A/HRC/7/10/Add.1 page 14 from 2000 coincided and correlated with the beginning of the persecution of these persons. The Special Rapporteurs noted reports that on 15 November 2006, Vice-Minister Huang reiterated at a conference of surgeons in Guangzhou that most organs harvested come from executed prisoners. Notwithstanding the reported stringent criteria in place for donors, including for those sentenced to death, the Government informed in its response of 28 November 2007, that voluntary donations and donations between relatives were the two other legitimate sources of transplant organs. The Special Rapporteurs also noted that between the years 2000 and 2005 there were 60,000 transplantations performed, or approximately 10,000 per year for six years. This period coincides with the alleged rise in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. In 2005, it was reported that only 0.5% of total transplants were accounted for by donations by relatives; nonrelative brain dead donors were around nine in 2006; and estimates—given that the Government does not make public statistics on executions—for 2005 indicate 1770 executions were reportedly carried out, and 3900 persons sentenced to death. It was alleged that the discrepancy between the number of transplants carried out and the number of available sources is made up from the harvesting of organs from Falun Gong practitioners. 41. The Special Rapporteurs asked for a full explanation of the source of organ transplants that would disprove the allegation of organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners, particularly if they could be traced to willing donors or executed prisoners. Therefore, they reiterated their request for an explanation for the discrepancy in the number of transplants between the years 2000 to 2005 and the numbers from identifiable sources of organs. Response from the Government dated 19 March 2007 42. The Chinese Government informed that no Chinese authority has compiled official statistics on organ transplants for the period 2000-2005. The allegations are drawn from erroneous data cited in a report compiled by two Canadians investigating allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China. The report claims that Professor Shi Bingyi, vice-chair of the China Medical Organ Transplant Association, said that in the period between 2000 and 2005, since the persecution of Falun Gong began, there were 60,000 organ transplants. However, in January 2007, Professor Shi Bingyi expressly clarified that he had never made such a statement or given figures of this kind and that these allegations and the related figures are pure fabrication. 43. The Government finds that given the above situation, the so-called “discrepancy” referred to in the communication does not make sense. In addition, from the point of view of medical science, during a person’s lifetime that person may express the wish to donate one or more organs after his or her death, so it is not possible to estimate the number of organ donors on the basis of a one to one correlation with the number of organ transplants. 44. Second, the Government stated that as a State member of the World Health Organization (WHO), in carrying out organ transplants China unswervingly respects the WHO Guiding Principles on Human Organ Transplantation of 1991, strictly prohibits the buying and selling of human organs and insists on the principle that donations of human organs may only be made on a purely voluntary basis, with the prior written agreement of the organ donor. 45. On 1 July 2006, the Chinese Government promulgated its interim provisions on the clinical application and management of human organ transplantation, reaffirming that human organs may not be bought or sold; that medical establishments may only use transplanted human