OTTAWA—Canada formally acknowledged reports that the Chinese regime is engaged in organ harvesting without consent for the first time at the United Nations on Wednesday.

Canada’s statements at the United Nations are often noteworthy for their specificity and forcefulness, a trend that continued last week.

Canada’s comments were the only ones to prompt response from specific countries, as most other countries speak in generalities and those with documented abuses use the opportunity to make couched statements that deflect from their own human rights issues.

Canada’s human rights adviser at the U.N., Anne-Tamara Lorre, set the precedent during the Interactive Dialogue on Freedom of Religion at the U.N. in Geneva. The dialogue was focused on reports from two human rights-related special rapporteurs at the 22nd meeting of the current session of the Human Rights Council.

“Canada remains deeply concerned about the plight of persecuted religious communities in various parts of the world where, either due to government restrictions or extreme social hostilities, individuals are targeted because of their faith. These include Baha’is, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Sufis, and other Muslims, among others,” Lorre said.

She went on to note the third anniversary of Shahbaz Bhatti’s assassination. Bhatti was Pakistan’s Minister for Minorities Affairs and an outspoken critic of his country’s blasphemy laws, which targeted religious minorities.

Lorre went on to make what seems to be an unprecedented acknowledgement of reports of organ harvesting in China.
[link to www.theepochtimes.com]