Organ Trafficking

Kalisha Tsekos
Global Perspectives
Mr. Toole
May 13, 2016
Table of Content

Preface........................................................................................... 3
Background...................................................................................... 7
Expert.......................................................................................... 10
Role of Control................................................................................12
Logic of Evil...................................................................................16
Case Studies- China...........................................................................18
Case Studies- Iran............................................................................. 23
Case Studies- Bangladesh.....................................................................28
International Organizations..................................................................31
Canadian Connection.........................................................................34
Solutions.......................................................................................36
Appendices..................................................................................... 41
Bibliography................................................................................... 43

Preface
The organ trade occurs in three broad categories: traffickers who force or deceive
victims to give up an organ, those who sell their organs out of financial desperation,
often only receiving a fraction of the profit or are cheated out of the money altogether
and victims who are duped into believing they need an operation and the organ is
removed without the victims knowledge.1
Since the global financial crash in 2008, the worldwide illegal organ trade has increased
dramatically. The average waiting time for a kidney in the United States is 37 months and in any
given year, fewer than 10% of people waiting for a donor organ will receive one.2 The criteria
that the organ that is being used in transplantation has to meet is very particular. The organ must
be from a healthy individual, and the donor and the recipient must have the same blood type and
tissue type. The chances that a recipient will get a matched kidney from a non-relative donor is a
meager 6.5%. Even if there is a match, the body part itself might not make it to the hospital in its
ischemia time; the time that an organ can stand outside of the body. For instance, a kidneys
ischemia time is 12-24 hours but a hearts ischemia time is just 4-6 hours. The shortage of donor
organs greatly affects the number of legal transplants. The illegal trade of kidneys has risen to
such a level that experts have revealed that an estimated 10,000 black market operations
involving purchased human organs now take place annually, or more than one per hour.3 Organ
trafficking is an issue that is on the rise worldwide. The escalation in the number of patients
diagnosed with kidney failure as well as a shortage in the supply of organs continues to fuel this
trade. As the median waiting time of transplant lists continue to inflate, the number of desperate
patients turning toward transplant tourism increase alongside it, which encourages the trafficking
1 "Just the Facts." Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Oct. 2014. Web. Mar. 2016.

2 Dr. Martin. "Human Traffic: Exposing the Brutal Organ Trade." New Internationalist. May 2014. Web.
Mar. 2016.

3 Campbell, Denis, and Nicola Davison. "Illegal Kidney Trade Booms as New Organ Is 'sold Every
Hour'" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 27 May 2012. Web. Mar. 2016.

of organs in vulnerable developing countries. This reoccurring cycle is what fuels the black
market of human organs. According to the World Health Organization, illegal organ trade occurs
when organs are removed from the body for the purpose of commercial transactions. There are
numerous people who are involved in a single organ transplant on the black market. The recruiter
who identifies the vulnerable person, the transporter, the staff of the hospital or clinic and other
medical centers, the medical professionals, the surgeon, the middlemen and contractors, the
buyers, and the banks where organs are stored are all involved in the trade.4 In the first category
of criminal organ trade, traffickers force or deceive victims into giving up an organ. This can
happen when a person initially wanted to donate, but changes their mind for whatever moral or
ethical reasoning and the broker or somebody else involved in the trade forces them to donate
their organ. If they refuse, they will often be killed. Traffickers also deceive donors by either not
telling them exactly what the trade entails, whether that be in relation to the actual surgery or
something that deals with post-op concerns, or trick the donor by advertisements that are often
false promises such as a visa to the United States if they donate a kidney. In the second category,
victims formally or informally agree to sell an organ and are cheated because they are either not
paid for the organ or are paid less than the promised price. The middleman in the illegal organ
trade is most commonly an organ broker. These brokers are in charge of how much they will give
the donor and how much the recipient will pay, often profiting greatly. The broker typically does
not give the donor the initial amount of money that was promised. They will either give the
donor a fraction of the money that was contracted before going into surgery, or not give them any
before surgery and say they will get the money afterwards. Unfortunately for the donor what
often happens is that the broker will have disappeared while they were in the operating room and
will leave no trace so they are unable to be contacted. In the end, the donor is either cheated of
most or all of the money they were supposed to receive which was the main motive why they
donated in the first place. In the third category, vulnerable people including migrant workers, the
homeless, and the illiterate are treated for an ailment which may not even exist and then their
organs are removed without their knowledge. These people are convinced that they are in urgent
need of surgery for a reason that is often non-existent and when they go into the operation, their
organ gets removed without having any knowledge that it will happen. In this case, the donors
4 "The Problem." Global Centurion Foundation. Web. Mar. 2016.

wake up in foreign surroundings, laying on a medical table with a portion of their body absent
and if they are in a developing country which is most often the case, there is essentially nothing
they can do about the fact that a doctor unethically stole one of their organs. This thieved organ
will then be sold on the black market and while other parties make a profit, the donor is not
compensated at all. This is the organ trade that occurs in countless countries everyday and it is an
issue that is in great need of attention. The typical recipient of a donated organ is male, 48 years
of age and earns an annual income of $53,000 while the typical organ donor is male, 29 years of
age and earns less than $500 annually. This is according to Organs Watch, a human rights group
that documents the global trade in organs. (Appendix A)
Donor countries include many poverty-stricken nations in South America, Africa, Asia,
and Eastern Europe. Recipient countries include the United States, Canada, Australia, the United
Kingdom, Israel, and Japan. Iran is the only country in which there is an accepted system
involving the legal buying and selling of kidneys, as well as other organs. Other countries are in
talks of establishing a system similar to Irans which will enable the buying and selling of organs
to be legal, but there is no evidence that a single country has gone forward in implementing this
idea. A 2005 WHO study estimated that 1 in 10 kidneys used in transplants are sold illegally.5
These kidneys can cost up to $200 000 for the recipient which is close to double of what a legal
transplant can cost. For people without insurance, years and years of expensive dialysis in
addition to the costs of a legal transplant can make a kidney that is being sold for $200 000 look
like a sensible financial decision. The average wait time on a transplant list in America and
Canada is 3 to 5 years, and can be up to 10. Illegal organ trade bypasses this wait time and many
see it as the only option to avoid being one of the thousands of people that die each year while
waiting for a fitting kidney. The unfortunate result of this is that around the world the need for
transplant organs is rapidly increasing, and desperate people are essentially allowing the illegal
organ trade to flourish. Everybody that involves themselves in organ trafficking are putting
themselves in danger. Any doctors or brokers that are involved face the risk of being sued and
arrested if the surgery goes wrong, or if it becomes known to the public that they are aiding this
trade as it is illegal in almost every country. Most surgeries go undocumented or unknown to the
5 "Trafficking in Organs, Tissues and Cells and Trafficking in Human Beings for the Purpose of the
Removal of Organs." Council of Europe. United Nations. Web. Mar. 2016.

rest of the world resulting in very little arrests. For the recipient, dangers that can result in
receiving an organ from a donor living in a developing country are mostly health-related. Most
donors are not tested for diseases such as HIV or hepatitis before their organ is removed, simply
because their country does not have the technology or cannot afford to do so. For the donor, after
their organ is removed the doctors do not care about their health and often do not provide the
proper care or medication needed to ensure a successful recovery. This means that illness,
disease, and even death is a great risk for both parties.

Background
The idea of organ transplantation is not new. It can be found in ancient Greek myths and
even earlier civilizations. It wasnt until the twentieth century when what was thought to be a
myth or a fantasy, became possible. In 1954, the first successful kidney transplant occurred in
Boston, Massachusetts. One of two identical twins was dying of kidney disease, so the other got
his kidney removed to save his brother.6 This was the beginning of what is now a common
surgical procedure that gets carried out hundreds of times a day worldwide. There are numerous
regulations in place that allow for these transplants to occur on a daily basis. In the United States
in 1968, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act allowed for organ donation after ones death. In
Canada, human tissue gift laws exist in all provinces and they deal with things such as allowing
Ontario residents of the age sixteen or older to register their consent to be an organ and tissue
donor. Previous to these legislative laws, transplant surgeries were rare due to the resources
needed to perform them as well as the risks involved. As the demand for organ transplants
gradually increases every year, they became more common and a system was put in place to
organize the organ transplant network and to eliminate the illegal organ trade. In the early 1980s,
a form of human trafficking not similar to any that existed previously was introduced in Asia, the
Middle East, and Latin America. This form was a global trade of kidneys from living people
essentially created to supply the demands of transplant tourists coming from places like North
America. A new drug called Cyclosporine A was released on the market in 1976. This medication
drastically decreased organ rejections by acting as a powerful immunosuppressant, and overall
improved the results of transplantation as a whole. Better anti-rejection medications have the
unintended outcome of increasing illegal transplants. By decreasing the risk of rejection along
with recovery time, organ transplants are now effortless to perform and arent as risky. This
allows for more doctors, or unqualified individuals acting as doctors to make a profit, to take on
6 "First Successful Kidney Transplant Performed." PBS. PBS, 1998. Web. Mar. 2016

the risks of an illegal transplant. Additionally, these medications enable people to donate to
recipients who in the past would not have been compatible with one another. This makes it easier
for organ trafficking brokers to find suitable donors in impoverished countries because there is a
larger variety of compatible blood and tissue types. A downside to these drugs is that they
impede the entire immune system, and the result of this is that they can leave patients more
susceptible to many complications and infections after surgery.7 In the developing nations where
the majority of these donors are recruited from, limited access to antibiotics which would be of
prominent use in the Western world after a surgery like this causes many victims of this trade to
develop serious or debilitating health complications. The later reason for the increase in the
demand for organs is the rates of obesity and diabetes that have increased tremendously, both of
which have outcomes of renal failure. Between 1980 and 2011, the number of Americans
diagnosed with diabetes has more than tripled.8 To add onto this, the life expectancy of both
genders has also increased over the years. This has led to a greater number of elderly people
being diagnosed with kidney failure and also to more young recipients that will need another
kidney transplant later in life. The reason for this is that transplant kidneys usually only last for
around 10 years if they are coming from a deceased donor, and for an additional 2-5 years if they
are coming from a living donor. This is because a kidney from a living donor is usually healthier
than from a deceased donor. The main problem in organ transplantation at the present time is that
the demand continuously exceeds the supply. As a result, illegal kidney trade has tremendously
increased over the past decade or so, with the extent of these illegal transplants unknown even to
the World Health Organization.9 The common misconception that black markets for human
organs only exist in developing countries is not true. Even a well developed country such as the
United States has a black market for human organs, although it operates slightly different than
7 Zachariades, Charlie. "Illegal Organ Trafficking." The Stone. Web. Mar. 2016.

8 "Number (in Millions) of Civilian, Non-Institutionalized Persons with Diagnosed Diabetes, United
States, 1980-2014." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 01 Dec. 2015. Web. Mar. 2016.

9 Cholia, Ami. "Illegal Organ Trafficking Poses A Global Problem." The Huffington Post.

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Aug. 2009. Web. Mar. 2016.

most. It usually involves bodies about to be cremated. A black market broker may enter into a
financial arrangement with a contemptible funeral home owner and carve up the bodies before
they are cremated. This is not regulated by any means and is completely driven by money. The
organs may be from a body with an infectious disease, but even then it is sold along with
documents that claim a different cause of death or medical records as to cover up the organs
history. Organ selling, kidneys in particular, is no longer a strange or exotic act. It is normal,
everyday, and entrenched.10 Even though trafficking of human organs is illegal in the majority of
countries, each law in place about the illegal organ trade is unique to every country. For instance,
in some countries it is illegal to sell a kidney but not to purchase one. In Canada it is illegal to
buy or sell organs, however there is no law banning Canadians from taking part in so-called
transplant tourism; travelling abroad and purchasing organs for transplantation and returning
home to Canada.11

10
Dr. Martin. "Human Traffic: Exposing the Brutal Organ Trade." New Internationalist. May 2014. Web.
Mar. 2016.
11
Loriggio, Paola. "Human Organ Trafficking: Canadians Should Be Barred From Buying Organs,
Prosecutor Says." The Huffington Post. 29 Apr. 2013. Web. Mar. 2016.

10

Expert
Many people have made contributions to try and cease the illegal organ trade that is
occurring worldwide. One doctor who has been a very large contributor is Dr. Torsten Trey. He
specializes in Medical Anthropology, Clinical Immunology, and Surgery. Dr. Trey is the Founder
and Executive Director for an organization called Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting
which is comprised of medical doctors in various specialties from all over the world. This
organization aims to provide the medical community and society with objective findings of
unethical and illegal organ harvesting. DAFOH has been nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace
Prize for a decade of determination in raising awareness, especially within the medical
community, of unethical organ transplant practices in China and other regions. In February 2016,
I conducted an e-mail interview with Dr. Torsten Trey.
So I understand that DAFOH has been recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, what
are some of the things your organization has done to try and cease the unethical organ
transplant practices in China?
Our organization has informed the medical community and society that not only executed
prisoners, but living prisoners of conscience, primarily Falun Gong practitioners, were
systematically blood tested and medically examined while in detention in China, and then, upon
demand were killed for their organs. We testified before US Congress, EU Parliament,
participated in several forums, including in the UNHRC in Geneva, wrote articles, gave
interviews etc. Often we hear the feedback: "we did not know, thank you very much for bringing
this to our attention".

11

Regarding the legal organ trade in Iran, what is your opinion? Do you think a system such
as that could work in a country like Canada or the US?
The organ trade in Iran, similar to organ trade in other regions, is different. It is a
commercial contract where the organ donors receive money, but, and this is critical, stays alive.
In China, most of the organs come from people who will not survive the organ removal, they will
be killed. In the case of convicted criminals, it is called execution. In the case of prisoners of
conscience, it is state sanctioned murder because there is no death sentence involved. The organ
trade is unethical, and for that reason it would not work in Canada or US.
What do you think needs to be done to end or reduce the immense amount of illegal organ
trade that continues to go on everyday? Do you believe that there is a solution?
What needs to be done? First step is to inform more doctors and society. If the whole
world would know about the unethical organ harvesting practices in China, we have good reason
to believe that it would end. China is now the largest "transplant on demand" market, with many
people traveling there because they can get an organ within 2-4 weeks. In order to end illegal,
forced organ harvesting and reduce transplant tourism, there is no way around China. We need to
address the situation in China first. Once there is more awareness, and the situation in China has
changed, then this might have a positive effect on other countries as well. Awareness and
education will have a good impact on the development of organ donation and transplant
medicine.

12

Role of Control
In many social issues, there are certain groups of people that have the role of control. Any global
citizen should care whose hands this lies in for the reason being that it affects them in one way or
another. The chances of a person knowing someone or directly being in need of an organ
transplant is surprisingly high. In organ trafficking, brokers who may be transplant surgeons, or
part of organized crime have the role of control. This is because the brokers are able to victimize
the impoverished population of developing countries who are uneducated on this issue and are in
dire need of money. They take advantage of their vulnerability by making false promises since
these people do not know any better. The control of this issue needs to fall out of brokers hands
and into those who are well educated and more knowledgeable about organ trafficking such as
doctors of the Western world.
Extreme poverty is an issue that many global citizens face; over three billion people
around the world live on less than $2.50 a day.12 One thing that every country with a black
market for human organs has in common is the existence of poverty. These people living in
poverty are the most susceptible to this trade and often turn to donating an organ based on false
promises that almost always involve money. The vulnerable categories of persons include
migrants, especially migrant workers, the homeless, and the illiterate.2 They resort to selling
their body parts in the most desperate measures, often because of crippling debt or simpler
reasons such as money for food. In some cases, people have even sold a kidney to afford their
12
Shah, Anup. "Poverty Facts and Stats." Global Issues. 7 Jan. 2013. Web. Mar. 2016.

13

childrens dowries. The poor get cheated, maimed, and killed by ruthless organ traffickers.13
There are severe and debilitating health consequences for the donors. My physical condition is
very terrible now. Its very painful if I do any heavy lifting. Im helpless, I made a mistake.15
This quote was said by a man reflecting on the result of selling his organ to a broker. The
majority of people that get an organ removed because of desperate money issues said that they
regretted it. Micro-credit, a series of extremely small loans given to impoverished people to help
them become self employed, was originally invented to help the poor rise above the poverty line.
Although it has been a savior for millions of people who are stuck in the poverty cycle, it is now
known to be a profit driven system that actually makes the poor worse-off. Research from an
organization which loans money to micro-credit agencies in Bangladesh found that in their
studies of 2006- 2007, only about 7% of micro-borrowers were able to rise above the poverty
line.14 This means that 93% of people dont benefit from these micro-credit programs, and most
end up having no other choice but to take out another loan from a different NGO. This is what
creates a vicious cycle that essentially results in borrowers being unable to repay their debts and
in many cases taking extreme measures such as selling an organ to try and escape their financial
crisis. The illegal organ trade relies on donors and recipients, however in order for the trade to
function in its entirety, middle-men such as brokers are needed who are often the doctors that
perform the transplantation surgeries. These are the people who have the role of control in organ
trafficking. Organ brokers target the most vulnerable groups of people. They are in control of
organizing the transplant between the poverty-stricken donor and the wealthy recipient typically
the impoverished in developing countries. Brokers often leave out the seriousness of the surgery
to the donor, as well as the conditions in which they will be being operated on, or what they will
likely face in regards to the discomfort or immediate inability to resume their normally
physically demanding jobs. To entrap the potential sellers in some countries, organ brokers tell
the people that they have two kidneys but one of them is "sleeping" in the body. During the
13
"A Prayer for Uganda | Kidneyville (VICE on HBO: Season 3, Episode 10)." YouTube. Vice, 1 Feb. 2016.
Web. Mar. 2016.
14
"The Bangladesh Poor Selling Organs to Pay Debts - BBC News." BBC News. 28 Oct. 2013. Web. Mar.
2016.

14

operation, doctors "awaken" this resting kidney and take the old one out for donation. In this
view, the seller or donor is led to believe that the second kidney is just baggage to them, or that it
is a sum of money that is buried in their lower back. Sellers have also been told that their second
kidney is no use to them if their first one fails, and that the surgery is 100 percent safe.16 It is
needless to say that the broker is in total control of the financial aspect of the trade and also
determines how much the recipient will pay as well as how much the seller will get for donating
their organ. The middle-men involved in this trade will also forge fake passports and legal
documents for the seller and the recipient to make it appear that the seller is donating to a blood
relative, since organ donation is illegal in most countries unless you are donating to a family
member.17 In the end, the donor usually goes home with a small sum of money which is often less
than they were originally promised, the recipient gets cheated by the malevolent broker and is
out an upwards amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Regardless of the outcome of the
operation, both the broker and doctor that performs the transplantation surgeries profit from this
greatly. Brokers across donor countries have wide networks and as of today, there is no
government action to combat or curb this business in any way.17 They will often hire local
kidney hunters who are typically former sellers to do the dirty work of recruiting their
neighbours and family members. By doing this, fraud and manipulation are well hidden. The
doctors of the Western world that are well educated and are knowledgeable about the organ
trafficking that goes on worldwide need to take control of this trade. Kidneys are the most
common organ that is transplanted. This is because of an increase in inherited kidney diseases
such as polycystic kidney disease, as well as diabetes and high blood pressure which all are
common causes of kidney failure. If doctors put their efforts towards trying to find alternatives to
transplantation such as dialysis that can prolong a patients life that has been diagnosed with
kidney failure, there would be a decreasing number of people on waiting lists worldwide. This
means that the mortality rate of people dying from waiting on these transplant lists would also
16
Resnick, Brian. "Living Cadavers: How the Poor Are Tricked Into Selling Their Organs." The Atlantic.
Atlantic Media Company, 23 Mar. 2012. Web. Mar. 2016.
17
O'Connor, Nigel. "Bangladesh Organ Trade Continues Unabated, Targeting Children, the Poor." Al
Jazeera America. 26 Dec. 2014. Web. Mar. 2016.

15

decrease. Currently, the people who care about this global issue are people who are either
directly affected, or people who have knowledge about it and are trying to put an end to organ
trafficking. These numbers are substantially lower than they should be. There are numerous nonprofit organizations such as Stop Organ Trafficking Now!, Coalition for Organ-Failure
Solutions, and Doctors against Forced Organ Harvesting that are making a worldwide effort to
create more awareness about this problem so more people will essentially do something about it.
They believe that if information about this issue gets in the right hands, there will be other people
willing to dedicate their efforts to searching for an end to organ trafficking. Everybody should
care about the illegal organ trade because it can affect their family members or even them
personally. In the United States, every ten minutes another name is added to the national
transplant waiting list.18 The likelihood that a given person or someone that they care about will
need a solid organ transplant over the course of a lifetime is surprisingly high as the chances are
about 20%, or one in every five people. This statistic is strictly based on solid organs, however
there are a numerous amount of tissue transplants each year that almost doubles those of solid
organs. If tissue transplants were also considered in this statistic, the number would rise
substantially and the likelihood would be over 50%, or one in two people.19

18
"Facts and Myths." American Transplant Foundation. Web. Mar. 2016.

19
"Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action." The National Academies Press. N.p., 2006. Web.
Apr. 2016.

16

Logic of Evil
Behind every action no matter how horrific, there are always perfectly sane and rational
reasons to justify doing it. Often these perspectives are not taken into consideration when
looking at social issues such as organ trafficking. There are numerous reasons why people turn to
the black market to buy human organs, and to understand this social issue in greater depth it is
essential to understand the other side of the story.
It doesnt take long to get tired of spending an upwards of 15 hours per week or more
being hooked up to a dialysis machine, not to mention complications that can occur such as line
infections and access problems. A new, healthy kidney could put an end to all of that. Imagine if
you or someone you loved was on the verge of dying and you couldnt do anything to help them.
Sick people, especially those who are on transplant waiting lists around the world will often take
desperate measures to save their own life, as well as those who care about them. Every year, too
many people die while waiting for an organ donation. Canada consistently has one of the worst
organ donor rates of industrialized countries; there are only about 13 donors per every million

17

people.20 To many, a transplant sounds like it would be well worth the risk of surgery and the
trouble of taking numerous anti-rejection medicines. Medicare statistics show that surgery
actually costs less in the long run than continued dialysis for a number of years. Data from the
World Health Organization indicates that penurious people in developing nations are the primary
group targeted by the illegal organ trade. In one study of organ donors in India, 71% of all donors
fell below the poverty line.21 Most givers enter willingly into a transaction in which they agree
to verbal terms often described by a broker, and only later do they realize how they have been
deceived and cheated. Few are informed enough to give mindful consent. One of the
predominant reasons that donors sell their organs is to pay off debt. In numerous cases, people
who sell their organs in order to pay off these debts do not manage to escape their financial crisis
and remain trapped in debt cycles. Often, people do not make an informed choice to donate their
kidneys to strangers, but are forced into doing so due to extreme poverty. Selling an organ for
cash has become so common in some places that entire towns in places like the Philippines, India
and Bangladesh are now called Kidneyvilles. In Chennai, India a woman named Rani was
desperate for money after her daughter tried to commit suicide. She was in need of money for her
daughters intensive care at the hospital as well as her treatment. She knew that a way to make
fast cash was to go to Ernavoor, a slum in India that is otherwise known to locals as a
Kidneyville. This is where she too would sell her kidney. Several years after the operation, Rani
is still unable to resume her job as a manual construction laborer because of the pain in her side
where she got her kidney removed. When asked whether or not it was worth it she replied ...my
real problem is poverty I shouldn't have to sell my kidney to save my daughter's life."22 There
are countless stories of kidney donors just like Ranis that felt like they had no other choice but
to turn to donating an organ of their own as a source for money.
20
"Canada's Organ-donation Rate among World's Worst." National Post. Web. Mar. 2016.
21
"Organ Trade." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. Mar. 2016.
22
Carney, Scott. "Inside Kidneyville: Ranis Story." Wired. Conde Nast Digital, 5 Aug. 2007. Web. Mar.
2016.

18

Politics play a big role in illegal organ trading as well. Corrupt governments profit greatly
from this trade. In December of 2011, the Council of Europe released a report stating that the
Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, is the leader of a criminal ring that smuggles
contraband including human organs throughout Eastern Europe. According to the COE, Thaci
used the money generated from human organ sales to secure his political power in Kosovo and
he continues to profit from the trafficking, along with many members of his Cabinet.23 Kosovo
isn't the only country with an extensive, state-sponsored transplantation program. In China,
organs are routinely harvested from political prisoners and are often sold to foreigners for prices
far below the transplantation costs in other countries. Inevitably, government run organ
transplant programs are a prescription for human rights disasters. Laws that are in place
pertaining to organ transplantation categorize this issue under the human trafficking category.

Case Studies- China

China, officially named the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), is located in Eastern Asia.
It is inhabited by more than 1.4 billion people and covers approximately 9.6 million square
kilometers, making it the world's second-largest country by land area. The countrys capital is
Beijing which is home to a total population of 21,150,000 people. The country is lead by Xi
Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the President of the People's
Republic of China, and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
Due to cultural reasons such as the fact that Chinese people often believe a complete
body should be left intact after a person's death as well as lack of legal protection, the number of
voluntary organ donors in the country is pitifully small. A lack of a law that defines a person as
23
Watson, Bruce. "How Corrupt Governments Make a Killing on Human Organs."
DailyFinance.com. N.p., 07 Jan. 2011. Web. Apr. 2016.

19

dead by brain death in China has caused unnecessary and excessive treatment for patients at the
end stages of their life, which also poses obstacles to the organ trade. Up until September of
2007, the country had only 61 organ donations in total from brain donors however, China has the
second highest rate of transplants in the world each year.24 In recent years, it has become
increasingly evident that executed prisoners are the principal supply of organs for medical
transplantation purposes in China. Large amounts of evidence confirm a terrible story of murder
and mutilation of thousands of people. The countrys heavy reliance on executed prisoners as a
source of transplant organs entails a wide range of unacceptable human rights and medical ethics
violations. The execution procedure prescribed by Chinese law (shooting in the back of the head)
is sometimes contravened in order to quicken harvesting of the prisoners' organs.23 According to
Chinese legal authorities, some executions are even deliberately mishandled to ensure that the
prisoners are not yet dead when their organs are removed. Zhong Haiyuan was a teacher at a
middle school in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province. When a man by the name of Zhu Yi heard that the
police were searching for him on account of his writings, he gave the manuscripts to Zhong
Haiyuan for safekeeping. They were later found by the police in her possession, and as a result
she was tried and sentenced to death for "counterrevolutionary" offenses. At Zhong Haiyuan's
execution on April 30, 1978, she was shot twice in the back of the head but did not die. Instead
of waiting for her death, medical personnel were authorized to take her body into a special
operating facility on the prison premises and to remove both kidneys while she was still alive.
This is just one of many examples of unethical harvesting of organs done by the Chinese.
According to Sanlian Life Weekly magazine, about 98% of organ sources in their country are
controlled by authorities other than the Ministry of Health. Although legal and legitimate origins
are very rare, many hospitals in China never seem to worry about sources of the organs that they
transplant. In 1984, The Supreme Court, Supreme Procuratorate, Ministry of Public Security,
Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Civil Affairs jointly issued a
document titled Temporary provisions of using bodies and organs of the executed prisoners.
This document clearly stated that organs from 3 types of the executed prisoners could be used for
transplants. The regulation provided legal backing for harvesting organs from these prisoners.
24
Aubusson, Kate. "China's Gruesome Live Organ Harvest Exposed in Documentary." The Sydney
Morning Herald. 8 Apr. 2015. Web. Mar. 2016.

20

When body parts of certain people are legally defined as industrial raw material, the defense and
respect for the human body becomes non existent. To put things into perspective, the average
waiting time for kidney and liver transplants in the United States is 2-3 years, however in some
hospitals in China such as the Oriental Organ Transplant Centre, it is claimed that the wait time
can be as little as one week and the maximum time an organ will be waited on is one month.
Organ donations from relatives in China only accounts for 1.1% of the total number of organ
transplants.25
Former Communist Party leader, Jiang Zemin, established an extralegal police force to
carry out the mission of eliminating Falun Gong. Falun Gong is a Chinese spiritual practice for
mind and body. It combines meditation and qigong exercises with a moral philosophy. The
teachings of Falun Gong draw from Asian religions including Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism,
and Chinese folklore. The movement's sudden emergence in the 1990s was a great concern to the
Chinese government, who viewed Falun Gong as a cult. By 1999, Falun Gong had grown to
become the largest and fastest growing practice in its kind in China. In just seven years since
being introduced to the public in 1992, an estimated 100 million people were practicing Falun
Gong. Suppression of these practitioners officially began on July 22, 1999.26 Chinese authorities
have used a number of ways to ultimately wipe out the spiritual group. These strategies have
ranged from extreme use of torture and sexual abuse, intimidation and harassment of family
members, to the establishment of an extralegal police force to act upon the eradication policy. To
name a few27:

Organ Harvesting
Physical Torture
Psychiatric Torture
Psychological Abuse

25

"Sanlian Life Weekly." China Media Guide. Web. Apr. 2016.

26

"Falun Gong." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. Mar. 2016.

27
"Overview of Persecution." Falun Dafa Information Center. 9 Apr. 2015. Web. Apr. 2016.

21

Rape and Sexual Assault

Arbitrary Imprisonment and Slavery
Family and Loved Ones
Persecution at Work and School

The CCP (Chinas atheist Communist Party) has tried on more than one occasion to eliminate all
expressions of religion from the country. Even to this day, Roman Catholics, many Protestants,
and Tibetan Buddhists cannot worship freely in China and are at constant risk of detention and
torture. By 1999, Falun Gong became a natural target as it was the largest and fastest growing
spiritual group in China at the time. One basic explanation for the seemingly irrational push of
eradication is the tendency of this Party (the CCP), which fears all groups outside its control and
particularly ones that follow a different ideology than their own. As in every genocide of the
twentieth century, extreme violence first required dehumanization of the suppressed group
through propaganda.28 One key measure in particular of the Partys suppression has been to limit
or distort information about Falun Gong especially in China but also elsewhere. According to
many current and former hospital employees all across China, the Falun Gong have been used in
reverse organ-matching, meaning that they have been killed by the thousands so that their organs
can be used for on-demand transplants. The story of the Falun Gong practitioners which is
almost too dreadful to believe, was first revealed in early 2006 when a woman claimed that as
many as 4000 Falun Gong had been killed for their organs at the hospital that she had worked at.
She also stated that her husband, who was a former surgeon at the same hospital outside the city
of Shenyang, had revealed to her that he had removed over 2000 corneas from the practitioners.
Just one short week later, a Chinese military doctor not only verified the womans claims but said
that such atrocities were taking place in approximately 36 different concentration camps
throughout the country. He stated that the largest camp held 120 000 people and that he also
witnessed the Falun Gong being massively transported across China under the cover of tight
security in cattle trains at night to avoid suspicion. The Sujiatun Thrombosis Hospital is located
in the province of Liaoning, China. In this hospital, shocking atrocities of live organ harvesting
from about 6000 Falun Gong practitioners took place. After their organs were removed, most of

28
"Organ Trade." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. Mar. 2016.

22

these innocent people were directly thrown into a crematorium to be burnt, leaving no trace.29
Shortly following these assertions, Falun Gong supporters and human rights activists overseas
immediately began investigating them. Undercover investigators placed calls to Chinese
hospitals pretending to be shopping for a kidney or a liver. They caught doctors boasting about
this practice on tape and to their horror, one doctor after another openly confirmed, weve got
Falun Gong in stock; just come in and we can get you the organ you need within a week.26 After
hearing about and being shocked by these reports, two well known Canadian human rights
lawyers launched their own investigation. David Kilgour and David Matas stated that the source
of 41 500 transplants in China for the six year period of 2000 to 2005 is unexplained, and that
they believe there has been and continues to be large scale organ confiscation from unwilling
Falun Gong practitioners.30 The events involving organ trafficking in China impact countries
outside its own borders. One example of this is that there still continues to be a substantial
amount of people that practice Falun Gong outside of China. Falun Gong practitioners reside in
over 50 countries worldwide, including a large population in the United States. On account of
what has happened and continues to happen in China to these practitioners, it may give
preconceived notions to the public that they are bad people since the Chinese government is
against them. Propaganda in the form of books from Chinas entirely state-run media says Falun
Gong fits in Chinas definition of a militant cult, however this Chinese spiritual practice is
focused on becoming a better person.
Without a doubt, organ trafficking is a highly lucrative business. An article in the Southern
Weekend published in 2007 states that the Oriental Organ Transplant Centre in Tianjin made
huge profits off of this trade. Just liver transplants alone brought the Centre at least 100 million
Yuan per year in income, which is equivalent to over 20 million Canadian dollars. Starting in
1999 when the Falun Gong practitioners had first been targeted to be eradicated, multiple organs
29

Liu, Peter. "GENOCIDE CRIME: Bloody Organ Harvesting in China." YouTube. YouTube, 22
Oct. 2012. Web. Apr. 2016.
30
Carney, John. "A Human Harvest: China's Organ Trafficking Exposed in Shocking Documentary That
Alleges the Illegal Trade Is Now worth a Staggering US$1 Billion a Year." Mail Online. Associated
Newspapers, 06 Apr. 2015. Web. Apr. 2016.

23

including livers, kidneys, hearts, and cornea were removed from these advocates. They were then
sold to CCP officials along with other wealthy individuals from China and abroad. To understand
how organ harvesting could happen in China, it is crucial to understand that there is no limit to
how far the Chinese Communist Party will go to wipe out something or someone.
The illegal organ trade will continue to thrive in China until the government
acknowledges that this is a real issue and stops harming their own people. Different sources of
media drawing attention to what goes in this country gives the rest of the world a chance to help
combat this trade. There is still progress to be made in China however, unfortunately the black
market will still continue to thrive until transplant tourism is eradicated.

Case Studies- Iran

Iran, officially known as the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state located in
Western Asia. It is bordered in the northwest by Armenia and Azerbaijan, to the north by
Kazakhstan and Russia across the Caspian Sea, to the northeast by Turkmenistan, to the east by
Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and to the west

24

by Turkey and Iraq. With a land area of over 1.6 million kilometers, it is the second-largest
country in the Middle East and the 18th largest in the world. It is home to over 78 million people.
The first kidney transplant in Iran took place in the mid 1970s, about forty years ago.30
Only one hundred transplants were performed within the whole country from the mid 1970s to
the 1990s. This was mainly because of the lack of money, people, and resources to develop and
maintain a kidney transplant network within Iran. It was in the early 1980s that the government
started to notice the increasing reliance on dialysis resources as end stage renal failure (ESRF)
was becoming more widespread. The government began to pay for its citizens to have living
donor transplants from relatives abroad, the majority taking place in the United Kingdom. In a
five-year period, 400 of these foreign transplants were federally funded.31 As these costs started
to add up very quickly, this was when a small network of renal transplantation teams were set up
within Iran and just about one hundred transplants were carried out per year from 1985 to 1987.
The development of an Iranian kidney transplant network of this size was extremely small when
taking in account that there are over 25 000 people living with ESRF in Iran. Many of these
people live in rural areas and do not have easy access to medical care.32 The year of 1988 was
when the country began to legalize living donation from non-relatives of kidneys and also
established a system to control this. The shortage of kidneys was eliminated in Iran by 1999.
Although this system seems to be the best solution that any country has presented to combat
illegal organ trafficking as well as eliminate organ transplant waiting lists, it comes with its
flaws. Human leukocyte antigens (HLA), are a protein found on cells in the body, and are used to
match donors and recipients for transplants. The best transplant outcome happens when a
patient's HLA and the donor's HLA closely match.33 This is necessary to improve the chance of
31
Major, Rupert WL. "Paying Kidney Donors: Time to Follow Iran?" McGill Journal of Medicine: MJM.
McGill University, Jan. 2008. Web. Apr. 2016.
32
Rosenberg, Tina. "Need a Kidney? Not Iranian? You'll Wait." The New York Times. The New York Times,
31 July 2015. Web. Mar. 2016.
33

"HLA Matching." Be The Match. Web. Mar. 2016.

25

organ survival and prevent host rejection, but one problem with the Iranian system is that
unfortunately this method of matching is not routinely performed. Within the first year of the
establishment of this system the number of transplants had nearly doubled; almost 80% were
from living non-relative donors.34 This government-organized system regulated and funded the
transplantation process, compensating the donors for their organ. An independent association was
set up to arrange the transplants between donors and recipients. This agency titled Dialysis and
Transplant Patients Association (DATPA), is still fully functional today. The way their system
works is, if a patient does not have a living relative willing to donate to them or are not assigned
an organ from a deceased donor, they apply to the nonprofit association. This association
establishes potential donors, who are then assessed by doctors. Donors get money from the
recipient as well as from the state. The government gives a compensation of $1200 and when
working through DATPA, kidney recipients pay donors anywhere between $2300 and $4500. 29
The maximum age to donate a kidney in Iran is 35. The closer you get to that age limit, the more
your kidneys monetary value decreases.30 Donors do not just get money for their organ, they also
get social support including but not limited to job training, small business loans, and dental care.
They are treated as equals to the recipient people who are helping each other, Dr. Sigrid
Fry-Revere said. They do whatever it takes to make people feel like the heroes they are, and not
like society is abandoning them.29 The receiver of the new kidney is provided with an
immunosuppressant which lower the bodys chance of rejecting the organ, and charitable nongovernment organizations allow those who are unable to pay for the transplant themselves to still
be able to receive one. It is illegal for the medical and surgical teams involved or any middleman
to receive payment. This is important because in many organ trafficking black markets, the
brokers exploit the donor as well as the recipient to profit greatly. The Iranian systems main
advantage is this: people who need kidneys get them rapidly rather than die on the waiting list,
which is a problem that most other countries have to face where the buying and selling of organs
is illegal. Iran is the only country in the world where it is legal to sell a kidney. Within the
country, the legal kidney market has prevented any development of unethical black markets and
kidney tourism seen in most other countries. There is no nationwide transplant registry in Iran so
34
Resnick, Brian. "Living Cadavers: How the Poor Are Tricked Into Selling Their Organs." The Atlantic.
Atlantic Media Company, 23 Mar. 2012. Web. Mar. 2016.

26

the outcomes of kidney transplantation are difficult to analyze. However, the Hashemi Nejad
Hospital in Tehran, one of the leading hospitals in Iran, is one of the few that does provide a
detailed analysis of its data. From 1986 to the beginning of 2006, just under two thousand
transplants in the hospital were performed, three quarters of which were non-related living
donations. Despite no human leukocyte antigen matching, results are similar in terms of both
organ and patient survival between non-related and related donors in both Iran and other
countries.35 Although there has been virtually no waiting list for a kidney since the introduction
of this system, it is not has not been perfected by any means and not all stories are positive ones
as the poor and the vulnerable still get exploited.30 The Iranian system for legal organ trade
struggles with insufficient funding, and lack of follow-up treatment for donors along with other
problems. Sigrid Fry-Revere, an American bioethicist who explored the kidney market in various
regions of Iran during 2008 and 2009 said that in Kermanshah, the local association ran out of
money halfway through the year.36 A poor patient residing there does have the alternative of
going to a city with a different system though, such as Shiraz. Rather than using paid donors, the
city of Shiraz gets kidneys from deceased donors, a practice which was legalized in Iran in 2000.
The waiting list is very short because it is a lot more common for patients within the country to
use live donors instead. Another flaw in Irans system is the lack of follow-up medical care for
donors. This problem is made up of a few different issues, such as geographical barriers.
Transplant centers are mainly found in major cities and many rural donors dont make the trip
back for checkups. This can be because of lack of access to transportation, or they may not be
able to afford to take more time off work to travel back to the city. During her stay in Iran, Dr.
Fry-Revere interviewed anyone she could who had anything to do with arranging kidney
matches in Iran. After travelling to six various transplant regions, Sigrid and her travelling
partner, another former doctor, collected over 200 stories in total on film.37 She saw that Iran of
all places seemed to have found a way to solve its kidney shortage that is both ethical and
practical. Part of that solution was, like in most countries, to use organs from patients who have
35
Major, Rupert WL. "Paying Kidney Donors: Time to Follow Iran?" McGill Journal of Medicine: MJM.
McGill University, Jan. 2008. Web. Apr. 2016.
36
"Organ Donation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. Apr. 2016.

27

died in hospitals. What is different in Iran compared to the rest of the world is how they deal
with living kidney donations. Iran used to allow but no longer permits foreigners to buy kidneys
in their country. Now, with very limited exceptions for refugees, the Iranian system of organ
donation is strictly for Iranian citizens only. Rarely is there a scandal where foreigners find a way
to cheat the system, but when considering the difference between a dozen or so violations in Iran
over the span of a decade compared to the 1000 Americans who buy kidneys illegally each year,
these cases are significantly small. Dr. Fry-Revere believes that the most important innovation
made in Iran was putting non-government organizations in charge of kidney matching
throughout the whole process. In every other country, it is either doctors, hospitals, or brokers
that arrange living donations for profit. The first step in the process is for the NGOs to interview
potential donors and recipients. They then schedule medical and psychological testing as well as
provide a wide variety of social services for participants on each end of the trade. Donors receive
money from recipients, charities, and the government. The NGOs put the majority of this money
away prior to donation, and give it to the donors immediately following their surgery. In most
cases, donors will also get non-cash benefits from the non-profit organizations. (Appendix B)
This ranges from but is not limited to a year or more of health insurance for themselves and
sometimes their families, dental care, eye care, small business loans, food, clothing, and
household items. Sigrid discovered through her research that for the most part in money along
with goods and services, donors received twice the average individual yearly income in the year
that she was there.33 This would be equivalent to receiving $100 000 in the United States or
Canada. Some donors were poor or even very poor, but most donors as well as recipients
belonged to the middle class. This is part of why Iran does not have a black market for kidneys
but the main reason is because there is a legal alternative.
It would make no sense for a person in need of an organ to put themselves in danger, as
well as potentially face charges and jail time if they have easy access to a safer and more ethical
way. Iran is not the only country that is trying to treat living donors better, but it is the only
nation where there are lists of people waiting to donate. 32 Other countries need to observe this
37
Fry-Revere, Sigrid. "What Can Iran Teach Us about the Kidney Shortage?" TEDMED. 12 Mar.
2015. Web. Mar. 2016.

28

method in the hopes that they too will be able to lessen the gap between the lack of organ donors
and people on transplant waiting lists. As waiting lists for kidneys continue to grow around the
world due to an increase in renal failure annually, Iran offers an important lesson. With good
structure and regulation, a system that pays donors does not need to be exploitative or immoral
by any means.31
The legal trade of human organs in Iran gives a unique approach of eradicating organ trafficking,
and could be a potential solution to this global issue if other countries decide to adopt this idea.

29

Case Studies- Bangladesh

Bangladesh, officially known as the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, is a sovereign
country in South Asia. Bangladesh is bordered by India and Myanmar and is the world's eighthmost populous country with almost 170 million inhabitants. Bangladesh is one of the most
densely populated countries in the world, ranking alongside South Korea and Monaco. Urban
centers are spread across the country, with the capital Dhaka being the most prominent.

The black market for organs in Bangladesh is nothing new, it has been around for more
than a decade. This market is operated by local and international patients, who buy an organ
within Bangladesh and then receive the transplantation surgery most often in India, but also in
Thailand, Singapore and the country of Bangladesh itself. It is estimated that eight million
Bangladeshis suffer from kidney disease, mostly because of high rates of diabetes, and at least
2000 need transplants annually.38 Similar to most other countries, donation is only legal between
living relatives, resulting in a chronic shortage of kidneys for transplant. In 1999, Bangladeshi
Parliament passed the Organ Transplant Act, which explicitly states that anyone violating the law
could be imprisoned for a minimum of three years to a maximum of seven years, and/or
penalized with a minimum fine of 300000 Taka, about 5000 Canadian dollars.39 Still, the organ
trade is growing in Bangladesh due to an inefficient criminal justice system throughout the
country.
The practice of micro-financing, which began first in Bangladesh, has become a factor
that now indirectly contributes to organ trafficking in the country. Micro-financing was initially
formed as a way to provide loans to help small businesses succeed in Bangladesh. These efforts
38

AFP. "Bangladesh's Illegal Kidney Trade Booms as Donors Turn Broker." The Express Tribune.
14 Oct. 2015. Web. Apr. 2016.
39

Moniruzzaman, Monir. "Human Organ Trafficking in Bangladesh." The Daily Star. 17 Sept.
2011. Web. Mar. 2016.

30

that were aimed to alleviate poverty has led to severe problems for Bangladeshis due to strict
repayments and lack of regulation. Many Bangladeshis have tried to borrow from multiple
lenders when unable to pay their initial granter, evolving into a cycle of worse poverty and
ultimately making it extremely difficult to get out of debt. There is a thirty percent overlap for
micro-finance institutes in Bangladesh, meaning that almost one-third of borrowers end up
getting aid from more than one source. There is no regulation of those who are borrowing from
multiple organizations, leading to an industry-wide issue.40 Eventually, many of the impoverished
citizens fall into the hands of brokers who are essentially the middlemen between organ sellers
and recipients. To entrap the potential sellers, organ brokers may tell them that they have two
kidneys, but one of them is asleep in the body. During the operation, doctors awaken this
dormant kidney and take the old one out for donation. In this view, the second kidney is just
baggage, essentially a mound of cash stored in the lower back. On top of this, sellers are often
told that their second kidney is no use to them if their first one fails. They're also told that
surgery is 100 percent safe. "It's the same story the sellers told me again and again,"
Moniruzzaman said. "I couldn't believe how much of a dirty trick it can be."29 Brokers in
developing countries often offer unrealistic rewards for the organs of the poor. They organize
fake passports and documents to pretend that the donor and recipient are relatives. It is very
common for those in debt caused by micro-credit to agree to donate out of desperation, and are
rarely paid the amount they were once promised. Instead, they are often left with severe side
effects from the operation and an insufficient amount of money to resolve their debt, which was
the initial reason why they gave up their organ in the first place. The relationship between microfinancing and organ trafficking has become more evident in Bangladesh in the past decade.
Professor Monir Moniruzzaman from the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State
University said, A lot of peoples debt from NGOs has spiraled out of control. Because they
cannot repay the loans, there is only one way for people to get out and that is to sell their
kidney, recognizing the extent of these victims desperation.36 Some efforts are made by police
and local authorities by launching campaigns that warn citizens of the dangers of selling their
organs. This is done by distributing leaflets to homes and schools in some areas such as the
40
Jain, Raina. "Micro-financing and Organ Trafficking in Bangladesh - Global Bioethics
Initiative." Global Bioethics Initiative. 25 May 2014. Web. Mar. 2016.

31

village of Kalai. Despite these efforts, many in Kalai doubt much will change, stating that
previous efforts have failed due to inadequate criminal systems.
In addition to people willing to sell their organs on the black market through local
brokers, there are also Bangladeshis being kidnapped and unwillingly have their organs cut out
and left to die. Residents of the poor rural village of Tebaria say that 15 children were kidnapped
and killed by organ traffickers in 2014.41 In that year, six year old Harun-ur-Rashid was
discovered five days after his kidnapping, his body dumped in a wetland north of Bangladeshs
capital, Dhaka. Local reports suspect that Harun was drugged before being taken under a bridge
and having a likely unqualified surgeon perform the operation on the spot. The child was a
victim of the countrys black market organ trade, and had his kidneys cut out.

The black market of organs in Bangladesh is a major issue in this country. It is possible to
eliminate this problem however change needs to start with the Bangladeshi government
reconstructing micro-financing organizations so that people can rise above the poverty line
without feeling like selling their organ is the only means of doing so.

41
O'Connor, Nigel. "Bangladesh Organ Trade Continues Unabated, Targeting Children, the Poor." Al
Jazeera America. 26 Dec. 2014. Web. Mar. 2016.

32

International Organizations
Throughout Canada and the United States, there are a number of organizations relating to
organ trafficking such as Stop Organ Harvesting Now! or Organs Watch. They raise money as
well as try with their best efforts to combat organ trafficking, but arent big enough to be
functional on an international scale. This is not to say that international organizations do not
exist. Main organizations that fight organ trafficking on a global scale include the World Health
Organization (WHO) and the United Nations. Both come up with and attempt to enforce
standards that all countries should follow to combat the illegal trade. They sometimes deal with
individual countries by requesting or demanding that laws pertaining to organ trafficking in that
nation be changed or more heavily enforced. An international organization called Doctors
Against Forced Organ Harvesting, focused on putting a stop to the illegal trade of human organs.
One of their main focuses is on China and their ongoing persecution of the Falun Gong
practitioners.
There are currently several international standards in place for combatting the trafficking
of organs, including the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the World Health Organizations Guiding
Principles on Human Organ Transplantation, among others. 42 In 2004, the World Health
Assembly issued a resolution for all WHO (World Health Organization) member states to ban
transplant tourism. It also called for international cooperation in the formulation of organ trade
guidelines on suitability, safety, ethics and the establishment of nationally overlooking
committees to ensure implementation of these concepts. Although countries have attempted to
follow to this resolution, efforts have been met with substantial defiance. For example, the
42
Glaser, Sheri R. "Formula to Stop the Illegal Organ Trade: Presumed Consent Laws and Mandatory
Reporting Requirements for Doctors." Washington College of Law. Web. Mar. 2016.

33

Pakistani government recently introduced a legislation banning organ trade and entailing proper
monitoring of all organ donations by transplant evaluation committees in hospitals to ensure the
voluntary nature of each donation is not being exploited. The passing of this law was not
straightforward, and it is unfortunate that kidney trade continues persistently because the use of it
remains weak, despite the publication of this bill. Considering the serious health implications and
the severe human rights violations of the vulnerable victims, it is essential that this issue gets the
desired attention in order for change to be made. This requires several steps including the
following: individual countries appropriating laws that are in sync with the UN protocols and
principles, stiff law enforcement against all involved in the trafficking, and making public
awareness such as posters and display boards to be mandatory at health centers. Training and
assimilation of the law enforcement agencies as well as the medical staff who are subject to be
drawn into the committee of the offence is also necessary. 43
In 2004, the World Health Assembly expressed its concern at the growing insufficiency of
available human material for transplantation to meet patient needs. In its resolution titled
Human organ and tissue transplantation, the Assembly encouraged member states to extend the
use of living kidney donations when possible, in addition to an increase of donations from
deceased donors. Mindful of the risk this posed to pushing the trade in organs underground, the
World Health Assembly also urged Member States to take measures to protect the poorest and
most vulnerable groups from transplant tourism and the sale of tissues and organs, including
attention to the wider problem of international trafficking in human tissues and organs.44
Discussing the trafficking of human organs in the context of internationally organized crime:

It urged Member States to inhabit measures to prevent, combat and punish the illegal
removal and selling of human organs

43

"Trafficking for Organ Trade." UN Gift Hub. United Nations. Web. Mar. 2016.
44
"Prevention of Trafficking in Persons." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. United
Nations. Web. Mar. 2016.

34

It encouraged Member States to exchange share experiences and knowledge on

preventing, combating and punishing the illegal removal and trafficking in human organs

It requested the United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to
pay closer attention to the issue of unlawful removal of and trafficking in human organs

Several International standards are in place on trafficking for organ trade. This includes the
United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons. It includes
organ removal and the selling of them as the end purpose of trafficking. Article 3 of the UN
Trafficking Protocol that defines trafficking in persons, clearly includes trafficking for the
purpose of removal of organs. In 1991, The Guiding Principles on Human Organ
Transplantation by the WHO states that the commercialization of human organs is a violation of
human rights and human dignity. There is also the Optional Protocol on the sale of children,
child prostitution and child pornography put into act in 2000 by the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child. This agreement states that the sale of children for the purpose of trading their
organs for a profit should be considered as a criminal offence. Lastly, an additional deal to the
European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine Concerning Transplantation of Organs
and Tissues of Human Origin prohibits organ and tissue trafficking, acquiring any financial gain
calls on states to provide appropriate punishment for such trafficking. 39
Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) is founded and organized by medical
doctors of various specialties from all over the world. They aim to provide the medical
community and society with their unbiased findings of unethical and illegal organ harvesting.
Membership of this organization is intended for medical doctors and professionals who
acknowledge the necessity to stop the practices of illegal organ harvesting. Non-medical
professionals are able to sign in as supporters on this groups website.45 This organization is fully
aware of unethical organ harvesting that continues to happen worldwide and in recognition of
their efforts to try and combat this, they have been nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
They have a great focus on the forced organ harvesting in China, including the Falun Gong
Practitioners. David Kilgour and David Matas who both belong to DAFOH were first witnesses
45

"About DAFOH." Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting. Web. Mar. 2016.

35

in 2006, and authors of the alleged Kilgour & Matas Report that stated organs were harvested
from living prisoners of conscience, mostly from detained Falun Gong practitioners in China. In
2013, this organization started a petition to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights calling for immediate action to end the unethical practice of forced organ harvesting from
living prisoners in China. The petition also called for an end of the persecution of the spiritual
group Falun Gong, the primary victim of the forced organ harvesting in China. Nearly 1.5
million people in over 50 countries between July and November 2013 signed the petition, and
expressed their support to call for an end to this virtually unknown evil. In December of the same
year, the European Parliament adopted an urgent resolution on organ harvesting in China.
Canadian Connection
In Canada, the trade of organ trafficking most commonly occurs through transplant
tourism. In these scenarios, Canadians travel to a country where there is a growing illegal
human organ trafficking market to receive an organ transplant in a foreign hospital. They then
come back home often with health complications. About 10 000 black-market procedures
involving purchased human organs occur annually, which can be broken down to more than one
every hour according to the World Health Organization. Organ trafficking accounts for five to ten
percent of all kidney transplants worldwide, Canadians being among the top ten of foreign
buyers of these organs. This demand is likely due to an increasing difference between the rates of
end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and deceased donor organ donation. One problem
that causes the donor pool in Canada to be so small is that it can be very costly to donate.
Often costs include travel and lodging expenses, lost income during and while recovering from
the surgery, as well as time and money for various things like child care. This financial hardship
was the reason why 24% of potential donors did not donate. Throughout the country, 80% of
donors lost nearly
$10 000 in productivity. (Appendix B) These statistics exemplify the desperation that coaxes
many Canadian patients to turn to transplant tourism. There are over 3 300 Canadians on waiting
lists for a kidney transplant which is almost double the number 20 years ago.46 Close to a third of
people on these waiting lists are from Ontario according to the Canadian Institute for Health
46
"Organ Trafficking." PACT-Ottawa. Web. Apr. 2016.

36

Information. More than 300 people from Ontario on those lists have died in the past decade. Last
year, a Canadian man testified before European Union judges confessing to them that he paid an
Israeli citizen $105 000 to arrange a kidney operation after doctors had told him that getting a
transplant in Canada might take up to twelve years of waiting.47 In Canada, no quantitative data
is collected about this issue even though it is possible because of the often necessary postoperative care of the Canadian transplant tourists in hospitals after receiving an organ overseas.
Because there is no data available, it is virtually impossible to say how many Canadians partake
in transplant tourism annually, as well as what countries the organs are acquired from. The only
existing policy that is geared towards transplant tourism is a joint effort made by the Canadian
Society of Transplantation and Canadian Society of Nephrology. This paper gives advice for
doctors as to how they should warn potential transplant tourists for the ethical dangers involved,
along with how to treat Canadians that have returned after receiving their transplant in another
country.3 More than 80 international professional and governmental agencies, such as The
Kidney Foundation of Canada, have endorsed The Declaration of Istanbul which was first
enforced in 2008. The Declaration of Istanbul is a policy document that was designed to promote
both deceased and living donor transplantation around the world in a way that still protects the
health of both recipients and donors while ending the unethical exploitation. The Kidney
Foundation of Canada criticizes the practice of buying and selling organs and does not support
any economic incentives to donors for transplantation, various forms of advertisement of organs
for sale, brokering the movement of organs, donors, recipients for the purpose of organ
trafficking or transplant tourism, as well as the use of organs in transplantations that are
suspected to have been retrieved through a commercial transaction.48

47
Safdar, Khadeeja. "Rich Dupe Bangladeshi Poor Into Giving Up Kidneys: Study." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. Apr. 2016.

48
"Commercial Trade of Human Organs." The Kidney Foundation of Canada. Web. Apr. 2016.

37

Solutions
Numerous unfortunate stories of brokers, physicians, recipients, donors and hospitals
engaged in illegal organ trafficking have been featured all over high-profile media. There is a lot
to be done in terms of reducing and ultimately eliminating the illegal organ trade. This could
include countries passing and enforcing laws against the crime, and organizing public education
campaigns for victims along with potential sellers. In most countries, there are already laws in
place stating that it is illegal to buy or sell organs although it is not always enforced and there are
many loopholes to get around it. In South Africa for example, the Human Tissue Act that came
into effect in 1983 says that a person can not receive payment for the transfer of any tissue,
including flesh, bone, organ, or body fluid. However, there is a loophole that grants a hospital's
medical director the right to remove tissues and organs without consent when the identity of the
deceased person is unknown and relatives have not come forward to claim the body within the
period when retrieval of the organ is medically attainable.49 A potential law that could be
beneficial if it was passed would be to make travelling to a foreign country and purchasing an
49
Frenkel, Sheera. "Organ-trafficking Laws in Key Countries." The Christian Science Monitor. The
Christian Science Monitor, 09 June 2004. Web. Apr. 2016.

38

organ there, or so-called transplant tourism, illegal. If recipients were penalized while partaking
in transplant tourism, the black market in common donor countries would eventually diminish
because of the lack of buyers. Upgrading facilities and standardizing medical care are also
necessary to ensure the safety of both the donor and the recipient, and this would also be a
preventative measure to lessen the chances of having post-operative complications. It is not
uncommon for living kidney sellers and buyers to suffer from various post-op infections that can
be caused by substandard facilities, weakness and depression. Some also die from suicide or
from kidney failure. There should be clearly defined health codes that medical facilities need to
meet as this too would help to prevent complications during the transplants, as well as because
physicians and transplant surgeons have the greatest responsibility to ensure that the organs they
transplant from seller to buyer were obtained sustaining high moral standards. The World Health
Organization along with various international transplant and nephrology specialists could play an
important role in encouraging some initiative to be taken in critical areas as mentioned above.
The idea of presumed consent which has been implemented in some European Union states,
Singapore and also proposed in the United Kingdom, is certainly a step in the right direction in
means of deceased organ donation. Presumed consent for organ donation means that, unless
otherwise specified, a person is presumed to have consented to organ donation in the case of their
accidental death.50 This means that a person is automatically signed up to donate their organs
after death unless they request to opt out of it rather than opt-in, which is how most countries
such as the United States and Canada operate their donor pool. Efforts taken to increase the
donor pool in developed countries to meet their own numbers of desired organs for patients will
seemingly act as a strong deterrent in the feeding of black markets in impoverished nations.
Although many countries still believe that this conflicts with the rights of families to the
deceased along with its conflicts with some religions, presumed consent countries tend to have
larger donor pools than countries that do not participate in this law. These consent laws vary
from country to country in terms of their strength. For example, many of the European countries
laws are weaker, meaning they have easier means to opt-out. In France, the family is given an
opportunity to stop the donation of the patients organs, even if the deceased previously
expressed their desire to be a donor. On the other hand, Brazils presumed organ consent law is
50
"Presumed Consent for Organ Donation." Liver.ca. Web. Apr. 2016.

39

an illustration of a stricter example, where it is difficult to opt-out. The law identifies all
Brazilians once they reach adulthood as universal organ donors unless they officially declare
themselves non-donors of organs and tissues. In order to do this, Brazilians must have nondonor of organs and tissues stamped on their identity card or drivers license. Citizens are
required to pay for this documentation, which presents a major obstacle for many. The entire idea
of presumed consent leads to advancements in tissue matching between donors and recipients,
and it also enables surgeons to be more particular about which organs are selected, allowing for a
more precise match since there are essentially a wider variety to choose from. Furthermore, these
laws allow for more careful definition of the term brain-death, because the increased supply of
donor organs destructs any reason to obtain organs through improper means. For example, there
have been cases in Russia, Argentina and China where organs were removed from comatose
patients who were prematurely declared brain-dead.34 Something that is also important to note is
that the decision as to whether or not to donate organs is not made during the grieving period
immediately following someones death when dealing with presumed consent laws, which
relieves a lot of stress from the families. Financially speaking, this law lowers costs on the
governments part. Taking a look at the United States for example, a country with a federallyfunded dialysis program, the cost of a kidney transplant is less than the yearly cost of dialysis.
This is also taking into account the cost per year after the transplant for further medical care,
including hospital visits and anti-rejection medications. If a country contains a system of
presumed consent and has more organs available for transplants, then that nation will likely be
performing more transplants and will have fewer patients on dialysis as a result, generally
lowering government costs. In countries where the system of this law is weak, it does not
increase the supply of organs to balance out the demand.
If a country such as Iran can figure out how to provide for living donors in an ethical and
responsible way, it is possible that other countries could too. Some professionals have said that
legalization would allow state supervision of the organ trade, and therefore minimize medical
dangers and exploitation. This could also protect donors, who in the black market often receive
inadequate (and costly) post-operative care.51 A highly disputed topic is whether or not the
51

"Illegal Organ Trade." Wikipedia. Web. Mar. 2016.

40

Iranian mode of payment for non-related living donors could be used in North America or
Europe to solve the problems of kidney donor shortages. It is often debated whether the Iranian
system has actually cleared the waiting list for transplants and whether non-related living donors
is the true answer to the problem. Advocates of the Iranian model boast that there was once a
significant waiting time comparable to the length in Western nations today, and now there is now
no waiting time. It is also important to note that there are no significant differences in groups of
donors and recipients when compared in terms of their social and economic background such as
their wealth and education level. 33 This means that social exploitation is not occurring as it does
in every country where there is a black kidney market.
Results of initiatives to increase the legal donor pool, such as the Organ Donation Breakthrough
Collaborative which started in the United States and has since expanded its borders to Australia
and Canada have also been promising. The success of this regulation is shown through the 2530% increase in organ donation rates in countries where the law is in effect. It is also necessary
for developing countries to establish a controlled and ethical system of the organ trade process as
a whole by creating awareness in medical practitioners that perform the surgeries, as well as the
public. If people interested in potentially buying an organ abroad heard some of the horrifying
stories of botched surgeries, mismatched organs and the high rates of fatal infections including
HIV and Hepatitis C contracted from the donor organs, they would probably be less tempted to
go. More attention should also be focused on the crucial role that medical professionals play in
these organ trafficking networks. The fact that doctors are essential for these
networks should be seen as an opportunity to take a concentrated approach
to preventing this form of human trafficking. In order to reduce and eventually
eliminate organ trafficking, countries should also inflict a mandatory requirement for doctors
who suspect that a patient has obtained a trafficked organ to report it. Dr. Nancy Scheper-Hughes
of Organs Watch, a human rights group in Berkeley, California, once commented that transplant
doctors have developed a dont ask, dont tell policy regarding the black market of human
organs.34 Although all doctors have a legal obligation to keep information about their patients
confidential, they are allowed break this requirement on the protection of the public exception.
There are several benefits to the public that would come from a doctors report that a patient has
obtained an organ from a trafficked donor. Firstly, it could save numerous people from involving
themselves in organ trafficking. Reporting an incident like this to proper authorities could also

41

break up entire organ trafficking rings. This could be possible since reporting leads to
questioning, and prosecuting people involved in the ring. As authorities try and break up
trafficking rings, future victims are saved from being trafficked of their organs. For a global
approach to terminating organ trafficking, there are lessons that can be learned from countries
that have shown success. With initiatives of putting laws and regulations in place to increase
donations, these efforts are likely to generate positive results.
Another way to combat the organ trade is to look at regenerative medicine. It appears to
be one of the more practical options with breakthroughs such as those in the Ottawa laboratory.
There are several things to be considered when determining the effectiveness of regenerative
medicine transplants. First of all, this field of science is still in its infancy, since this was the first
successful attempt to make a fully functional organ. Another thing to take into consideration is
that the artificial organ is truly less efficient compared to natural organs. Lastly, regenerative
medicine can be quite inconvenient as growing an organ takes time, and having an organ readily
available for a seller or donor can make a critical difference in saving a persons life. Although
bioengineered organs are an exciting breakthrough in the field of regenerative medicine, they
might not be the most ideal solution to tackle the rising demand in organ donations until they are
perfected.52
The debate on the ethics and moral standards of organ trade remains active in modern
society. Relevant evidence changes quite often due to the ever-changing nature of our
technological advancements in medicine and our understanding of ethics itself. At the moment,
although organ trade is illegal in almost all countries, it is still difficult to provide a final
conclusion without a bias that is based on a certain groups basic beliefs, culture, or religion.
Religion in particular plays a major role in the topic bodily autonomy as it relates to organ trade.
Bodily autonomy is defined as the ability to make choices about how a persons body is to be
treated by others.25 Many religious theorists say that this idea of bodily autonomy treats the body
as property, which violates many religious views that the body and self are one being. Selling a
part of your body in some belief systems is comparable to selling your inner self, or soul, which
52
Dotimas, James. "Innovations in Stem Cell Research: The Solution to Organ Trafficking?" Global
Health Review. Harvard College, 27 Apr. 2013. Web. Mar. 2016.

42

many religious communities regard as a violation of human dignity. Advocates for freedom to do
as you please with your body argue that the freedom to make decisions about one's body does not
violate one's dignity, but actually increases a person's sense of control and empowerment. By
expressing their right to choose what to do with their body, a person will be further empowered
and effectively increase their bodily autonomy. Advocates argue that people regularly make
choices about their body that carry risks comparable to the organ trade. 25 For example, the right
to endanger your own body by joining the military, acting as a surrogate mother, or engaging in
medical experiments are all accepted in today's society and are in fact fueled by financial
incentives. By these principles, advocates argue that the right to choose whether to sell an organ
should be supported.

Appendices
Appendix A

43

Appendix B

44

Appendix C

45

Bibliography
[1] AFP. "Bangladesh's Illegal Kidney Trade Booms as Donors Turn Broker." The Express
Tribune. 14 Oct. 2015. Web. Apr. 2016.
[2] Alesi, Francesco, and Luca Muzi. "Kidneys for Sale: Iran's Trade in Organs." The Guardian.
Guardian News and Media, 10 May 2015. Web. Mar. 2016.
[3] "A Prayer for Uganda | Kidneyville (VICE on HBO: Season 3, Episode 10)." YouTube. Vice,
1 Feb. 2016. Web. Mar. 2016.
[4] Aubusson, Kate. "China's Gruesome Live Organ Harvest Exposed in Documentary." The
Sydney Morning Herald. 8 Apr. 2015. Web. Mar. 2016.
[5] Campbell, Denis, and Nicola Davison. "Illegal Kidney Trade Booms as New Organ Is 'sold
Every Hour'" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 27 May 2012. Web. Mar. 2016.
[6] "Canada's Organ-donation Rate among World's Worst." National Post. Web. Mar. 2016.
[7] "Canadian Transplant Society." Canadian Transplant Society RSS. N.p., 2014. Web. Apr.
2016.
[8] "Canadians Desperate for Transplants Turn to Illegal Organ Trade." CTVNews. N.p., 1 June
2013. Web. May 2016.
[9] Carney, John. "A Human Harvest: China's Organ Trafficking Exposed in Shocking
Documentary That Alleges the Illegal Trade Is Now worth a Staggering US$1 Billion a Year ."
[10] Carney, Scott. "Inside Kidneyville: Ranis Story." Wired. Conde Nast Digital, 5 Aug. 2007.
Web. Mar. 2016.

46

[11] Cholia, Ami. "Illegal Organ Trafficking Poses A Global Problem." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Aug. 2009. Web. Mar. 2016.
[12] Dotimas, James. "Innovations in Stem Cell Research: The Solution to Organ Trafficking?"
Global Health Review. Harvard College, 27 Apr. 2013. Web. Mar. 2016.
[13] Dr. Martin. "Human Traffic: Exposing the Brutal Organ Trade." New Internationalist. May
2014. Web. Mar. 2016.
[14] "Facts and Myths." American Transplant Foundation. Web. Mar. 2016.
[15] "First Successful Kidney Transplant Performed." PBS. PBS, 1998. Web. Mar. 2016.
[16] Frenkel, Sheera. "Organ-trafficking Laws in Key Countries." The Christian Science
Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 09 June 2004. Web. Apr. 2016.
[17] Fry-Revere, Sigrid. "What Can Iran Teach Us about the Kidney Shortage?" TEDMED. 12
Mar. 2015. Web. Mar. 2016.
[18] Glaser, Sheri R. "Formula to Stop the Illegal Organ Trade: Presumed Consent Laws and
Mandatory Reporting Requirements for Doctors." Washington College of Law. Web. Mar. 2016.
[19] Hui, Li, and Ben Blanchard. "China to End Use of Prisoners' Organs for Transplants in Mid-

2014." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 02 Nov. 2013. Web. Apr. 2016.

[20] "HLA Matching." Be The Match. Web. Mar. 2016.
[21] "Just the Facts." Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Oct. 2014. Web. Mar. 2016.
[22] Jain, Raina. "Micro-financing and Organ Trafficking in Bangladesh - Global Bioethics
Initiative." Global Bioethics Initiative. 25 May 2014. Web. Mar. 2016.
[23] Loriggio, Paola. "Human Organ Trafficking: Canadians Should Be Barred From Buying
Organs, Prosecutor Says." The Huffington Post. 29 Apr. 2013. Web. Mar. 2016.
[24] Liu, Peter. "GENOCIDE CRIME: Bloody Organ Harvesting in China." YouTube. YouTube,
22 Oct. 2012. Web. Apr. 2016.
[25] Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 06 Apr. 2015. Web. Apr. 2016.

47

[26] Major, Rupert WL. "Paying Kidney Donors: Time to Follow Iran?" McGill Journal of
Medicine : MJM. McGill University, Jan. 2008. Web. Apr. 2016.
[27] McKeown, D. WL, R. S. Bonser, and J. A. Kellum. "Management of the Heartbeating
Brain-dead Organ Donor." British Journal of Anaesthesia. Oxford Journals, 2012. Web. Mar.
2016.

[28] Moniruzzaman, Monir. "Human Organ Trafficking in Bangladesh." The Daily Star. 17 Sept.
2011. Web. Mar. 2016.
[29] "Number (in Millions) of Civilian, Non-Institutionalized Persons with Diagnosed Diabetes,
United States, 1980-2014." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 01 Dec. 2015. Web.
Mar. 2016.
[30] O'Connor, Nigel. "Bangladesh Organ Trade Continues Unabated, Targeting Children, the
Poor." Al Jazeera America. 26 Dec. 2014. Web. Mar. 2016.
[31] "Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action." The National Academies Press. N.p., 2006.
Web. Apr. 2016.
[32] Organ Donation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. Apr. 2016.
[33] "Organ Trade." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. Mar. 2016.
[34] "Organ Trafficking." PACT-Ottawa. Web. Apr. 2016.
[35] "Overview of Persecution." Falun Dafa Information Center. 9 Apr. 2015. Web. Apr. 2016.
[36] "Organs and Tissues for Transplant." Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network. N.p., n.d.
Web. May 2016.
[37] "Presumed Consent for Organ Donation." Liver.ca. Web. Apr. 2016.
[38] Resnick, Brian. "Living Cadavers: How the Poor Are Tricked Into Selling Their Organs."
The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 23 Mar. 2012. Web. Mar. 2016.
[39] Rosenberg, Tina. "Need a Kidney? Not Iranian? You'll Wait." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 31 July 2015. Web. Mar. 2016.
[40] "Sanlian Life Weekly." China Media Guide. Web. Apr. 2016.
[41] Shah, Anup. "Poverty Facts and Stats." Global Issues. 7 Jan. 2013. Web. Mar. 2016.

48

[42] "The Bangladesh Poor Selling Organs to Pay Debts - BBC News." BBC News. 28 Oct.
2013. Web. Mar. 2016.
[43] "The Problem." Global Centurion Foundation. Web. Mar. 2016.
[44] "Trafficking for Organ Trade." UN Gift Hub. United Nations. Web. Mar. 2016.
[45] "TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS FOR THE PURPOSE OF ORGAN REMOVAL IN
THE OSCE REGION." Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. N.p., n.d. Web.
May 2016.
[46] "Trafficking in Organs, Tissues and Cells and Trafficking in Human Beings for the Purpose
of the Removal of Organs." Council of Europe. United Nations. Web. Mar. 2016.
[47] Watson, Bruce. "How Corrupt Governments Make a Killing on Human Organs."
DailyFinance.com. N.p., 07 Jan. 2011. Web. Apr. 2016.
[48] "What Is an Organ Broker?" 123HelpMe.com. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2016.
[49] Zachariades, Charlie. "Illegal Organ Trafficking." The Stone. Web. Mar. 2016.