2025 Opening Remarks and Speech from Exacutive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, Greg Scarlatoiu

Today marks 26 years since the Chinese Communist Party launched its brutal campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. 26 years of systematic persecution that continues to this day. We gather here to bear witness to an ongoing tragedy. The forced organ harvesting, imprisonment, and torture persist in the shadows of a regime that fears the light of truth. But the CCP failed to understand you cannot extinguish the human spirit. For 26 years, Falun Gong practitioners have stood firm, their unwavering conviction inspiring people worldwide. This persecution threatens the fundamental right of every human being to believe and live according to their conscience. When we defend these practitioners, we defend human dignity itself. The CCP's influence has spread far beyond China's borders. If we remain silent, if we turn away, we risk losing the freedom that define us as a civilized society. Today, we stand together as a force for good, joined by distinguished speakers from leading rights, leading human rights organizations, elected representatives from Congress, and advocates who refuse to remain silent. Each voice raised here echoes across the world. We are not just advocating for Falun Gong, we are defending the soul of humanity itself. This persecution must end. The truth must prevail, and we will not stop until justice is served. I want to thank you all for being here. Your presence is a beacon of hope in the darkness. Our first speaker will be Nick Scarlato, Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Let's welcome Mr. Scarlato back. Well, thank you very much for the extraordinarily kind introduction, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, and fellow human rights defenders. I continue to hold Falun Gong practitioners in China, the United States, and elsewhere in the world in the highest esteem, and to highly treasure and cherish our relationship. A year has passed since I last had the privilege of speaking before this distinguished gathering. Of course, I have attended several public events since, invited by my wonderful Falun Gong friends and representatives. Some may feel disheartened by our lack of progress on human rights improvement in China, North Korea, and other countries where we must continue to fight tyranny and oppression. We will also remember that this year marks the 26th commemoration of the start of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. And yet, Falun Gong believers and practitioners have continued to survive and preserve their beliefs and traditions. Our friends gathered here today are not asking for much. They're simply asking for the fundamental freedom to choose their way of life and their system of beliefs. The odds have been against you. Ruthless Chinese Communist Party campaigns have aimed to eradicate the multi-millennial, ancient, rich traditions that you have preserved and cherished. These traditions incorporate fundamental, universal values, including truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. As a student of China, please allow me to take the liberty of saying that it is you, and not the CCP. It is you, and not the CCP, who define the distinctive features of the Chinese people, the Chinese identity, the Chinese spirit and soul. As a fellow human rights defender, let me assure you that you have our full admiration and support. You truly provide a terrific role model to me personally, to my colleagues who have joined me here today from the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, and to all human rights defenders. Falun Gong practitioners have suffered abysmal human rights violations that have no place in the 21st century. Such systematic, targeted, widespread human rights abuses shock the conscience of mankind. Despite having suffered tremendous loss against all odds, Falun Gong practitioners have managed to preserve and cherish their identity, and bypass one of the world's most repressive, most sophisticated systems of coercion, control, surveillance, and punishment. More than a quarter century after the start of the massive CCP campaign and purge aimed at its extermination, Falun Gong has survived and struggled on. Many of you have been born here. Many of you have grown up in families that have been Americans for multiple generations, and likely for centuries. I am a naturalized, first-generation American. And as an American, I know one thing for certain. Freedom to choose one's beliefs and religion, to live by one's code of religious, political, cultural, moral, and ethical values, to improve one's spiritual well-being through exercise, meditation, and moral improvement. These are all fundamental human rights. And these are all fundamental American civil rights, which define the very tenets of our identity and existence. As an American, I know that all three branches of the U.S. government are fully committed and determined to uphold human rights throughout the world. We have the right laws and legal system in place. We Americans have the capacity, the moral fortitude, and the political determination to implement those laws, protecting all Falun Gong friends and allies against oppression and crimes against humanity. And as an American civil society representative, I'm fully determined to provide all support that is needed to bring freedom of consciousness, religion, and thought to our Falun Gong brothers and sisters, wherever they may live, especially China. As a representative of U.S. civil society addressing another egregious human rights violator, the Kim family regime of North Korea, I wish to state that no Chinese oppressive campaigns, no North Korean oppressive campaigns, no oppressive campaigns are welcome on U.S. soil. They never will be. Through our elected representatives, we the American people, including all Falun Gong fellow Americans, stand by the oppressed. We stand for the rights and freedom of Falun Gong practitioners in China and beyond. I'm one of many who are horrified by the atrocities and crimes against humanity the CCP has committed against Falun Gong practitioners for over a quarter century. Systematic force organ harvesting in particular shocks the conscience of mankind. As a human rights defender, I'm heartened to know that all Congress has passed laws protecting Falun Gong followers and continues to resolutely consider such legislation. Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, it is a tough world we live in. And I must say, together with my HRNK colleagues who are present here today, it is a true honor and a privilege to be standing by your side, all Falun Gong brothers and sisters. Your resilience, your tenacity, and your relentless struggle bring hope to all of us. The struggle will be long, strenuous, and dangerous. And truth, compassion, tolerance, and human rights will always prevail. We shall prevail together and soon celebrate the fall of tyrants and the triumph of the values we hold so dear. Thank you very much and wonderful, wonderful meeting you again. Thank you.