Members of the European Parliament Talk about the Human Rights Violations Against Falun Gong Practitioners in Paris
(Clearwisdom.net, February 23, 2004) On February 10, the French Falun Gong
Association held a press conference at the European Parliament in Strasbourg,
France, urging the European Parliament to be concerned about the incident
regarding the arrest of Falun Gong practitioners because of the Chinese
government's pressure during Hu Jintao's visit to France. Belgian member of the
European Parliament Nelly Maes and Italian MEP Gianfranco Dell' Alba attended
the press conference and were interviewed by the media.
When talking about the Paris incident, Nelly Maes, who was once a Belgian
member of the European parliament's committee on Human Rights and Foreign
Affairs and is currently a member of the committee on Regional Policy, Transport
and Tourism, said, "I feel very sorry about it. It involves several serious
questions. I think we should give higher priority to human rights than trade.
"The infringement of Falun Gong is obviously a human rights abuse. I have
never seen any group that is as peaceful as Falun Gong. When visiting China, I
asked Chinese authorities many questions about Falun Gong. As soon as they heard
of Falun Gong, they started to be angry. It made me feel doubtful. In my
opinion, Falun Gong practitioners didn't commit any crimes, and they were not
supposed to be treated like this, neither in China or in France as well, of
course."
When talking about how the international community can help improve this kind
of situation, she said, "I think we must put human rights in the first place,
and be sincere. All governments that intend to avoid this topic should be
condemned."
Italian Member of European Parliament Gianfranco Dell' Alba is a member of
the Sino-Italian Relationship Delegation of the European Parliament. When
talking about his views on the Paris incident, he said: "I think this is a
dangerous event, which represents certain viewpoints of the government: China
now talks like a superpower, so we should obey Communist China's wish, and
should not talk about human rights, freedom of belief as well as freedom of
speech. This is the same as the incident in which Falun Gong was not allowed to
participate in the Paris Spring Festival Parade, and is a serious issue. We have
already brought up this issue to the European Parliament's Committee on Human
Rights and the European Commission, and asked them to investigate this matter." He thinks that French police arrested Falun Gong practitioners because of
China's pressure, and he is willing to do his best to support the principle of
democracy. "I think that the Chinese government had pressured French authorities
to do so. The Chinese government and its embassies in various European countries
have long been trying to stop people from being concerned about China's human
right issues. Should there be any Chinese delegations visiting the European
Parliament, I'll try my best to emphasize this matter to them. Our delegation
will have an official visit to Beijing in March, and I will also use this
opportunity to raise this topic to them. The Chinese government might think that
they have overpowered many people, and conceal their abuses about human rights.
Fifteen years have passed since the Tiananmen incident. It is unacceptable for
people turn a deaf ear to the incident. We keep trying our best to prevent them
from doing things at will...We should respect democratic opinion. However, I
think it is even more serious that we not only have forgotten everything that
happened in China, but also allowed these things to happen in Europe. It is
really intolerable."
In talking about how the European Parliament should monitor implementation of
the principles of democracy and freedom when facing this kind of event, he
stressed, "One of the European Parliament's principles is to advocate civil
rights and freedom. Therefore we cannot, on one hand, request the European
Union's members to observe the system of democracy and freedom, while on the
other, accept agreeing to the Chinese government's human rights abuse for
economic deals. Therefore the European Parliament always supports actions that
stand for civil rights and freedom.
"I am very happy that this morning the European Parliament passed a
resolution regarding the preparation for the UN Human Rights Conference in
Geneva. The resolution urged the European Union to initiate a motion at this
year's Human Rights Conference to condemn the human rights abuses in China and a
series of other countries. In the resolution, the persecution of Falun Gong was
mentioned in the text about China. Let's see if the EU member states will make
some active responses to the European Parliament's initiatives."
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/2/17/67656.html
Yearly Archive
Printer Version
feedback@clearwisdom.net