DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - September 3, 2001 - At this UN conference, we hope to bring the world's attention to the plight of the Falun Gong practitioners in China, where peaceful citizens are being persecuted because of their traditional spiritual belief. Over the past two years, the Chinese Government has been, through its state-run media, instigating hatred against Falun Gong in an attempt to divide its own people. Such hate crimes and intolerance based on faith are in direct violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which China has agreed to. We call on the international community to act immediately and help stop this senseless persecution, before more innocent lives are lost.

According to human rights groups and media reports, over 100,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been sent to labor camps without trial; at least 280 have been murdered in police custody; over 1,000 have been detained in mental institutions where they have been subjected to electric shock treatment and forced injections. Thousands upon thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have lost their jobs, homes, and social benefits simply because they refuse to renounce their faith.

Above all, women and children have suffered the most in this atrocity. The majority of the detained Falun Gong practitioners are women, and many of them have been sexually abused and physically tortured. This includes rape, forced abortion, and shocking of genitals with electric batons. Children and university students are required to renounce Falun Gong in school or otherwise be expelled. Even worse, since many parents have been sent to jail or labor camps, thousands of families have been broken, and countless children are now homeless.

Before the ballots for the 2008 Olympic games were cast, China pledged to improve its human rights record. But reality has shown that Beijing has stepped up its efforts in silencing all dissenting voices, and Falun Gong practitioners continue to bear the brunt of its political campaigns. Just over this past week, the world media has reported that another five women who practice Falun Gong have been tortured to death while in police custody. Furthermore, Beijing has just openly vowed that it will eradicate Falun Gong completely by the end of this year. It appears that China is taking its Olympic victory as a license to kill.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER-

Contacts: Scott Chinn, 082-858-3780 or Jay Liu, 082-954-3505. Email: editor@faluninfo.net,

Website: http://www.faluninfo.net