(TibetanReview.net, Jun16’21) – A total of 12 UN human rights experts have issued a joint communication during the ongoing UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, expressing their concerns on reports of forced organ harvesting by China that targeted Tibetans, Uyghurs, Falun Gong Practitioners, Muslims, Christians and other detainees who are often arrested arbitrarily, according to the Tibet Bureau, Geneva, Jun 15.
The experts have said they were “extremely alarmed” by credible information they had received from detainees who had said they were “forcibly subjected to blood tests and organ examinations such as ultrasound and x-rays, without informed consent.”
They have said the organs most commonly targeted for removal had been “hearts, kidneys, livers, corneas and, less commonly, parts of livers.”
They have said the trafficking was carried out in collusion with “health sector professionals including surgeons, anaesthetists and other medical specialists.”
The communication also raised concerns over reports of rampant arbitrary detentions, arrests and sentencing as well as prevalent discriminatory practices against prisoners based on their ethnicity and religion or belief.
The joint communication was issued by Ms Siobhán Mullally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Ms Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; Mr Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Mr Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; Mr Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Ms Dubravka Simonovic, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences; Ms. Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while counter-terrorism; Ms. Elina Steinerte (Chair-Rapporteur), Dr Miriam Estrada-Castillo (Vice-chairperson), Ms Leigh Toomey, Mr Mumba Malila and Mr Priya Gopalan from the Working Group on arbitrary detention.
Earlier, in 2019, London-based China Tribunal on forced organ harvesting in China, established in 2018, had, in its 562-page judgement, noted that mysterious deaths of Tibetans in custody were cause for alarm as they could also be victims of organ harvesting.
The tribunal was initiated by the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China, an independent body.
