A petition initiated by Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting to stop the practice in China has garnered more than 230,000 signatures in Taiwan, lawmakers and activists said on Human Rights Day yesterday.
The appeal to the UN Human Rights High Commissioner was started in the middle of June and calls for an “immediate end of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China.”
As of the end of last month, nearly 1.5 million people around the world have signed the petition, including about 1 million from Asia.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator You Mei-nu (尤美女) said that Taiwan is a nation governed by human rights principles and Taiwanese, who are guaranteed the right to health, should not “build their wellbeing on somebody else’s sorrow or pain.”
“China has been the main destination of Taiwanese needing organ transplants. However, we have to be aware that a lot of the organs used for transplants in China are sourced from prisoners of conscience and imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners... The public has the right to know and the transparency of relevant information should be enforced by our government,” she said.
DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said Taiwanese are blessed today because they enjoy the product of their predecessors’ struggle for freedom from fear and for free speech.
“They are like the air. People don’t sense their presence until they are taken away, ” she said.
“I’ve personally seen a Falun Gong practitioner calling a hospital in China and getting the response that a patient in need can undertake the matching process needed for an organ transplantation any time,” she added. “It makes people suspect that there exists an organization that operates like an organ supermarket.”
International Care Association of Organ Transplants chairman Hu Nai-wen (胡乃文) said the Chinese government has failed to explain the discrepancy between the number of organ transplants performed in China and the number of executed prisoners, which it identified as the source of the organs.
Tien said she had proposed, unsuccessfully, to deny National Health Insurance coverage for anti-rejection medications to those who did not fill out a form stating the name of the hospital and the surgeon who performed the organ transplant.
“People are asked to fill out the form for the coverage, but there is no punishment if you fail to comply,” Tien said.
Responding to the lawmakers’ and groups’ concerns, Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Department of Medical Affairs Director Lee Wei-chiang (李偉強) said the government does not encourage overseas organ transplantations due to the medical risk and questions about the source of the organs.
“The number of Taiwanese who went to China for organ transplants has been decreasing over the years. And there is a consensus that organs donated by prisoners should not be accepted,” Lee said.
He added that the ministry has proposed an amendment to the Human Organ Transplant Act (人體器官移植條例), which would make brokering organ transplants a crime subject to one to five years in prison.
OFFLINE: People who do not wish to register can get the money from select ATMs using their bank card, ID number and National Health Insurance card number Online registration for NT$6,000 (US$196.32) cash payments drawn from last year’s tax surplus is to open today for eligible people whose national ID or permanent residency number ends in either a zero or a one, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Officials from the ministry revealed which days Taiwanese and eligible foreigners would be able to register for the cash payments at a joint news conference with the Ministry of Digital Affairs. Online registration is to open tomorrow for those whose number ends in a two or three; on Friday for those that end in a four or five: on Saturday
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials are investigating why a Starlux Airlines flight to Penang, Malaysia, returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport nearly two hours after takeoff yesterday morning. The airline said in a statement that Flight JX721 to Penang took off from Taoyuan airport at 9:20am. “After the dashboard showed a signal of an abnormality in the hydraulic system, the captain followed standard operating procedures and returned the flight to Taoyuan airport for safety precautions,” the airline said, adding that the flight landed safely at the airport at 11:04am. The airline arranged for the passengers to have lunch after the flight landed and
TECH PROGRAM: A US official said that an important part of the delegation’s trip would be to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executives The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year. “As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective
WORKING UP AN APPETITE: Sales at the Rueifong Night Market surged 20 to 30 percent, while seats at Liouhe Night Market were packed until 1am, market officials said South Korean pop band Blackpink’s concerts over the weekend in Kaohsiung helped draw large crowds to local night markets, the Kaohsiung City Government said yesterday. The two concerts on Saturday and Sunday at Kaohsiung National Stadium drew more than 90,000 people. The city government offered NT$50 vouchers to spend locally to concertgoers who showed their ticket stubs. Liouhe Night Market (六合夜市) management committee head Chuang Chi-chang (莊其章) said that crowds over the weekend surged at about 10pm and the market remained packed until 1:30am. “Almost all the seats were filled,” Chuang said. Night market stall owners had stocked up in expectation of an increased number
RSS