Falun Gong Practitioners Expose Persecution and Forced Organ Harvesting at UN Human Rights Council

During the ongoing 58th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, two Falun Gong practitioners delivered powerful addresses condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) forced organ harvesting and other crimes against humanity. Their testimonies called for urgent international action against these atrocities.

One practitioner was interrupted by a Chinese delegate, who attempted to silence his remarks. However, U.N. officials upheld his right to speak. Undeterred, he used his time to call for an independent investigation into the CCP’s ongoing abuses.

Stark reminder of ongoing atrocities

At the session’s 14th meeting on March 4, Mr. Lebin Ding—a Berlin-based human rights advocate, freelance China researcher, and representative of the Society for Threatened Peoples, a German-based NGO with an advisory status at both the UN Economic and Social Council and the Council of Europe—delivered a powerful statement exposing the relentless persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. He recounted how, since July 20, 1999, the CCP has pursued a systematic campaign to eradicate Falun Gong, a spiritual practice rooted in Buddhist tradition. Citing former CCP leader Jiang Zemin’s infamous directive “to ruin the reputation of Falun Gong practitioners, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically,” Ding laid bare the brutal reality of state-sponsored repression that has persisted for over a quarter of a century.

Mr. Ding presented harrowing statistics: as of December 31, 2024, there have been 5,167 confirmed deaths of Falun Gong practitioners, including 164 cases documented in 2024 alone, along with 764 practitioners receiving sentences. Citing the persecution of his father Mr. Yuande Ding—a case that prompted the European Parliament to adopt an EU resolution on the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China (2024/2504(RSP))—the younger Ding underscored the severity of state-led repression.

He also referenced the 2019 findings by the China Tribunal in London, which concluded that forced organ harvesting had been conducted “on a significant scale” with Falun Gong practitioners serving as the “principal source” for these crimes against humanity. In addition, UN human rights experts have expressed grave concerns over reports of forced organ harvesting targeting Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans, as well as other prisoners of conscience, and have called on the party-state to address these allegations and allow independent international monitoring. Mr. Ding emphasized that the Society for Threatened Peoples submitted a written statement to the UN Secretary-General last February condemning the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and the forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience. The statement highlights systematic human rights violations in China, including arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings, and calls for urgent international intervention.

CCP attempts to silence Ding

During his address, Ding was briefly interrupted by the Chinese delegation. Changqing Song, a minister-counselor with China’s permanent mission to the U.N. Office in Geneva, accused him of misusing the council’s forum to “attack” the CCP and urged the presiding vice president of the council, Tareq Md Ariful Islam, to halt his remarks. However, Mr. Islam swiftly rejected the motion, affirming that Ding’s comments were “in order” and reinstating his right to speak. Undeterred, Ding concluded his speech by calling on the council to appoint a Special Rapporteur to investigate the CCP’s practice of forcibly harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience for sale and transplant.

Following the meeting, Mr. Ding reiterated his call for international action on X, highlighting the CCP’s systematic human rights abuses and the ongoing state crime against Falun Gong practitioners that has claimed thousands of lives since 1999. He underscored the strong support from European Union officials and the German Federal Government, who have been actively working to secure his father’s release from illegal detention in Shandong Province Prison, in accordance with the aforementioned European Parliament’s resolution.

Notably, Ding emphasized that the Human Rights Council’s Vice President, Mr. Tareq Md Ariful Islam, had defended his right to speak by rejecting the Chinese delegation’s attempt to silence him. “The Chinese Communist Party delegation has not refuted any of the crimes it has committed against Falun Gong practitioners,” Mr. Ding stated. “Instead, the CCP has sought to cover up and whitewash its crimes against humanity, spreading lies, exporting coercion, and engaging in transnational repression to eliminate any condemnation of its atrocities.”

Call for global accountability

At another meeting of the session on March 5, Ms. Kayan Wong, a Falun Gong practitioner and partner of Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD), delivered a scathing indictment of the ongoing atrocities in China. She stated, “Global Human Rights Defence expresses grave concern over the ongoing crimes of live organ harvesting in China, particularly against Falun Gong practitioners and other persecuted groups. Since 1999, these state-supported atrocities have continuously occurred.” She further urged governments worldwide to stand with the Falun Gong community by signing the “World Declaration on Combating and Preventing Live Organ Harvesting.”

Wong accused the CCP of systematically concealing and denying these crimes, manipulating transplant data, and misleading international organizations. She emphasized that such actions violate fundamental human rights, medical ethics, and international law. Citing the Genocide Convention, she asserted that the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong constitutes genocide. The GHRD has condemned these atrocities and called upon the UN and national governments to establish a robust accountability mechanism—one that prosecutes the perpetrators under international law and demands full transparency in China’s transplant system.

Human cost of repression

The testimonies delivered at the Council are part of a long history of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners—a peaceful spiritual practice that has faced relentless suppression since 1999. Both speakers highlighted how the extraction of organs is intertwined with broader human rights abuses. Mr. Ding’s detailed account and Ms. Wong’s impassioned plea serve as stark evidence of the devastating human cost inflicted by state policies, reminding the global community that behind the statistics lie real lives shattered by systemic cruelty and exploitation.

The powerful speeches by Mr. Lebin Ding and Ms. Kayan Wong mark a significant moment in the global human rights dialogue. By bringing these disturbing practices to the forefront of international attention, Falun Gong practitioners are not only exposing crimes that have long been shrouded in secrecy but are also galvanizing support for a more robust and coordinated global response.

The Falun Dafa Information Center echoes their call: the world must act now to end forced organ harvesting and ensure that those responsible for these human rights violations are brought to justice.