Footscray, Yarraville, Braybrook Star, Australia
6th December 2006 10:32:28 AM
THE mayor of Maribyrnong, Janet Rice, will be included in a delegation to
investigate human rights abuses in China.
The delegation is waiting to
hear from the Chinese Embassy in Canberra if it will be granted permission to
visit the country.
The delegation has asked permission to investigate
claims that Falun Gong practitioners in China are being imprisoned and killed,
their organs harvested and sold.
Two Canadian lawyers, David Kilgour and
David Matas, published a report highlighting the issue in July.
Amnesty
International has asked the Chinese authorities to stop persecuting Falun Gong
practitioners and those being imprisoned for their spiritual beliefs.
The
practice of Falun Gong aims to refine the body and mind through a combination of
special exercises and meditation.
City of Maribyrnong residents who were
Falun Gong practitioners and had concerns about what was taking place in China
first alerted Cr Rice to the issue.
She spoke in support of pursing
investigations in China at a forum held last month in Melbourne.
She also
wrote to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer and asked him to
raise the issue with the Chinese authorities.
�Basically I got a reply
that said: yes, we are undertaking trade negotiations but we don�t want to link
Human Rights and trade,� Cr Rice said. �I think that is a complete
cop-out.�
Cr Rice said the Falun Gong practitioners were initially
supported by the Chinese Government for �its meditiation, health, exercise
compassion tolerance and forbearance�.
�They say they are not a political
organisation in China but because they have the capacity to organise billions of
adherents the Chinese Government saw them as a threat, which is why there has
been a crack down.�
Cr Rice said that even if Falun Gong was a political
group that was not justification for the allegations of imprisonment or murder.
Critics say Falun Gong is a secret political society.