Organ
Harvesting In China And The Many Questions To Be Answered
On October 16, 2018, the
U.K. Parliament hosted an event on the practice of organ harvesting
in China. Organ transplantation is a legal medical procedure that
is highly regulated. The World Health Organization produced a publication
called the Guiding
Principles on Human Cell, Tissue and Organ Transplantation to clarity the
international standards in relation to the practice of organ transplantation.
For example, Principle 1 requires consent from the donor to organ removal for
the purpose of transplantation. Principle 10 requires traceability of organ
transplants and Principle 11 - that donation activities be transparent and open
to scrutiny. By contrast, organ harvesting is the illegal practice of removing
organs from individuals (whether dead or alive) without their consent.
The
event was the third such event organized at the U.K. Parliament. One of the
issues on the agenda was the claim that the Chinese government is killing
prisoners of conscience (particularly, religious minorities, including Falun
Gong, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims and unregistered House Church
Christians) to supply the organ harvesting industry. While these claims sound
unrealistic, the issue has been already subject of investigations and hearings
at the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament. The U.S.
House of Representatives and the European
Parliament both passed resolutions condemning the “systematic,
state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience.”
The
claims of organ harvesting in China are supported by substantial evidence, including
the 2016 report “Bloody
Harvest/The Slaughter: An Update” published by David Kilgour, David Matas
and Ethan Gutmann. The research of Kilgour, Matas and Gutmann was presented
during the hearings
of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, on June 23,
2016, in U.K. Parliament and at several other hearings.
The research
of Kilgour, Matas and Gutmann sheds light on two important issues concerning
organ harvesting in China.
First,
organ harvesting volume in China is larger than identified in the official
statistics that (highly likely) relate to organ transplantations only. The
report identifies that while the official China's central government's
statistics suggest that approximately 10,000 organ transplantations take
place per year, the numbers may be as high as between 60,000 and 100,000
organ transplants per year. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the UN
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief have already queried this
large discrepancy. However, they were not able to significantly advance the
issue.
Second,
the report suggests that prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong,
Uyghurs, Tibetans and House Christians became specifically targeted groups for
the purposes of organ harvesting. In an oral evidence hearing of
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representative, Gutmann
explained how the practice of organ harvesting has been used as a method of
persecution against Falun Gong members and to maintain the supply of the demand
for human organs. Kilgour, Matas and Gutmann claim that “there are only two
places where one can receive the full range of organs from a prisoner of
conscience: China and more recently, the territory under the control of the
Islamic State, commonly known as ISIS.”
During
the hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of
Representatives, Gutmann noted that:
In
1999, state security launched the campaign to eliminate Falun Gong. By 2001,
over 1 million Falun Gong incarcerated within the Laogai system were subject to
retail organ testing and Chinese military and civilian hospitals were ramping
up their transplant facilities.”
They
may have come after Falun Gong first. However, it did not stop there.
By
2002, it was select House Christians. By 2003, it was the Tibetans. By
2005, economic opportunism had been replaced by… the party’s desire to kill off
its internal enemies... Hardened criminals were harvested for organs;
transplant centers stood to make $60,000, $100,000 or more but the rise of the
Chinese transplant industry was built on the foundation of Falun Gong
incarceration.”
What
needs to be done? What can be done? Independent investigation into the practice
of organ transplantation in China is the first and most crucial step. Such an
independent investigation would provide basis for considering the prosecution
of those involved in the abuse of the practice of organ transplantation or
organ harvesting. In 2008, the UN Committee against Torture recommended that
“The State party should immediately conduct or commission an independent
investigation of the claims that some Falun Gong practitioners have been
subjected to torture and used for organ transplants and take measures, as
appropriate, to ensure that those responsible for such abuses are prosecuted
and punished.” Similarly, in December 2013, the European Parliament passed a
resolution on organ harvesting in China, calling for a full and transparent
investigation into the practice of organ transplant in China. Finally, in 2015,
the UN Committee against Torture stated that: “The State party [China] should
also commission an independent investigation to look into claims that some
Falun Gong practitioners may have been subjected to this practice [removal of
organs without consent].” A comprehensive and independent investigation is
yet to be conducted.
At
the U.K. Parliament event, the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse
in China announced that an independent people's tribunal to inquire into organ
harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China has been established. Whether
it will help to provide answers to the many questions concerning the issue of
organ harvesting in China - only time will tell. However, it certainly could be
a springboard for more and more decisive actions to address the issue.
.
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