Falun Gong is an ancient spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition combining meditation and gentle exercises with a moral philosophy centered on tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. Since 1999, the Chinese government has perpetrated a campaign of repression against the Falun Gong community, domestically and internationally, including in Canada, in an effort to eradicate the practice.

As well as carrying out widespread surveillance, disinformation, and censorship, the Chinese government has subjected millions of individual practitioners to additional human rights abuses. According to some estimates, several million have been arbitrarily detained over the past 25 years, both in forced labour camps and in prisons or informal detention centres. A vast number of detainees have been systematically subjected to mental and physical torture. Additionally, evidence shows that practitioners have been killed en masse for their vital organs to fuel the organ transplant business in China.

This persecution has not been contained to China. The Chinese government continues to suppress the Falun Gong community around the world through extensive transnational repression. Practitioners have been subjected to surveillance, slander, intimidation, physical assaults and censorship, including in Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia. Efforts to defame Falun Gong communities and institutions, including through fraudulent communications sent to politicians and media outlets, continue to significantly impact practitioners, including in Canada.

Human Rights Action Group is working with community groups including Falun Gong Human Rights Group to address these issues, with a focus on combatting the foreign interference and transnational repression that targets Falun Gong practitioners in Canada.

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