An Open Letter to John Howard re APEC
August 26, 2007
Dear Prime Minister,
Re: At the APEC meeting please urge Chairman of China to end the brutal persecution of Falun Gong, the largest and most severe human rights violation in China
I became an Australian citizen in 2006 after being granted protection for having been detained and tortured for more than one year in a Chinese forced labour camp and jails for practicing Falun Gong. My autobiography Witnessing History-one woman’s fight for freedom and Falun Gong (ISBN: 1741144000) was published by Allen & Unwin in Australia (https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/general-books/biography-autobiography/Witnessing-History-Jennifer-Zeng-translated-by-Sue-Wiles-9781741144000) and Soho Press in the USA (http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/210894/witnessing-history-by-jennifer-zeng/). I was nominated for the 2005 Human Rights Medal and Awards by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and recognised as an Ambassador for Peace in September 2005 by The UN Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace.
On the occasion of your upcoming APEC meeting, I request that you urge Chinese leader Hu Jintao to end the brutal persecution of Falun Gong, to stop the organ seizing and killing of practitioners, and press for the release of all imprisoned practitioners and their supporters.
In March 2006 the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture reported that 66% of the victims of alleged torture and ill-treatment in China were Falun Gong practitioners. “The cruelty and brutality of these alleged acts of torture defy description,” he said. The U.S. State Department’s 2006 annual report stated that “Falun Gong adherents constituted at least half of the 250,000 officially recorded inmates in reeducation-through-labour camps,” while the real number could be even higher.
Hon. David Kilgour and Mr. David Matas concluded in their independent investigation report that in numerous places across China the Chinese communist regime is harvesting the organs of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience and killing them in the process.
Falun Gong is the largest and most severe human rights violations in China. I strongly believe that Australia has a moral obligation to help to stop this; and I know that many Australians share my view.
Please call on the Chinese leader to immediately end the persecution. Democratic nations have a responsibility to condemn crimes against humanity and disregard for human life wherever they occur. Australia should take the leadership in this matter as the host country of APEC.
Sincerely yours,
Jennifer Zeng
David Matas Addressing a Falun Gong rally during APEC: "We must start to fight for the rights of Falun Gong practitioners from now on"
