To the Honourable Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives assembled in Parliament:

The petition of certain citizens and residents of Australia draws to the attention of the House that:

(a)   Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa), a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance”, practiced in over 60 countries world-wide and has roots in traditional Chinese culture - has been subject to a systematic campaign of eradication in China since July 1999;

(b)   The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 890 deaths (as at 25/2/2004) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. In October 2001, however, Government officials inside China reported that the actual death toll was well over 1,600. Expert sources now estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labour camps, typically without trial;

(c)   The implementation of this policy of eradication violates the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which China has signed, the Convention Against Torture and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, both of which China has signed and ratified; and

(d)   Australia is the elected Chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights for 2004 and the Commission will convene on 15 March 2004.

Your petitioners therefore request the House to initiate a resolution to condemn China’s persecution of Falun Gong at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and request China to:

I.   Unconditionally release all Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned for their spiritual beliefs, including those family members of Australian citizens and residents currently detained;

II.   Allow unrestricted access into China to the United Nations rapporteur on torture, to carry out independent, third-party investigations on the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.