Bill Text: AZ HCM2004 | 2018 | Fifty-third Legislature 2nd Regular | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Forced organ harvesting; China

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-04-04 - Transmitted to Secretary of State [HCM2004 Detail]

Download: Arizona-2018-HCM2004-Enrolled.html

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House Engrossed

 

 

 

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-third Legislature

Second Regular Session

2018

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT MEMORIAL 2004

 

 

 

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

 

urging the united states congress and the arizona medical community to take action against state-sanctioned organ transplant practices in china.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

To the Congress of the United States of America and the leaders of Arizona's medical community:

      Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, since July 1999, the People's Republic of China has persecuted practitioners of Falun Gong—a spiritual practice with key values of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance for achieving physical and spiritual well-being through exercise and meditation—as documented by the United States Department of State, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and many other governmental and third-party organizations; and

Whereas, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners involves the widespread use of torture, forced labor work, illegal detention centers and prisons, and these illegally detained prisoners of conscience experience forced medical examinations, including blood and urine testing, x-rays, ultrasounds and CT scans; and

Whereas, the official reported transplant numbers in China increased threefold nationwide between 1999 and 2004, parallel to the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong; and

      Whereas, the organ transplant system in China does not comply with the World Health Organization's requirement for transparent and traceable accessibility of organ procurement practices, and the People's Republic of China has prevented any independent or impartial inspection and verification of its transplant system; and

Whereas, the current chairman of China's Human Organ and Transplant Committee, Dr. Huang Jiefu, claimed that China would stop sourcing organs from executed prisoners on January 1, 2015, yet no official agency of the People's Republic of China has made such a declaration nor has this claim been verified by any independent researcher.  In May 2016, Dr. Jiefu announced via state-run media that China would increase the number of transplant centers from 169 to 300 over the next five years; and

Whereas, the People's Republic of China has not officially repealed provisions implemented in 1984 that allow the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners, and the use of organs from executed prisoners therefore remains legal; and

Whereas, large discrepancies exist between the People's Republic of China's officially reported transplant numbers and those estimated by independent researchers; and

Whereas, updated evidence estimates that between 30,000 and 100,000 transplants occur annually in China without identified organ sources; and

Whereas, updated evidence suggests that a significant number of Falun Gong practitioners may have been killed for their organs since 1999; and

Whereas, recipients for these transplants are Chinese citizens and individuals from abroad, including the United States; and

Whereas, in 2015, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom's annual report again listed China as a "country of particular concern" due to severe human rights violations and illegal organ harvesting practices, stating that "imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners are particularly targeted"; and

Whereas, in 2015 and 2016, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China condemned ongoing, unethical forced organ harvesting practices in China; and

Whereas, in March 2015, the Council of Europe passed a Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs that stated "trafficking in human organs violates human dignity and the right to life and constitutes a serious threat to public health"; and

Whereas, in May 2016, the Minnesota Legislature passed Resolution S.F. No. 2090, "expressing concern over persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned, forced organ harvesting from nonconsenting prisoners of conscience, primarily from Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned for their spiritual beliefs, and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups in the People's Republic of China"; and

Whereas, in June 2016, the United States House of Representatives passed House Resolution 343 expressing concern over China's organ procurement from nonconsenting prisoners of conscience, including "large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups"; and

Whereas, in September 2016, the European Parliament passed Written Declaration 0048, which states that "the international community has strongly condemned organ harvesting in China and actions should be taken to end it"; and 

Whereas, the charitable medical ethics advocacy association Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, which has monitored and objectively reported on the transplant situation in China for the last decade, was nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize; and

Whereas, the killing of prisoners, including religious or political prisoners, to sell their organs for transplant is an egregious and intolerable violation of the fundamental right to life.

Wherefore your memorialist, the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring, prays:

1.  That the United States Congress immediately conduct a full and transparent investigation into organ transplant and procurement practices in the People's Republic of China.

2.  That the United States Congress prohibit the entry into the United States of doctors involved in unethical organ procurement or transplant surgery using organs harvested from prisoners in China.

3.  That the United States Congress enact legislation to prohibit United States citizens from receiving organ transplants abroad if the organ sourcing is neither transparent nor traceable according to international ethical guidelines. 

4.  That Arizona's medical community caution patients against traveling to China for organs and strive to raise awareness among health care providers, students, patients and the public of the unethical organ transplant practices in the People's Republic of China.

5.  That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit copies of this Memorial to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Executive Director of the Arizona Medical Board and the Dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

 

 

 

 

PASSED BY THE HOUSE FEBRUARY 22, 2018.

 

PASSED BY THE SENATE APRIL 4, 2018.

 

FILED IN THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE APRIL 4, 2018.