On the eve of the last Christmas in the Twentieth Century, Taiwan Falun Gong Research Society held a peaceful parade for "Human Rights Awareness" in Taipei to protest persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese government, and to support the victimized practitioners. A total of some three thousand people, who came from 21 countries, participated in the parade. In the most peaceful and rational way, Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners are making an appeal, in order to tell the world the truth about China's crackdown against Falun Gong, and to request the Chinese government to restore to the suppressed Falun Gong practitioners freedom of religious belief and freedom of assembly and association, as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We believe Taiwan Falun Gong's support of their fellow practitioners in China and their humanitarian concerns expressed in the spirit of fraternity are worthy of recognition. In today's global village, it is incumbent upon every citizen to safeguard human rights. International human rights represent universal values, and serve as an internationally recognized yardstick in assessing the legitimacy of actions by individual governments. Human rights know no national boundaries, and human rights are indivisible. Unless every one of us receives his or her deserved human rights protection, the collective human dignity and human rights for the whole human race are compromised. In the same vein, reaching out to people suffering from human rights deprivations and expressing to them our concerns have become a basic obligation of world citizens in modern civilization.
In the aftermath of World War II, humankind learned a painful lesson from the severe damages to world peace by Nazi's wartime brutal persecution of Jews and its accompanying horrible consequences to the human race, and made a radical change to their previous tolerance towards human rights problems in other countries. For instance, they consider it one of the United Nations' fundamental missions to protect basic human rights for every individual on this earth, and emphasize the inseparability between human rights protection and maintenance of world peace. Guided by the International Bill of Human Rights, the United Nations has been engaged in a global human rights movement. The International Bill of Human Rights consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted unanimously by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948, has today become part of customary international law that has binding force on every country. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted in 1966, has had more than 140 countries that have ratified or acceded to it; the People's Republic of China is also one of its signatories.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates, in Article 18, that "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." Article 20 states: "1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. 2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association." Regarding comparable freedoms of religion, assembly and association, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has more detailed prescriptions in its Articles 18, 21, and 22.
This protection of freedoms of religious beliefs, assembly and association is applicable to every one, regardless of nationality and national boundaries. It is of course applicable to Falun Gong practitioners in China and other places in the world. In their daily lives, Falun Gong practitioners strive to practice the principles of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance, principles upheld in this advanced Buddhist cultivation practice. Their activities are mainly concerned with studying the Fa and shaping benign human nature, with "doing the cultivation exercises for health and longevity" their secondary goal. Since public introduction of Falun Gong by its founder Mr. Li Hongzhi in 1992, it has spread to over 40 countries in the world, with a total membership of over 100 million. Its followers enjoy enormous benefits in terms of morality uplifting, meaning of human life, and physical well-being.
In Taiwan, Falun Gong was imported in 1995; now, there are tens of thousands of practitioners, coming from every social stratum, and extending to every corner of society. All Falun Gong activities, voluntarily spreading the Fa and teaching the exercises, are organized by practitioners on their own. They are not motivated by personal gains or fame; and they are not political in nature. In the free democratic island nation of Taiwan, the human rights of these practitioners have naturally been respected and fully protected.
However, Falun Gong practitioners in China are not as fortunate. Not only are they not protected; they are being persecuted by the authorities of the Chinese Communist Government. Since 1992, Falun Gong has grown very rapidly among the 1.3 billion population of China. According to a 1998 investigation report by the Chinese government, Falun Gong membership ran between 70 and 100 million, exceeding the total membership of Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This shocked the CCP regime. Consequently, China's Public Security Ministry designated Falun Gong as an "evil cult', and Falun Gong gatherings were regarded as "illegal" and dispersed with force. Meanwhile, the CCP took steps to systematically demonize Falun Gong, illegally detained and physically abused Falun Gong members. Finding the ever-escalating persecution unbearable, tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners went to Zhongnanhai (in downtown Beijing) on April 25, 1999 to peacefully appeal for a free and secure cultivation environment. Their collective appeal to the CCP leadership triggered the so-called "April 25th Zhongnanhai Incident". On July 20th of the same year, a nationwide sweeping crackdown against Falun Gong was started by the CCP regime, which led to illegal beatings, arrests, detentions, torture, and sentencing of Falun Gong practitioners. According to a most recent report by human rights organizations, "about twenty-five thousand practitioners were sent to labor camps without trials; at least 600 people were detained in mental hospitals; over 500 people have been sentenced to imprisonment, with the longest term being 18 years; and at least 67 have been tortured to death while in police custody." Ms. Zhang Cuiying and Mr. Zou Zhimin, two survivors of the persecution campaign, have presented their truly touching stories. The fact that "thousands of Falun Gong members were detained only because of their beliefs" has attracted widespread attention from the international community. In the meantime, Falun Gong's struggle against persecution, and their crusade for freedoms of religious belief, assembly and association have become an important part of humankind's struggle for human rights.
As one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, China not only has failed to follow the letter and spirit of the U.N. Charter and the International Covenant, but has done just the opposite in suppressing the freedoms of religion, expression, assembly and association as an instrument of policy. Today as human rights have come to be accepted as common values and the standard of behavior by the international community, the blatant violations of human rights by the Chinese government should be condemned by the international community.
Under contemporary international law, any national legislation or measures in violation of international human rights norms will not be protected; moreover, preclusion of international humanitarian intervention in this context under the pretext of safeguarding sovereignty, an even more flimsy argument, is unacceptable either. It is thus highly deplorable that the Chinese government, running against the tide of worldwide human rights movement, has persistently used the argument of "human rights are internal affairs" as an excuse to escape the accusations of its human rights violations. In today's international community, criticizing human rights violations is not only a right, but also an obligation of every world citizen and government. The lesson of World War II is far from remote, and the international human rights standard represents a universal value of human dignity, disallowing any government to shirk its international obligation to safeguard it under the pretext of "internal affairs".
For a country to become a truly "civilized big power" in today's world, it cannot indulge in military glorification or self-intoxication in inflated nationalism. Rather, it should adhere to contemporary international human rights standard, so as to bring blessings to its citizens. It is hoped that the Chinese Communist Party government takes seriously its obligation to safeguard the freedoms and human rights of the Chinese people, so as to bring true blessings and the big power glory to the Chinese people. It is urgent that the Chinese government restores and safeguards the legal rights of Falun Gong practitioners in China, respect and guarantee their freedom of religion and their freedom of assembly and association.
(The author is Chairman of the Lung-chu Chen New Century Foundation, a private think tank. He is also a member of the Governing Council of International League for Human Rights, and coauthor of "Human Rights and World Public Order" (in English).)
Note: This article was read at "Falun Gong and Human Rights" symposium on December 26, 2000 held in the Legislative Yuan, Taipei, Taiwan. It was to be published in "New Century Think Tank Forum", Issue No.12, December 30, 2000.
