SR19.DOC

WHEREAS, Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a peaceful practice of mind and body improvement based on the moral teachings of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance; and

WHEREAS, Falun Gong has benefited tens of millions of people in China, the United States, and more than eighty other countries; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii is home to Falun Gong practitioners and supporters from different walks of life, who contribute to the wellbeing of the community; and

WHEREAS, since 1999 the government of the People's Republic of China has been carrying out a brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, forcing them to give up their practice; and

WHEREAS, according to the U.S. State Department's 2007 report on human rights, Falun Gong practitioners are estimated to comprise as much as half of China's labor camp detainees, rendering them the largest population of prisoners of conscience in the country; and

WHEREAS, similarly, the United Nations Special Rapporteur stated in 2006 that Falun Gong practitioners represent two‑thirds of the reported Chinese torture cases; and

WHEREAS, the Falun Dafa Information Center has further documented the deaths of over 3,200 practitioners as a result of abuse in custody and other forms of persecution; and

WHEREAS, Falun Gong practitioners who have not been taken into police custody have faced systematic discrimination, loss of employment and denial of fundamental civil, political, and economic rights; and

WHEREAS, independent investigations also report that Falun Gong practitioners are a major target group for large-scale organ harvesting that involves organs taken from non-consenting prisoners; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii residents report that their relatives in China, who are Falun Gong practitioners, were unlawfully sentenced to labor camps and prisons; and

WHEREAS, the inhuman persecution by the Chinese government of Falun Gong practitioners is in direct violation of the fundamental human rights to freedom of personal belief and practice, expression, and assembly guaranteed by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and

WHEREAS, Amnesty International has been calling on the Chinese government to stop the mass arbitrary detentions, unfair trials, and other human rights violations resulting from the crackdown on Falun Gong practitioners; and

WHEREAS, the United States House of Representatives unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolutions 218 (1999), 188 (2002), and 304 (2003) generally expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of the People's Republic of China should cease its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners; and

WHEREAS, the various states and municipalities of the United States have passed no less than 150 city and state resolutions, and issued 1260 proclamations and 530 supportive letters condemning the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and supporting the cessation of China's state-run systematic and widespread attacks on Falun Gong practitioners; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, that:

(1) This body, on behalf of the people of Hawaii, condemns the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and requests the Chinese authorities to immediately end the harassment, detention, and torture of Falun Gong practitioners;

(2) The United States Secretary of State is requested to increase efforts to urge the People's Republic of China to recognize and protect the human rights of its citizens and halt the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners; and

(3) This body expresses its condemnation of any discrimination in Hawaii against Falun Gong practitioners, based on their beliefs and practices; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States; the United States Secretary of State; the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; the Majority Leader of the United States Senate; members of Hawaii's congressional delegation; the Governor of Hawaii; and the Chinese Ambassador to the United States.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Falun Gong; Condemning Suppression

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	19
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII