Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently I was pleased to host, together with the honourable member for Fremantle, a visit to Australia by Mr David Kilgour, a former Canadian secretary of state, and Mr Edward McMillan-Scott, the Vice-President of the European Parliament. Mr Kilgour and Mr David Matas, a respected Canadian jurist, recently authored a report into alleged organ harvesting in China. It is a compelling report and I commend it to all honourable members.

We owe Mr Kilgour and Mr Matas a debt not only for the time they have spent researching and writing the report but also for their advocacy throughout the world. They have been to many countries throughout the world, with no remuneration to themselves, spreading the word of their report. The report is methodical and exhaustive. Given that they were denied visas to enter China to conduct their investigations, it was very difficult research to conduct, but they did it in a way which adds to the integrity of the report. The authors came to the conclusion that the allegations of organ harvesting in China are true. They write this:

We have concluded that the government of China and its agencies in numerous parts of the country, in particular hospitals but also detention centres and ‘people’s courts’, since 1999 have put to death a large but unknown number of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience.

This is a very chilling conclusion. If these allegations are true, it would represent evil the likes of which we have not seen in the world in the last 60 years.

I would characterise the report as not proving the allegations but establishing a case to answer. The report does not find that the allegations are proven but does provide a very compelling case for the Chinese government to answer. I would call on the Chinese government to allow investigators into China to prove or disprove these allegations. There is a move to have various parliaments from around the world send delegations into China. If the Chinese government believes that these allegations are untrue, they should have no problem in granting visas to those delegations.

When the world heard of the atrocities of Nazi Germany, many people did not believe the allegations because they were too frightening and it was not accepted that human beings could do this to one another. Of course, history has shown us that they were true. Many people have a similar reaction to these allegations. I must say that it was my initial reaction: I thought the allegations must be overblown; I thought they could not be true.

But there is a case to answer. I am not one who calls for the Olympics to be removed from China, but in the lead-up to the Olympics I call on China. I believe we should use the Olympics to spread the word of human rights and democracy in China. I call on the Chinese government to cooperate. (Time expired)