Call for Support on the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act 2026

GATPM | 22 April 2026

The Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities, in collaboration with a broad coalition of international civil society and human rights organisations, calls for urgent support of the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act 2026. We further recognise the leadership of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China in advancing this critical advocacy effort.

This bipartisan legislation represents a decisive and necessary step toward addressing the grave and well-documented practice of forced organ harvesting in China, which has affected Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, and other persecuted communities.

Given the severity and scale of these violations, we urge partners, stakeholders, and members of the public to engage directly with their United States Senators and advocate for swift passage of this legislation. Such action is essential to strengthening accountability, protecting vulnerable populations, and upholding fundamental international human rights standards.

Re: Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act 2026 

Dear Senator,

The undersigned civil society groups and human rights organizations urge you to act on S 4009 the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act, a bipartisan bill recently introduced by Senator Cruz (R-TX) and Senator Merkley (D-OR) members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

This bill is a critical piece of legislation that imposes sanctions on those responsible for organ harvesting in China and directs the Secretary of State to report to Congress on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s organ harvesting policies and transplant system.

It specifically addresses crimes committed against all victims of forced organ harvesting in China including Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs and others. 

The legislation would require the President to create an annual report on China’s organ transplant system and maintain a list of foreign persons that the President determines to be involved in forced organ harvesting within China and limit access to visas, passports, and financial transactions for such persons within the United States.

This Act strengthens previous legislative efforts by defining “forced organ harvesting” as the “removal of organs by means of coercion, abduction, deception, fraud, or abuse of power or a position of vulnerability.”  The bill also explicitly broadens protections beyond Falun Gong practitioners to encompass all victims of forced organ harvesting. Crucially, the bill’s bipartisan sponsorship reflects cross-party recognition that this critical human rights issue warrants attention and action by the Senate.

Organ trafficking is a human rights abuse that occurs around the globe. For decades, the CCP has systematically harvested the organs of prisoners of conscience. The victims have been primarily Falun Gong practitioners (a spiritual qigong practice in the Buddhist tradition), though mounting evidence today shows that Uyghurs are also now killed for organs. Since 2015, China’s organ transplantation system has claimed to only source organs from voluntary donors, but evidence demonstrates that this data has been falsified and that claimed legal changes to ban the use of prisoners’ organs have not taken place. A close examination shows that Chinese hospitals have performed at least several times more transplants than even the largest estimates of death row prisoners can account for.

The China Tribunal, an independent, international people’s tribunal chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, lead prosecutor of Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, concluded “unanimously, and beyond reasonable doubt – that in China forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practiced for a substantial period of time involving a very substantial number of victims.” The China Tribunal’s judgment presents the first-ever independent legal analysis of all available evidence regarding forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China. After reviewing multiple lines of evidence over twelve months and conducting public hearings, the China Tribunal concluded that state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China amounts to crimes against humanity.

In 2021, a joint correspondence issued by nine UN Special Rapporteurs called on China to “promptly respond to the allegations of ‘organ harvesting’ and to allow independent monitoring by international human rights mechanisms.” In 2022, the European Parliament passed a resolution on reports of continued organ harvesting in China and laws have been passed in the UK and Canada. The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) introduced a policy banning surgeons from China from presenting at ISHLT conferences and publishing in their journal. In addition, international law firm Global Rights Compliance published a legal advisory report and policy guidance that outlines the complicity risks of interacting with China in relation to organ transplantation medicine, research and training.

In November, 2025, the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international cross-party network of legislators from over 30 countries, with more than 250 members, adopted a Statement of Legislative Intent, pledging to advance national legislation to prohibit and prevent forced organ harvesting and organ trafficking.  

We urge you to support the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act so the Senate can send a bipartisan, unified message to China and the world that the United States is combating the heinous practice of forced organ harvesting and ensuring that U.S.-based businesses, universities, hospitals, and citizens are not unknowingly entangled in these unethical and criminal activities.

Thank you for your leadership and for swiftly considering this important legislation.

Respectfully,

Dr. Stephen Bronner
President & Executive Director
American Council for Justice and Conflict Resolution

Rushan Abbas
Founder & Executive Director
Campaign for Uyghurs

Abdulhakim Idris
Executive Director
Centre for Uyghur Studies

Dr. Bob Fu
Founder & President
China Aid

Thierry Valle
Director
Coordination des Assciations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience

Dr. Torsten Trey
Executive Director
Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting

Levi Browde
Executive Director
Falun Dafa Information Center

Cynthia Sun
Senior Researcher
Falun Dafa Information Center: First Freedom Foundation

Benedict Rogers
Senior Director
Fortify Rights

Alan Adler
Executive Director
Friends of Falun Gong USA

Dr. Gregory Stanton
President
Genocide Watch

Tsering Passang
Founder & Chair
Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities

Aris Tsilfidis
Founder
Greek Genocide Resource Center

Sarah Teich
Co-founder & CEO
Human Rights Action Group

Peter Ebertz
Chairman
International Society for Human Rights – Sweden

Eleonora Mongelli
Vice President, Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU)
Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU)

Hena Zuberi
Director of Advocacy
Justice For All

Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett
President
Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice

Peter Tatchell
CEO
Peter Tatchell Foundation

Emily Huang
DMD – President, Students for Falun Gong
Students for Falun Gong

Kristina Olney
Executive Director
The Remembrance Society

Dr. Rishat Abbas
President
Uyghur Academy International

Dolkun Isa
President
Uyghur Center for Democracy and Human Rights

Useful Links

https://trackbill.com/bill/us-congress-senate-bill-4009-a-bill-to-provide-for-the-imposition-of-sanctions-with-respect-to-forced-organ-harvesting-within-the-peoples-republic-of-china-and-for-other-purposes/2828441/

https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sens-cruz-merkley-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-hold-china-accountable-for-organ-harvesting-and-human-rights-violations

https://www.ipac.global/