PETITION: URGENT CALL TO HELP END THE 25 YEAR PERSECUTION OF FALUN GONG IN CHINA

To the Honourable President and Members of the Senate in Parliament assembled:

This petition of certain citizens and residents of Australia draws to the attention of the Senate our grave concerns over the 25-year ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is a spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition centred on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. The practice aims to improve physical, mental, and spiritual well-being through meditation and moral improvement.

In 1999, an estimated 70-100 million followers of Falun Gong in China became the target of suppression when the ruling communist regime saw the popularity of the practice as a threat. For the past 25 years, Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to a brutal extermination campaign, with widespread physical, mental, sexual, and psychiatric abuse.

In addition, the China Tribunal concluded in 2019 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." (https://www.chinatribunal.com)

We therefore ask the Senate to:

  1. Urge the People's Republic of China (PRC) to immediately end the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and unconditionally release all Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience, particularly the family members of Australian citizens and residents;
  2. Call on the Australian Government to raise the issue of Falun Gong and the wider religious freedom situation at every dialogue with the PRC and ask the PRC to respect freedom of belief;
  3. Call on the Australian Government to implement Magnitsky-style sanctions against individuals and entities participating in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

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