By a practitioner from Canada
(Clearwisdom.net) On June 2 and 3, the North America Regional
Consultation Meeting to Counter Violence against Children was held at the
University of Toronto. The meeting was initiated by the United Nations Secretary
General and sponsored by the United Nations International Children's Emergency
Fund (UNICEF). About 200 people, including American and Canadian government
officials, people from the academic field, nongovernmental organizations and
medical doctors attended the meeting. Three representatives from the
"Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners" (GMRPFGP)
also attended. They called for attention to the persecution encountered by Falun
Gong practitioners in China and the plight of the orphans of Falun Gong
practitioners. Their appeal drew attention from the attendees. The meeting especially invited 28 children and young students recommended by
attending organizations to join the meeting. Twenty of them are from Canada and
eight from the U.S. The evening of June 1 was scheduled for young
representatives to register. Two Falun Gong practitioners from GMRPFGP handed
out flyers to these young representatives and their adult companions one by one
and explained the facts to them face to face. Many people felt shocked upon
listening to the introduction. A representative from Nova Scotia said that she
had heard of Falun Gong before and she was aware of the persecution, but she did
not know that the persecution was so severe. An officer from the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police (RCMP) who attended the meeting said that she knew about the
persecution of Falun Gong but she was not clear about the persecution
encountered by children. The young representatives' meeting was scheduled on June 2. Young
representative Kelly from GMRPFGP attended the meeting and took the lead to
give a speech. She spoke in detail about the persecution of Falun Gong in China,
in particular, the brutal persecution suffered by children and young people. Her
speech aroused great sympathy from the attendees. Three Falun Gong practitioners attended the opening ceremony on the evening
of June 2. During the opening ceremony, practitioners distributed a large amount
of materials and tried their best to clarify the truth to representatives face
to face. When talking with Canadian Senator Landon Pearson, the Senator
expressed that she was aware of the persecution encountered by Falun Gong in
China and she thanked practitioners for providing her with the materials. Upon
hearing about the plight of the orphans, Ontario's Minister of Children and
Youth Services expressed that she was willing to help rescue these orphans to
Ontario. During the formal meeting held on June 3, three practitioners participated in
different group discussions and talked to representatives in detail about the
persecution suffered by Falun Gong practitioners in China. In the group meeting
in the morning, Jiang Fan from GMRPFGP pointed out that the persecution of Falun
Gong has been defined as genocide by international attorneys, as the crimes are
analogous to those that took place in Nazi Germany, the former Yugoslavia and
Sudan. About 10 million children have suffered in the persecution. A large
number of children have been tortured for practicing Falun Gong, and many have
become orphans because their parents were tortured to death or have been
imprisoned for a long period of time. Numerous children have been forced to
leave school and have to move from one place to another to avoid further
persecution. Some have died in the persecution. As members of the international
community, what should we do to stop this atrocity and prevent similar tragedies
from happening again? Senator Pearson said that similar things have occurred
before in history. The way to end it is to intervene together with other
methods. Many attendees expressed their deep concern about these orphans. They highly
recognized the global effort of rescue. The president of an organization to
protect children's rights said, "Your work is really great!" The
president of another organization said, "You are doing very significant and
great work!" During the meeting in the afternoon, practitioners delivered speeches several
times. In addition to introducing the truth about Falun Gong, they also pointed
out that upgrading moral standards is fundamental to stopping violence against
children. Jiang Fan said in his speech that currently the fundamental reason for the
increase in social violence is the degeneration of mankind's morality. In
ancient times, there were not so many laws or rules, but there was not so much
violence either, because people at that time generally believed in God or
Buddha, and the moral standard was high. Unfortunately, modern people's moral
standard has largely declined. People ceaselessly pursue material interests and
benefits, which has led to the degeneration of human morality. He stressed that
the fundamental reason for the increase of social problems and violence is the
degeneration of human morality. He said that laws can only control people's
behavior but are unable to control people's minds or eliminate people's
intention of committing crimes. The fundamental way out is to upgrade people's
moral standard, so that people can restrain themselves from the bottom of their
hearts. As an example, he said that Falun Gong practitioners believe in
Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. They are strict with themselves in
society and give up bad habits such as smoking and drinking alcohol. This
practice once played a positive role in upgrading the overall moral standard in
China. His speech was well-received by many representatives. At the plenary meeting held at the end of the conference, in her two-minute
speech, a young representative from GMRPFGP Kelly, called upon the
international community, including UNICEF and World Vision, to help rescue the
orphans of Falun Gong practitioners and stop the persecution against children in
China. Her speech drew continuous and warm applause. After the meeting concluded,
many representatives expressed that they were quite moved by Kelly's speech.
One representative said, "You've done great!" Another said, "What
you've done is even better than adults." Some representatives took the
initiative to take photos with her and requested her card. According to the meeting's sponsor, about 200 officials, specialists,
scholars and people from nongovernmental organizations attended. Officials
included Canadian Senator Landon Pearson, Ontario's Minister of Children and
Youth Services Mary Bountrogianni, representatives of the Federal Ministry of
Justice, Health Department, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police as well as the
American federal government. Professors specializing in children's rights from
more than 10 universities, including the University of Toronto, York University,
University of British Columbia, New York University and University of South
Carolina attended the meeting. In addition, several dozen nongovernmental
organizations also sent representatives.
Conference hall
Group meeting
Kelly represents GMRPFGP to give a speech at the conference
Kelly and Senator Landon Pearson
Some young representatives attending the meeting
Posting date: 6/7/2005
Original article date: 6/7/2005
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/6/5/103409.html