The Falun Gong Human Rights Crisis in China: Updates, Global Impacts, and Next Actions

Moderated by Freedom House’s Sarah Cook (Research Director of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) and featuring experts and a torture survivor, this insightful panel discussion explores the current state of this human rights crisis, its global implications, and what further action can be taken by the U.S. government and others to curb ongoing horrific abuses and support victims.

July 20th marks exactly 22 years since the Chinese Communist Party launched a massive campaign to eliminate the Falun Gong spiritual movement in China. Millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China have since been imprisoned, tortured, or killed, including through forced organ harvesting.

The party’s persecution of Falun Gong has also extended far beyond China’s borders, resulting in censorship, cyber attacks, and transnational repression affecting believers in dozens of countries.

Moderator:
Sarah Cook, Research Director for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Freedom House

Speakers:
Reverend Johnnie Moore Jr., Former Commissioner, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom & President, Congress of Christian Leaders
Erping Zhang, Director of Government and Advocacy, Falun Dafa Information Center
Levi Browde, Executive Director, Falun Dafa Information Center
Dr. Jessica Russo, Board Member, Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting
Weiyu Wang, Survivor of Chinese Prison and Torture, Former PhD Candidate at Tsinghua University

0:00 Introduction
2:42 Sarah Cook
4:44 Rev. Johnnie Moore Jr.
11:35 How can our communities help those in China?
17:21 Levi Browde
17:46 Brief rundown- why is the CCP persecuting Falun Gong?
24:06 Weiyu Wang
24:50 What was it like practicing Falun Gong before 1999?
34:43 Dr. Jessica Russo
35:43 Organ procurement in China and Falun Gong
44:46 Information control and global implications of the CCP
48:27 Chinese authorities hunted me down
52:26 Q&A Time