Reps. Gosselin, Hoogendyk, Sheen, Accavitti, Anderson, Ball, Baxter, Caswell, Cushingberry, Drolet, Emmons, Farrah, Garfield, Green, Huizenga, Kooiman, Lemmons, III, Lemmons, Jr., Marleau, Miller, Nitz, Palmer, Pastor, Proos, Sheltrown, Stahl, Stakoe, Tobocman, Vagnozzi, Vander Veen and Zelenko offered the following resolution:

            House Resolution No. 267.                                 

            A resolution to memorialize the President and the Congress of the United States to oppose the persecution of religious faith and practice in the People’s Republic of China.

            Whereas, Falun Gong is a peaceful and nonviolent form of personal belief, with millions of adherents in China and elsewhere; and

            Whereas, Falun Gong has been persecuted for over 6 years by the Chinese Communist Party, as documented by the United States Department of State, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and many other governmental and third-party organizations; and

            Whereas, This persecution of the Falun Gong has involved the widespread use of torture; and

            Whereas, The Chinese Communist authority is persecuting Falun Gong practitioners with this policy: "Defame their reputation, bankrupt them financially, destroy them physically"; and

            Whereas, Over 2,800 Falun Gong practitioners have died from documented abuse, and some of their bodies were missing internal organs; and

            Whereas, In Sujiatun, a suburb of the Chinese city of Shenyang, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are held in a prison camp contrary to the laws of China and in violation of their human rights; and

            Whereas, The Sujiatun prison camp is adjacent to a complex that contains 3 hospitals; and

            Whereas, In the prison at Sujiatun, the organs of Falun Gong adherents are harvested while they are alive, and their bodies are immediately cremated; and

            Whereas, The harvested organs of prisoners are then used by the hospitals for transplants, with the customers for these transplants often being individuals from the United States; and

            Whereas, A witness, who worked at one of these hospitals and whose ex-husband, a surgeon, helped perform the organ harvesting, estimates that 4,000 Falun Gong practitioners have died in the past 5 years through this organ harvesting; and

            Whereas, Since its founding, the United States of America has been a beacon of religious liberty, with a tradition of providing a harbor of refuge for those fleeing oppressive regimes and whose people refuse to ignore the testimony of survivors of those regimes; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we memorialize the President, the United States Department of State, and Congress to call upon the Chinese Communist Party to cease its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners; and be it further

            Resolved, That we also urge the President and the United States Secretary of State to call upon the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations to conduct investigations of these atrocities and provide copies of the reports to the United States Congress; and be it further

            Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the members of the Michigan congressional delegation, the Falun Gong practitioners of Michigan, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Amnesty International.