Dear Editor,

On June 26, UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Amnesty International University of Waterloo Campus Group held an information session for the Human Rights of Falun Gong in China. (Reported in http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2001/7/6/12935.html)

This meeting was held in cooperation with the Waterloo Public Interests Research Group and Kitchener-Waterloo Falun Gong Group. During the meeting, Mr. Darren Altmayer, the spokesman for Amnesty International of the University ofWaterloo, gave an impressive opening presentation, which follows:

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Today, June 26 marks the United Nations Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Unfortunately, torture by state forces remains commonplace, and 3/4s of all nations have had cases reported.

Amnesty International is a worldwide human rights organization, with local groups active in over 160 countries. Turning forty this year, Amnesty has dealt with tens of thousands of prisoner cases.

Amnesty International's story began in 1961. British lawyer Peter Benenson was disturbed to hear the story of two Portuguese students that were sentenced to seven years imprisonment for raising their glasses in a public toast to freedom. Benenson and several other activists organized a one-year "Appeal for Amnesty" campaign, which they launched in a newspaper article printed May 28, 1961.

Amnesty International has four goals:

1. free all prisoners of conscience: people detained anywhere for their beliefs or because of their ethnic origin, sex, color, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, or other status, provided they have not used or advocated violence
2. ensure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners
3. abolish the death penalty, torture, and other cruel treatment of prisoners
4. end political killings and "disappearances"

Because human rights are indivisible and interdependent, Amnesty also promotes public awareness and understanding of the full range of human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international covenants, conventions, and treaties.

Amnesty International is independent of any government, political persuasion, or religious creed. It is funded by its members and donors. No funds are sought or accepted from governments. Amnesty International is impartial. It does not take sides in political conflicts. It neither supports nor opposes any government or political system. What it opposes are violations of the specific human rights it has undertaken to defend.

Nelson Mandela once commented, "human rights have become the focal point for international relations." Though the extent of this could be debated, it is certain that human rights have taken center stage in the growing economic and cultural relationship between China and the western world.

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The incidents at Tiananmen Square in 1989 opened the rest of the world's eyes to the human rights situation in China. Amnesty has been particularly critical of China's extensive use of capital punishment, the numbers of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, and the many reports of torture in jails.

The plight of the people practicing Falun Gong in China has been of particular concern to human rights interests. Though official statistics in China are kept secret, the Falun Dafa Information Center reports the deaths of 246 Falun Gong members while in detention. Tens of thousands of practitioners are believed to remain in detention. Many have been assigned without trial to ''re-education through labor'' or are detained in psychiatric hospitals. Furthermore, reports of torture, rape and mistreatment of practitioners are all too common.

Yet there is hope, and there is something that we in North America can do. The recent release of Concordia student Ying Zhu and McGill Professor Zhang a few months back demonstrate the power of an organized, international movement for human rights concerns. The mobilization of those calling for the release of these two Canadian Falun Gong practitioners from the Chinese government was quick, vast, and impressive. It is expected that their efforts had a great deal to do with Ying Zhu and Professor Zhang's release. In these examples we can find great hope and inspiration to strengthen the peaceful call for human rights.

June 26, 2001

Darren Altmayer

Amnesty International University of Waterloo Campus Group