(Minghui.org) The U.S. House of Representatives passed bill H.R. 1154, the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act, in a 413-2 vote on March 27, 2023.
The bill, introduced by Representatives Chris Smith, Michael McCaul, Bill Keating and Kathy Manning, seeks to sanction those involved in the Chinese Communist Party’s state-sponsored live organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, particularly Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs.
The sanctions imposed by the bill include imprisonment for up to 20 years, fines up to $1 million, and a ban from buying property or obtaining visas, on anyone that facilitates forced organ harvesting or trafficking for the removal of organs.
Rep. Smith said on the House floor before the vote, “State-sponsored forced organ harvesting is a big business for the Chinese Communist Party and shows absolutely no sign of abating.”
He said, “Every year, under the Chinese Communist Party, between 60,000 and 100,000 young victims, average age 28, are murdered in cold blood to steal their organs. These crimes against humanity are unimaginably cruel.”
He pointed out that ethnic groups targeted for the genocide include Uyghurs, and Falun Gong practitioners who enjoy exceptional health by doing peaceful meditation and exercise, which makes their organs highly desirable.
Rep. Smith added that the Chinese tribunal presided over by Sir Geoffrey Nice conducted the world’s first independent legal analysis on the live organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience in China. “Sir Geoffrey Nice testified at my hearing and said, ‘Forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale. Falun Gong practitioners have been one and probably the main source of organ supplying. The Falun Gong and the Uyghurs in the PRC each qualified as a group for purposes of the crime of genocide.”
“We and the rest of the world need to step up. We must act, we must act decisively.”
