May 03
VOC Praises the Introduction of the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the United States Congress took action to protect US citizens and to stop a horrifying trade in China that claims the lives of innocent victims with the bipartisan introduction of the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act. The Senate Bill, S. 602, is sponsored by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Senator Chris Coons (D-CT) and the House bill, H.R. 1592, is sponsored by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-NY).
This bi-partisan legislation seeks to fight the global organ trafficking trade and to specifically address the CCP’s practice of forced organ harvesting. The Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2021 will expand the US government’s powers to combat organ harvesting, prohibit the export of organ transplant surgery devices to entities responsible for human organ trafficking, impose sanctions on individuals and government officials in countries who support human organ trafficking and forced organ harvesting, and introduce mandatory reporting on human organ trafficking in foreign countries and on US institutions which train organ transplant surgeons.
VOC Chairman and Acting CEO Dr. Edwin J. Feulner said: “The introduction of the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act is an important step forward to hold perpetrators of the horrific crime of forced organ harvesting accountable. We call on the U.S. Congress to support swift passage of this legislation to combat organ trafficking and trafficking in persons for organs around the world. Our organization’s research has shown the shocking depravity of the Chinese Communist Party’s system of organ harvesting and the unprecedented scale of China’s organ transplant system—the United States must take action to examine, condemn, and help stop these blatant human rights violations.”
The introduction of the ‘Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2021’ is an important and necessary response to the damning judgment of the China Tribunal, which unanimously concluded that, “in China forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practiced for a substantial period of time involving a very substantial number of victims.”
Susie Hughes, Executive Director of ETAC, the human rights NGO that initiated the China Tribunal, which is chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice and whose Judgment was released in 2020, stated: “The Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2021 is one of the most significant international responses to the China Tribunal’s Judgment to date. We hope that more governments will be inspired to follow in the footsteps of the United States, to ensure their own citizens are not caught up in the mass murder of innocents for their organs in China.”
The Victims of Communist Memorial Foundation calls on both the House and Senate to pass these bills quickly and unanimously.
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