muslims, including forced sterilization, torture, and “heinous” treatment of women. Calling on the US to take action, he said: “At this moment, the U.S. has an opportunity and an obligation to prevent genocide and punish those who committed it.”