Falun Gong Highlighted at Hearing by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
On Oct. 16, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom held a virtual hearing on religious persecution in China. Experts condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) campaign to eradicate any group that doesn’t adhere to CCP ideology and politicization, including Falun Gong.
WASHINGTON—At a virtual hearing on state-controlled religion in China held by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on October 16, 2025, witnesses and experts highlighted the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing campaign to eradicate faith groups, including Falun Gong.
Reaffirming concerns of persecution
At the hearing, multiple experts and government leaders voiced concerns about human rights abuses faced by Falun Gong practitioners. Their testimony informed renewed and supported USCIRF calls to designate China a Country of Particular Concern for severe violations of religious freedom.
Beyond its control of China’s five state-recognized religions, the CCP seeks to completely eliminate unregistered faiths and has “ruthlessly persecuted unrecognized religious groups like Falun Gong,” USCIRF Vice Chair Asif Mahmood said.
U.S. Representative John Moolenaar (R-MI), chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, described the CCP as “the world’s leading persecutor of religion,” condemning its crimes of detention, torture, and reports of forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong adherents. Concerns over forced organ harvesting were also raised. “[T]he Falun Gong have been used for organ harvesting for quite some time,” testified Former Assistant Secretary of State Robert Destro.
“Every day they torture and target Uyghurs, Tibetans, Catholics, Protestants, and Falun Gong practitioners,” said Senator Ted Budd (R-NC). “This record of religious persecution is evidence of the CCP’s disregard for human life and natural law.”
Annie Wilcox Boyajian, co-president of Freedom House, added that Falun Gong practitioners—alongside Tibetan Buddhists, Muslim groups, and underground Christians—suffer some of the harshest repression under the CCP’s technologically advanced system of religious control.
“[Falun Gong] Practitioners have faced decades of arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, and reports of torture and organ harvesting. Authorities surveil their movements, interfere in their media and cultural organizations abroad, and harass anyone who dares expose these abuses.”
She also emphasized Beijing’s repression abroad. “Religious and ethnic minorities are prime targets for transnational repression.” Out of 272 incidents, 225 that Freedom House documented were identity-based, “directed against Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Falun Gong practitioners.” Considering the urgency and threat to religious asylum seekers from China, Boyajian recommends policymakers to “strengthen asylum
protections and humanitarian pathways for Uyghurs, Tibetans, Christians, and Falun Gong practitioners at risk” in the U.S. immigration system.
Question on Falun Gong
Vice Chair Mahmood also asked about Falun Gong in the hearing. We’ve included a snippet of the transcript below.
VICE CHAIR MAHMOOD: I am going to concentrate on the groups which are unrecognized groups like Falun Gong…These are the groups who do not have a whole lot of advocacy or support out of China, I mean outside China. Other groups like Christians and Muslims and Buddhists have quite a bit of support everywhere. And we do not really know the extent of brutality because they are unrecognized, and a lot of information doesn’t come out.
What can be done to find the exact extent in spite of all this oppression and repression these groups, according to what I research, are gaining momentum or getting increasing in number every year?
How can we find the exact extent and what more that China’s Communist Party is doing to repress them? What more we can do over here for these groups who do not have really as much voice as other groups have or as much support as other groups have and how we can make them highlighted at every level, every step, every way we can? So that there’s a huge number.
I mean Falun Gong might be the biggest minority group there probably now.
…
MS. BOYAJIAN: Well, we certainly have documented repression against Falun Gong and other undocumented groups. It’s obviously in an environment like China, impossible to know the total extent, but this is where diaspora communities come. You know, their firsthand accounts from family members who sneak messages out are just really critical, and the Falun Gong community actually has worked hard to document their experiences. And many of the officials who were involved in the initial crackdown on Falun Gong practitioners did such a, quote-unquote, “good job” and perfected their technique so well that they were actually moved over to the Uyghur region to implement the crackdown that happened there.
And as other issues have rightly gotten attention in terms of who was being persecuted on the mainland, some folks have thought, oh, things are dying down for Falun Gong practitioners. That’s actually not the case. There are still current cases where folks are being put into prison.
There are incidents of transnational repression where folks in the United States and elsewhere have family members who are experiencing pressure and threats and even imprisonment back home. And we hear time and time again from every persecuted community that raising the names of specific prisoners can really have quite a life-changing difference in terms of how people are treated in prison. And there was actually even an interesting campaign that some Falun Gong practitioners did a few years back where they actually got phone calls into some of the prisons where people were being held and were able to talk directly to the jailors, and it was quite effective.
So these grassroots efforts and staying connected to eyewitness accounts from communities have been a really critical component of our work at Freedom House.
MR. DESTRO: Thanks. I think that’s very helpful…And talking about transnational repression is a really good example because this is not just the Chinese in China. This is China reaching its arm out and running, quote-unquote, “police stations” in cities like New York and Minneapolis and everything else.
My reaction is every single one of those has to be shut down. You know, they have all the people need to be put in jail, and if they’re not properly, you know, I should say—I’m sorry—they don’t have diplomatic immunity so they could be put in jail and then swapped for other prisoners, for example.
Testimony highlights
The Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) submitted written testimony describing Falun Gong adherents as among China’s largest and most severely persecuted faith groups, noting millions still continue to practice despite 26 years of repression. Written by Dr. Larry Liu and Cynthia Sun, “Freedom Forsaken: Falun Gong and Beijing’s Playbook for Repression” argued that understanding the CCP’s control of religion requires examining its campaign against Falun Gong. The authors warned that the CCP’s tactics against Falun Gong—surveillance, propaganda, and extrajudicial punishment—have later been replicated against other religious and ethnic communities.
According to the testimony, Falun Gong has re-emerged as a top target of the Chinese security apparatus. Since 2022, CCP authorities have launched nationwide propaganda campaigns in schools, mass online petitions to stigmatize the group, and bounty programs rewarding citizens for reporting practitioners. Between 2022 and 2025, over 10,000 practitioners were detained or harassed, and more than 2,000 were sentenced—often for possessing spiritual texts or peacefully sharing information. Many detainees face torture, forced brainwashing, and in some cases, death in custody.
The testimony further highlighted evidence of state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting targeting prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong. It also detailed the CCP’s expansion of high-tech surveillance systems—using facial recognition, big-data policing, and smart cameras—to track, identify, and arrest practitioners. Beyond China, the authors warned of expanding transnational repression, including threats, lawsuits, and bribery attempts targeting Falun Gong groups and Shen Yun Performing Arts abroad, particularly in the United States.
Testimony recommendations
Finally, the authors urged policymakers and civil society to explicitly include Falun Gong in all China-related religious freedom initiatives, noting that continued omission enables CCP impunity and undermines broader multi-faith efforts. It called for public condemnation of the CCP on key anniversaries such as May 13 and July 20, and for officials to raise Falun Gong cases in all diplomatic dialogues with China.
The testimony also recommended passing the Falun Gong Protection Act in the Senate and expanding sanctions on senior CCP and security officials—particularly in the northeastern cities of China—responsible for persecution and organ harvesting. It also recommended regular congressional briefings with Falun Gong survivors and experts to sustain awareness and oversight.
