Barr seeks organs facts
Manly Daily (Australia)
September 2, 2006 Saturday
SECTION: Pg. 10
LENGTH: 291 words
BODY:

MANLY state independent MP David Barr has called for an international independent investigation into claims of organ seizures from Falun Gong practitioners in China.

''Chinese hospitals have been carrying out organ transplants for at least a decade using the organs of condemned prisoners,'' Mr Barr said.

''It is therefore not beyond the realm of possibility that the organs of incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners are also being harvested.

''If it is indeed the case that this is occurring, then it is a moral stain on us all if we do not do anything about it.
''Governments around the world, including our own, appear to be loath to push the matter because of the enormous economic clout of China.

''But trade should not get in the way of Australia insisting on an independent assessment of the allegations.''
Former Canadian MP David Kilgour and European Parliament vice-president Edward McMillan-Scott have just toured Australia, saying they are convinced the Chinese Government killed thousands of Falun Gong practitioners and harvested their organs for sale.

''We can't shy away from what they have to say,'' Mr Barr said.

Mr Barr wrote to Prime Minister John Howard in March on behalf of a constituent concerned about the alleged practice.

He received a response from Foreign Minister Alexander Downer two months later, saying US embassy officials had twice visited the site of an alleged organ harvesting camp and found no evidence and that the site was a ''normal public hospital''.

Mr Downer said the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, had undertaken to investigate reports that the Chinese Government had banned organ trading from July 1, and that the Australian Government continued to raise human rights with Chinese officials.

LOAD-DATE: September 4, 2006