It is with deep gratitude that we announce our official nomination for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. Receiving such an honorable recognition is not only humbling, but also a source of great encouragement and hope, as it confirms that people around the world recognize the importance of ending the Chinese government’s forced organ harvesting practices.
In particular, we would like to acknowledge and thank Lord Philip Hunt of Kings Heath, UK, who made the nomination to the Nobel Committee. From the moment he first learned about the atrocity of forced organ harvesting, Lord Hunt has been a tireless advocate working to raise awareness, stop collusion and protect victims.
This nomination marks the third time since our founding in 2006 that DAFOH has been considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. In his will, Alfred Nobel wrote that the prizes should go to those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind,” and in fact it is this lofty ideal to protect all of humankind from the evil of forced organ harvesting that drives us. The reality of an industrial scale transplant atrocity via the forced removal of vital organs from living people challenges our integrity and courage: Once we learn of these crimes against humanity, will we remain silent or, like Lord Hunt, will we speak up and take actions that are within our scope to stop it?
As an organization of medical doctors, we care about patients and the people who have been and are at risk of being subject to forced organ harvesting. This nomination not only recognizes DAFOH’s efforts but also pays tribute to the innocent victims whose lives have been taken by this abominable crime.
A statement of gratitude for the nomination would therefore be incomplete without shining light on the victims, and as a pars pro totum, on the primary victim of this abuse. China’s massive transplant market would be impossible without access to millions of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. Once praised for improving morality and harmony within Chinese society, Falun Gong was later maligned for its popularity in 1999, with its core principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance considered a threat to the government’s agenda to control and suppress the populace. Subsequently, forced organ harvesting is not only a crime against humanity but has also been used as a tool of cold genocide of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Forced organ harvesting violates the international contract of a peaceful global community, laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. DAFOH wishes to ensure that we can all live in a peaceful world, free from the constraints of totalitarian repression and ideology.
Alfred Nobel wrote that the recipient of the Peace Prize should be one who furthers “fellowship among nations.” As such, we invite all individuals, organizations and nations to join us in extending a hand of fellowship into the darkest corners of China’s prisons and military hospitals, to rescue Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs and other prisoners of conscience while protecting the vital interests of those of us outside of China, who cherish the rights and freedoms of all human beings.
We sincerely thank all those from around the globe who have joined us in our mission.