During Human Rights Dialogue, U.S. Must Address the Largest Population of Prisoners of Conscience in China

In China today, between 500,000 and over 1 million Falun Gong practitioners are incarcerated at any given time making them the largest group of prisoners of conscience in China, if not the world.

In China today, a Falun Gong practitioner dies from torture and abuse in custody every three days (and those are only the cases we know about).

In China today, tens of millions of Falun Gong practitioners face lawlessness and brutality.

In China today, the regime continues to spend billions to wipe out Falun Gong.

In China today, millions of Falun Gong practitioners and supporters operate the largest grassroots underground media in the world, printing (mostly out of private homes) and distributing newsletters about the ongoing persecution with the hope that fellow citizens will realize the extent of the atrocities and not be complicit.

The State Department’s Michael Posner, who will lead the U.S. side of the upcoming human rights dialogue with China, acknowledged at a recent press conference that China’s labor camps were “full of people that have affiliation with Falungong” (news). The Congressional-Executive Commission on China published last month a detailed analysis outlining a nationwide campaign to intensify “tranformation” of Falun Gong practitioners (analysis).

As U.S. diplomats prepare to sit down with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing, the Falun Dafa Information Center urges them to have a direct and meaningful discussion about the 12-year-old campaign of suppression and violence of Falun Gong practitioners in China.