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- As Delivered -

WASHINGTON—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today made the following remarks in support of a resolution that expresses concern regarding credible threats of state-sanctioned organ harvesting in China (H.Res.343) at the full Committee markup:

“Mr. Chairman, I’m happy to support Ms. Ros-Lehtinen’s measure expressing our concern over truly unsettling reports of state-sanctioned organ harvesting in the People’s Republic of China.  It’s especially troubling that this practice allegedly targets prisoners of conscience, including practitioners of Falun Gong and other religious and ethnic minorities.

“Organ transplants are one of the wonders of modern medicine.  These procedures save lives every single day.  But non-consensual organ harvesting represents a gross violation of human rights.  And if this horrible abuse weren’t enough, we hear of victims targeted because of their religious beliefs, and of Chinese prison camps reaping a profit from trafficking these organs.  This is something out of a horror story.

“We need more data and more evidence on these reported practices.  This resolution calls on the Chinese government to allow an investigation into this issue and urges the State Department to include an analysis of state-sanctioned, non-consensual organ harvesting in the annual human rights report.

“This is a good measure. I commend Ms. Ros-Lehtinen for bringing it to the forefront, and I urge all of us to support it.  And I yield back.”

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