Organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China
Reports of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and other political prisoners in China began to attract the attention and concern of the international community since the first allegations were made in 2006. The reports indicate that prisoners of conscience, mostly Falun Gong practitioners , are being executed "on demand" for their organs in order to quickly supply the Chinese transplant market with organs to meet the demand for living organs. It is believed that the organ harvesting is due to the Chinese Communist Party's widespread persecution of Falun Gong , which has illegally detained hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners and provided financial incentives to institutions and individuals involved in transplantation.
Although reports of systematic organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners first surfaced in 2006, it is believed that they started as early as 2000. People involved in the investigation - notably Canadian human rights attorney David Matas , former prosecutor and Canadian state secretary David Kilgour, and China analyst and investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann - believe that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners detained as prisoners of conscience were murdered around the to supply the lucrative organ and corpse trafficking and that this crime continues. Their conclusions came from a combination of statistical analyzes; Interviews with Former Prisoners, Healthcare Professionals, and Chinese State Security agents; Chinese government documents, as well as extensive evidence such as the large number of Falun Gong practitioners who have been illegally detained in China and the profits made from organ trafficking, etc.
The Chinese government denied all allegations, but to date (2018) has not provided a reasonable statement from the state organs that would invalidate the allegations. Therefore, the allegations have drawn attention and public condemnation from governments, international organizations and medical societies. The Parliament of Canada, the European Union, and the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives passed resolutions condemning the harvesting of organs from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. United Nations Special Rapporteurs repeatedly unsuccessfully urged the Chinese government to prove the organ sources of the organs used in transplants. The World Medical Association , the American Society for Transplantation and the Society for Organ Transplantation called for sanctions against medical professionals from China who work in the transplant field. Various countries introduced or passed laws to prevent their citizens from traveling to China for organ transplants. Some laws were passed between 2008 and 2016. Human Harvest , a documentary film about organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners, received the 2014 Peabody Award in recognition of excellence in radio and television journalism.
background
Organ transplant in China
China has one of the largest organ transplant programs in the world. Although China did not have nationwide statistics on transplant volume, Chinese officials estimated that over 13,000 transplants were performed in 2004, and up to 20,000 in 2006. Some sources noted, based on a detailed analysis of hospital records, that the actual number of transplants was significantly higher be. However, considering its culture and custom, China has an extremely low rate of voluntary organ donation. Between 1977 and 2009 only 130 people volunteered to be organ donors. In 2010, the Chinese Red Cross launched a nationwide initiative to recruit voluntary organ donors, but only 37 people had registered. It was only when financial incentives were offered, which are prohibited by WHO standards, that there were slightly more voluntary donors. Because of the small number of voluntary organ donors, most of the organs used in transplantation are obtained from prisoners.
Waiting times to obtain vital organs in China are among the shortest in the world despite the lack of an organized organ donation system. Often it is only weeks for organs such as the kidneys, liver and heart. This made China a major destination for international transplant tourism and an important country for pharmaceutical immunosuppressant research. The human organ trade also became a lucrative source of income for China's medical, military, and public security institutions. In the absence of an effective nationwide organ donation or referral system, hospitals obtain their organ sources through local intermediaries, including through relationships with courts, detention centers and prisons.
Organ transplant recipients in China are usually not informed of the identity of the organ donor. They also receive no proof that the donor has given his written consent. In some cases, patients are also not told the identity of the medical staff and surgeons. The problem of transparency is compounded by the lack of any ethical guidelines for the transplant profession or a disciplinary system for surgeons who violate ethical standards.
In the 1990s, growing concerns about possible abuses resulting from forced consents and corruption led medical groups and human rights organizations to condemn the use of prison organs in China. Those concerns resurfaced in 2001 when a Chinese military doctor testified before the US Congress that he had participated in organ harvesting from executed prisoners, some of whom were not yet dead. In December 2005, China's Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu confirmed that up to 95% of transplant organs were from executed inmates and promised to take steps to prevent abuse. Huang reiterated these claims in 2008 and 2010, stating that over 90% of organ transplants were from deceased donors who were prisoners. In 2006, the World Medical Association demanded that China stop harvesting organs from prisoners who, as such, are unable to give voluntary consent. In 2014, Huang Jiefu announced that organ harvesting from executed inmates had decreased while he was defending prisoner organ harvesting for the transplant system.
In addition to organ procurement from executed prisoners, international observers and investigators have expressed concerns that prisoners of conscience are being killed to feed the organ transplant industry. These individuals have not been convicted of capital crimes and, in many cases, are detained out of court because of their political or religious beliefs.
Persecution of Falun Gong
Falun Gong , also known as Falun Dafa , is a Chinese qigong discipline that includes physical exercises, meditation, and a moral philosophy rooted in the Buddhist tradition. The practice became popular in China in the 1990s, and by 1998 Chinese government sources estimated that up to 70 million people were involved in the practice. Wu Shaozu of the National Sports Commission of China told US News & World Report on February 14, 1999 that up to 100 million people may practice Falun Gong, noting that Falun Gong's popularity has dramatically reduced health care costs, which the then did Premier Zhu Rongji was very happy. However, in July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin began a nationwide campaign to exterminate the group, believing that Falun Gong could pose a potential threat to the party's authority and ideology.
The 610 Office , an extra-judicial body that got its name from the establishment date June 10th, was established by the "Central Leadership Group as Implementation Arm for Handling Falun Gong" to direct the persecution of Falun Gong. The main functions of the 610 Office include coordinating anti-Falun Gong propaganda, surveillance and intelligence, as well as punishing and "transforming" Falun Gong practitioners. The office is reportedly involved in extrajudicial convictions, as well as forced relocation, torture and the killing of Falun Gong practitioners. Within China, the authorities mobilized the state media apparatus, judiciary, police, army, education system, families and employers to "fight" the group. In addition to its in-country functions to persecute Falun Gong, the 610 Office was also used for overseas intelligence activities. Hao Fengjun, a former 610 agent and defector from Tianjin, stated in Melbourne, Australia in June 2005 that his role in the 610 Office consisted of collecting and analyzing intelligence reports on foreign Falun Gong populations, including in the United States, Canada and Australia. He added that the intelligence agency's spy network consists of three tiers: first, professional agents who come from the police academy and are paid to travel abroad; secondly, from “work colleagues” who appear as business people and are attached to foreign companies; and thirdly, “friends” who infiltrate foreign countries and “befriend” the Chinese and Westerners. All three levels work on monitoring Falun Gong, among other things.
Since 1999, Falun Gong practitioners have been the target of systematic torture, mass arrests, forced labor, and psychiatric abuse, all with the aim of forcing them to give up their belief. As of 2009, the New York Times reported that at least 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners had been killed amid the persecution campaign. Falun Gong sources documented over 3,700 deaths as of 2013. Due to the difficulties in accessing and sharing information from China, this can only represent a fraction of the actual deaths.
Reports of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners
In March 2006, allegations surfaced that Falun Gong practitioners and other political inmates in China are being killed "on demand" in order to provide organs for waiting patients from home and abroad. The reasons for the organ harvesting are, on the one hand, the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party and, on the other hand, the financial interests of the institutions and people involved in the organ trafficking . Reports said the crime was said to have begun in 2000.
Sujiatun
The first allegations of large-scale organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners were made in March 2006 by three people who had knowledge of involuntary organ extractions at Sujiatun Thrombosis Hospital in Shenyang , Liaoning Province . One of the informants, the wife of a surgeon at the hospital, said her husband had performed numerous operations to remove corneas from Falun Gong practitioners for transplants.
Representatives of the State Department of the United States were sent to the Sujiatun Hospital to investigate the allegations. They were given a tour of the facilities and found no evidence that the allegations were true, but said they were concerned about the treatment of Falun Gong and reports of organ harvesting in China. Soon after, in May 2006, the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) called on former Canadian MP David Kilgour and immigration attorney David Matas to investigate allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China. Kilgour and Matas agreed to volunteer to conduct the investigation.
Kilgour / Matas investigation report
Allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners, which emerged in 2006, led to an investigation by former prosecutor and Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour and Canadian human rights attorney David Matas. Kilgour and Matas, who were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 for their work investigating the illegal organ harvesting , compiled 33 lines of circumstantial evidence, including government documents from China, and published their findings in 2006 in "Bloody Harvest - Investigation Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting against Falun Gong" Practitioners in China ”. In it they concluded "that since 1999 the Chinese government and its authorities in many parts of the country, particularly in hospitals, but also in detention centers and" people's courts ", have been killing large but unknown numbers of believing prisoners of Falun Gong let ”. In January 2007 they published a revised and expanded version of their investigation report.
The Kilgour-Matas investigative report drew attention to the extremely short waiting times for organs in China - a few days to a week for a kidney, a week or two for a liver - which, according to Kilgour / Matas, indicated that organs were procured on demand Need to become. Although only 130 Chinese people in mainland China had ordered organ donation after their death between 1977 and 2009, China still has the second highest annual transplant rate in the world. The report also points to a significant increase in annual organ transplants in China since 1999, the year the persecution of Falun Gong began. Kilgour and Matas pointed out in their investigation report that the origin of 41,500 transplants remained unclear for the period from 2000 to 2005. They presented archived web site material from Chinese transplant centers promoting the immediate availability of organs from living donors. They also produced transcripts of interviews in which surgeons in Chinese hospitals told the requesting organ recipients that they could receive Falun Gong organs.
According to Kilgour / Matas, the responses to the first edition of the investigation report by the Chinese government were not convincing and “mainly attacks on Falun Gong”. The replies pointed to two factual errors (incorrect assignment of two Chinese cities to provinces), but could not refute the report "with all the sources and information available to it [the Chinese government]." Since the Chinese government alleged collaboration with Falun Gong after the first report was published, Kilgour and Matas said, “We did our report as volunteers. We were not paid to report by Falun Gong or anyone else. Our report presents our own judgment. We did not act on instructions from Falun Gong or anyone else to reach our conclusions. "
Kirk Allison
Other investigators took up the accusation of organ harvesting before the Kilgour Matas report was published and conducted their own investigations. Their results confirmed Kilgour and Mata's conclusions.
Kirk Allison, Assistant Director of the Human Rights and Medicine Program at the University of Minnesota , concluded before the Kilgour Matas Report was published that the organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners is actually taking place. In a hearing before the US House of Representatives, Allison stated that the "short time span of an on-order system [as in China] requires a large supply of donors with prior blood type and HLA checked." This would be in line with the statement by Falun Gong practitioners that systematic tissue typing is taking place in detained practitioners in labor camps and prisons. Surgeons interviewed by Allison in China had indicated that they would select live prisoners to ensure the quality and tolerability of the organs.
Edward McMillan-Scott
Edward McMillan-Scott , Vice-President of the European Parliament. McMillan-Scott traveled to China May 19-21, 2006 - also before the Kilgour Matas Report was published - to personally investigate the persecution of Falun Gong and the organ harvesting allegations. McMillan-Scott interviewed two witnesses and videotaped their statements. One practitioner testified that his friend and fellow practitioner were locked in a cell with him. One evening it suddenly disappeared. He later saw his body in the prison hospital. The body had holes in places where organs had previously been located.
State organs: transplant abuse in China
In 2012, the book Staats-Organs: Transplant Abuse in China, edited by David Matas and Torsten Trey, was published . Experts in medicine, bioethics and human rights have their say, such as Gabriel Danovitch, Professor of Medicine, Arthur Caplan , Professor of Bioethics, Jacob Lavee, Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Ghazali Ahmad, Professor Maria Fiatarone Singh, Torsten Trey, managing director of DAFOH Ethan Gutmann and Matas. The contents of the book use comparisons, documents and figures to show that the organ harvesting is taking place in China, Falun Gong members are among the main victims of organ harvesting in China, but other minorities are also at risk.
Ethane Gutmann Studies
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China analyst Ethan Gutmann took up the Kilgour Matas report and conducted over 100 interviews with former inmates in Chinese labor camps and prisons and with former security agents and medical workers who had experience of China's transplant practices. He then published his research in a variety of magazines and journals, including the World Affairs Journal, the Weekly Standard , the Toronto Star and the National Review . Gutmann also presented the results of his investigation to the US Congress and the European Parliament. In August 2014, his research was published in book form entitled The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting and China's Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem .
According to his research, organ procurement from political prisoners most likely began in 1990 in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region and then spread across the country when members of the Uyghur ethnic group were targeted in security raids and "hard strikes". Enver Tohti, an exiled pro-Uughur independence activist, stated that in 1995 he performed the first live organ transplant on a Uighur Muslim prisoner. Tohti said the transplant took place near the execution site in Urumqi , where he removed the liver and kidneys of an executed prisoner while the man's heart was still beating. Gutmann mentioned that until 1999, organ harvesting in Xinjiang had dropped sharply, but the total number of organ transplants across the country suddenly rose. In the same year, the Chinese government launched a nationwide suppression of the spiritual group Falun Gong. Gutmann indicated that the Falun Gong prisoners have taken the place of the Uyghurs as an important source of organs. He also estimated that between 450,000 and one million Falun Gong practitioners would be detained in labor camps and prisons at any given time, and about 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners were killed for their organs between 2002 and 2008. This information was similar to the Kilgour and Matas investigation, which showed 62,250 victims.
proofs
Several pieces of evidence were presented in support of allegations that Falun Gong practitioners in China were killed for their organs. Researchers, human rights lawyers, and medical advocacy groups focused in particular on the volume of organ transplants in China, the imbalance between the number of transplants and known organ sources; the significant growth of the Chinese transplant industry coinciding with the mass arrest of Falun Gong practitioners; the short waiting times, suggesting an "organs-to-order" system, and reports that Falun Gong prisoners have been subjected to medical examinations in custody to assess their suitability as organ suppliers.
Increase in nationwide organ transplants after 1999
The number of organ transplants performed in China rose rapidly in 2000. This period corresponds to the start of the persecution of Falun Gong when tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were sent to Chinese labor camps, detention centers and prisons.
In 1998, China reported having performed 3,596 kidney transplants annually; by 2005 this number had risen to around 10,000. Between 2001 and 2005, the number of kidney transplant facilities increased from 106 to 368. Likewise, from 1999 to 2006, the number of liver transplant centers in China rose from 22 to over 500. The volume of transplants performed in these centers also increased significantly during this period. One hospital reported on its website that it performed nine liver transplants in all of 1998, and completed 647 liver transplants in just four months in 2005. Shanghai Jiaotong University Hospital recorded seven liver transplants in 2001, 53 in 2002, 105 in 2003, 144 in 2004 and 147 in 2005.
Kilgour and Matas wrote that the increase in organ transplants cannot be entirely due to improvements in transplant technology: "Kidney transplant technology was fully developed in China long before the persecution of Falun Gong began. But kidney transplants shot up, more than doubling once the persecution of Falun Gong began ... Nowhere have transplants from the same number of donors soared, simply because technology has changed. "
They also noted that during this period of rapid expansion in China's organ transplant industry, there had been no significant improvements in voluntary organ donation or the allocation system. The supply of death row inmates as donors has also not increased. Although it does not prove the allegations, the parallel between the rapid growth in organ transplants and the mass arrests of Falun Gong practitioners is consistent with the hypothesis that imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners have had their organs stolen.
Discrepancy in known organ sources
Chinese Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu said in 2005 that up to 95% of organs for transplants are obtained from prisoners. However, China does not conduct enough legal executions to account for the large number of transplants performed and voluntary donations are extremely rare. (Only 130 people registered as voluntary organ donors between 1977 and 2009.)
Chinese health officials reported that over 13,000 organ transplants were performed in 2004. In 2006, the state-run China Daily reported that 20,000 organ transplants were performed annually. During the same period, the number of people sentenced to death and executed was far fewer than the number of transplants. Amnesty International documented 1,770 executions in 2006 based on publicly available reports. however, estimates it was closer to 8,000. However, since China does not have an organized system for adapting and assigning organs to meet requests at short notice, it is rather rare for multiple organs to be removed from the same victim. In addition, many death row inmates have health problems, such as hepatitis B, which often disqualify them as organ donors. This suggests the existence of a secondary source for organs. Manfred Nowak, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, said: "The statement that most of these organs come from death row inmates is inconclusive ... If so, the number of criminals executed must be much higher than previously thought."
In a statement to the US House of Representatives, Damon Noto said that even if 10,000 were executed and 10,000 were transplanted, death row prisoners could not serve as the source of organs for all transplants taking place in China. Noto describes from a medical point of view that it is simply impossible that “the organs of the 10,000 executed people would perfectly match the 10,000 people who need these organs”. Kilgour and Matas come to a similar conclusion that traditional sources of transplants such as executed prisoners, donors and brain deaths “nowhere near the total number of transplants in all of China.” Like Noto, they point to the large number of Falun Gong practitioners in labor camps and prisons, as a likely alternative source of organs.
Waiting times for organ transplants
Waiting times for organ transplants in China are significantly shorter than anywhere else in the world. According to the China International Transplantation Network Assistance Center website in January 2006, it “only takes one month for a liver transplant, a maximum of two months. For kidney transplants, it takes a week to find a suitable donor, at most a month. ”The offer was even provided with a guarantee:“ If the doctor determines during the transplant that the donor organ is unsuitable, the patient will be given another organ donor and the operation repeated within a week. ”Other organ transplant centers offered similar average waiting times of one or two weeks for liver and kidney transplants. This is in line with statements made by organ recipients who received organs within days or weeks. In comparison, mean waiting times for a kidney in developed countries like the US, Canada, and the UK are typically between two and over four years, even though those countries have millions of registered organ donors and have established systems of organ identification and referral.
Researchers and medical professionals have expressed concern about the implications of short waiting times for organ transplants in Chinese hospitals. In particular, these short waiting times indicated a pool of living organ donors whose organs can be removed if necessary. This is because organs have to be transplanted immediately after death or removed from a living donor. (Kidneys must be transplanted within 24 to 48 hours, livers within 12 hours, and hearts within 8 hours.)
Kirk C. Allison, associate director of the Human Rights and Medicine program at the University of Minnesota , wrote that the "short span of an on-demand system [like in China], a large pool of donors, their blood type and HLA adjustment Pre-typed requires “which is consistent with reports from Falun Gong prisoners whose blood and tissues were checked in custody. Allison wrote that China's short waiting times could not be ensured on a "chance death" basis and that doctors he consulted on the matter advised that they were selecting live prisoners to ensure organ quality and tolerance. Jacob Lavee, director of the heart transplant department at Sheba Medical Center in Israel, reported that one of his patients traveled to China to undergo a heart transplant. The patient waited two weeks for a heart and the operation was planned in advance. According to Lavee, this means that the organ could not have been obtained due to accidental death. Franz Immer, chairman of the Swiss National Foundation for Organ Donation and Transplantation, reported that during a visit to Beijing in 2007, he was invited by his Chinese hosts to observe a heart transplant: “The organizer asked us whether we performed the transplant process in the morning or in the afternoon want to have. This meant that at some point the donor would have to die or be killed for the benefit of the visitors. I refused to take part. "
Editors of the Journal of Clinical Investigation wrote: “The only way to guarantee a liver or heart transplant to a transplant tourist who is only in China for a short time is to quickly get the necessary medical information from the organ recipient, then [with living organ donors] and then execute the person who is the most suitable organ donor. "
Noto also said that China's short waiting times for organ transplants and the ability to plan a transplant in advance can only be achieved with a large supply of "living donors on call". However, there are not enough people sentenced to death to meet these requirements.
Defenselessness of Falun Gong Practitioners
Since 1999, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained in reeducation-through-labor labor camps, prisons and other detention centers in China, making them the largest group of prisoners of conscience in the country. In 2008, the US State Department estimated that half of the official 250,000 labor camp population was Falun Gong practitioners, and Amnesty International reported in 2013 that it was found that inmates in the labor camps investigated were between 30 and 100 percent Falun Gong -Practice passed.
Former Chinese prisoners also reported that Falun Gong practitioners in the camps consistently "received the longest sentences and the worst treatments" and were singled out for torture and abuse. Manfred Nowak found in a 2006 study of torture that 66% of the reported cases from China were Falun Gong victims. Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have died or have been killed in controversial circumstances. Family members of the deceased said they were denied an autopsy. In some cases, bodies were unceremoniously cremated without the family's consent. Analysts and legal groups pointed to several factors related to particularly severe abuse of Falun Gong practitioners in detention. This included guidelines issued by the central government or Communist Party authorities. There were incentives and quota systems to encourage abuse, and in the case of fatalities, those responsible went unpunished. State propaganda has dehumanized and demonized Falun Gong practitioners.
The large number of Falun Gong detainees detained led investigators to identify them as a likely source of organs. Gutmann's research suggests that other marginalized captive groups may also be targeted, including ethnic Tibetans and Uyghurs, most of whom live in the western regions of China. However, for reasons of geographic proximity, Falun Gong practitioners were more likely to be targeted. In addition, they are comparatively healthy because, due to their spiritual practice, they neither smoke nor drink alcohol.
In connection with organ harvesting, Kilgour and Matas point to another source of vulnerability. In order to protect family members from punishment by security agencies, many Falun Gong practitioners refused to give their names and other personal information. “Although this refusal to be identified was for security reasons, it may have had the opposite effect,” her report said. "Treating a person whose family is not informed of their whereabouts unfairly is easier than with a person whose whereabouts the family knows". Kilgour and Matas found that, until now, they had not met or heard of Falun Gong practitioners who had been released despite refusing to reveal their identities despite the widespread use of the practice. Similarly, Ethan Gutmann reported that in more than a hundred interviews with former prisoners, he only met one Falun Gong practitioner who had remained nameless during her detention: "Her organs were even more worn out than my own."
Medical examination in custody
Ethan Gutmann interviewed dozens of former Chinese prisoners, including 16 Falun Gong practitioners, who remembered the unusual medical examinations in custody. Gutmann concluded that some tests might have been routine examinations, others perhaps to check for the SARS virus. However, in several cases medical tests have been described that were aimed exclusively at internal organ health.
Wang Xiaohua was in a Yunnan labor camp in 2001 when he and 20 other Falun Gong inmates were taken to a hospital. Large amounts of blood and urine were drawn from them, and they were given x-rays of the abdomen and an electrocardiogram. The hospital staff did not care about their physical injuries sustained in detention. This course of action was described in several interviews. Thirty-year-old Qu Yangyao, who escaped abroad, was taken from a labor camp to a hospital with two other Falun Gong practitioners in 2000. Qu said hospital staff drew large amounts of blood, performed chest x-rays, and examined the prisoners' organs. There was “no hammer on the knee, no feeling of the lymph nodes, no examination of the ears, mouth or genitals; the doctor only checked organs that could be sold, nothing else, ”wrote Gutmann.
Jung Tian told Gutmann about extensive physical exams and drawing large amounts of blood - enough for advanced diagnostics or tissue testing - while she was detained in a Shenyang detention center . Another former prisoner in a Guangdong Province Women's Forced Labor Camp mentioned that 180 Falun Gong prisoners underwent medical tests in early 2003 and that the tests focused solely on internal organs. Another witness who was in Masanjia Women's Forced Labor Camp in 2005 testified that only young, healthy practitioners underwent extensive medical examinations upon arrival at the camp. The old and the weak were treated only fleetingly.
In addition to the Falun Gong practitioners, researcher Jaya Gibson identified three Tibetan prisoners who were also only examined for their organs in early 2006.
Telephone evidence
In March 2006, immediately after allegations surfaced that Falun Gong prisoners were being targeted for organ harvesting, overseas investigators began calling Chinese hospitals and police detention centers. The callers posed as potential transplant recipients or organ brokers and asked about the availability of Falun Gong organs. On several occasions, they were given records that organs could be obtained from Falun Gong prisoners. A selection of these conversations was cited as evidence in the Kilgour Matas investigation report.
In one such call to a police detention center in Mishan City , an officer said that they had five to eight Falun Gong practitioners under 40 who were potential organ suppliers. When asked about the background of these people, the officials said they were male Falun Gong prisoners from rural areas.
A doctor at Minzu Hospital in Nanning said that the hospital does not currently have Falun Gong organs available, but that he had previously selected organs from Falun Gong prisoners for transplantation. The doctor advised the caller to contact a university hospital in neighboring Guangdong Province, as it had better channels to get Falun Gong organs. At the Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai , a doctor told investigators that all organs in his hospital were obtained from Falun Gong practitioners. During a phone call in April 2006, a doctor at a military hospital in Guangzhou told investigators that he had "several bundles" of Falun Gong organs, but that supplies could run out after May 20, 2006. In another phone call, the investigators posed as organ traffickers to go to the Jinzhou City People's Court. In response to a question about obtaining organs from Falun Gong prisoners, a court official said, "It depends on your qualifications ... If you have good qualifications, we can still provide some [organs]."
Kilgour and Matas acknowledged that in some cases, hospital staff may have provided the answers callers wanted to hear in order to make a sale. The results of these phone calls would also be difficult to replicate. As allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong get more attention, hospitals will be more reluctant to openly and honestly discuss their organ source practices.
These investigative tactics resumed in 2012 when Communist Party officials began investigating Bo Xilai , a member of the Politburo, for a variety of crimes. Bo was previously the governor of Liaoning Province . Investigators believe this was a major organ harvesting center. The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (WOIPFG) called middle and high-level officials who had previous connections with Bo and posed as members of the Communist Party's internal civil and inspection group who were investigating the case against him built up. They asked about the chain of command involved in obtaining organs from prisoners, including Falun Gong prisoners. When asked about Bo Xilai's involvement in the organ harvesting, a senior member of the Politburo told investigators that Security Tsar Zhou Yongkang “is specifically responsible for it. He knows it". Zhou Yongkang was the head of the Political and Legal Committee responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.
A city official in Liaoning Province was asked by investigators what guidelines Bo Xilai had given in removing organs from Falun Gong prisoners. The officer replied, “I was asked to take care of this task. Actually, the Central Party takes care of it ... He [Bo] was involved without a doubt, yes, it seemed so without a doubt. At that time we talked about it mainly during the meetings of the Standing Committee . ”When the officer realized that he had not asked for the identity of the caller, he hung up. Another phone call was to a doctor from the Liaoning Military Hospital. When asked if organs from Falun Gong practitioners had ever been used in transplants at a nearby hospital, the officer replied in the affirmative and said, "All of this was processed by the court." The doctor soon became uncomfortable with the question he refused to discuss the matter further without clearance and approval from the hospital's political department.
Commercial Incentives
Human rights activists and doctors argued that the commercial nature of organ trafficking in China encourages corruption and abuse. The profit from the sale of the organs could lead to even more killings than would otherwise be the case, regardless of whether legal or extrajudicial allowed. Although this argument does not apply specifically to Falun Gong practitioners, it has been used as circumstantial evidence to support allegations that Falun Gong prisoners may be used for organ harvesting.
The growth of a commercial organ trade is linked to the economic reforms of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which saw a sharp decline in government funding of the health system. Healthcare shifted to a more market-driven model and hospitals pioneered new ways to increase their revenues. This scheme also applies to military hospitals. Since the mid-1980s, the People's Liberation Army has been involved in commercial and for-profit companies to supplement their budget.
Kilgour and Matas in their report described how transplant hospitals in China were targeting wealthy foreigners who paid up to $ 100,000 for liver, lung, and heart transplants. For example, in 2006 the China International Transplantation Network Assistance Center website had the following price list:
- Kidney $ 62,000
- Liver $ 98,000-130,000
- Liver-Kidney $ 60,000-180,000
- Kidney-Pancreas $ 150,000
- Lungs $ 150,000-170,000
- Heart $ 130,000-160,000
- Cornea $ 30,000
- For patients on dialysis for ten years, the price increases by $ 20,000.
- For liver, heart, and lung transplant patients, the price increases by $ 80,000 in the event of a complication
In a statement to the US House of Representatives, Gabriel Danovitch of UCLA Medical Center said, "The ease with which these organs can be obtained and the way they are allocated to wealthy foreigners has spawned a culture of corruption."
Allegations of data falsification
Although Chinese authorities announced in 2010 that the country would move away from using prisoners as an organ source and rely entirely on voluntary donation, and reaffirmed in 2015 that voluntary donors are the only source of organ transplants in China, critics point to evidence for one systematic falsification of data in connection with voluntary organ donation, which calls into question China's reform claims.
In November 2019, BMC Medical Ethics reported an analysis of data on voluntary organ transplants from 2010 to 2018. The data sets came from two national sources, several sub-jurisdictions, and individual Chinese hospitals. The researchers found compelling evidence of "human-controlled data creation and manipulation" in the national datasets, as well as "inconsistent, implausible or anomalous data artifacts" in the provincial datasets, suggesting that the data "may have been tampered with for compliance enforce central quotas ". Among other things, it was found that the alleged growth rate of voluntary donations "corresponds almost exactly to a mathematical formula" and was derived from a simple quadratic equation with almost perfect model parsimony. These results appear to undermine official claims about the level of voluntary organ donation in China. The investigation came to the conclusion that a large number of facts can only be plausibly explained by "systematic falsification and manipulation of official organ transplant data sets in China". The investigators also stated that "some apparently non-voluntary donors are wrongly classified as voluntary". This happens in addition to real voluntary organ transplant activity, which is often promoted by high cash payments, which is not allowed according to WHO standards.
In a response published by the state-run Global Times news agency , Chinese health officials countered that each nation's organ transplant dates could be modeled on. Wang Haibo, head of the China Organ Transplant Response System, which is responsible for organ allocation, defended the accuracy of the Chinese transplant data by saying that "the data from all countries could fit into one equation."
However, the authors of the BMC report suggest that China's model parsimony is one to two orders of magnitude smoother than that of any other nation, even those that have seen rapid growth in organ transplantation.
Case study in Liaoning Province
In his book on organ transplant abuse, Ethan Gutmann included a case study focusing on China's northeastern Liaoning Province. Former Politburo member Bo Xilai served as mayor and party leader of Dalian City, Liaoning Province during the 1990s and later became the province's governor (2001-2004). The province is known for having a large number of Falun Gong practitioners, and it is in this province that most of the reported deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in detention have been reported. Several observers noted that Bo Xilai was launching a particularly intense campaign against Falun Gong in this province, resulting in torture and crimes against humanity.
Bo's closest associate, Wang Lijun , was appointed head of the Jinzhou Public Security Bureau in Liaoning Province in 2003. In that capacity, Wang was the organ transplant director. He reportedly oversaw "several thousand" organ transplants. This raised concerns that many organs had been taken from political prisoners. During an awards ceremony in 2006, Wang told reporters, "For a veteran cop to see someone being executed and, in minutes, see the transformation of that person's life extending the life of several other people's bodies - it was heartfelt. ”Gutmann wrote that it was“ extremely unlikely ”that all of the organs used in all of these surgeries came from death row inmates as there were simply not enough of them to supply thousands of organ transplants. However, Gutmann noted that Liaoning had detained large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners in labor camps and prisons. "It is also significant that both Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun built a great deal of their political power on the suppression of Falun Gong," wrote Gutmann.
Professor Huige Li, a spokesman for the medical advocacy group Doctors Against Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), repeated this point in his testimony to the European Parliament in 2015. According to Li's calculations, a city the size of Jinzhou could be expected to be around the time in question Performs 14 legal executions, meaning the sources of thousands of transplants cannot be verified. In addition to organ transplants in Jinzhou, Gutmann found that Dalian City security agencies delivered human corpses to two large plastination factories, where the bodies were filled with plastic to be sent to body exhibitions around the world. According to an informant interviewed on the 20/20 program, the plastinated carcasses were from executed prisoners. But again Gutmann notices an inequality in the numbers: the body plastination factories in Dalian processed thousands of carcasses - far more than could have been donated or come from legally executed prisoners. The establishment of the body plastification factories coincided with the start of the persecution of Falun Gong.
Responses from the government of China
The Chinese government categorically denied that Falun Gong practitioners were killed for their organs several times, and insisted that they adhere to World Health Organization guidelines . However, until today (2017), China's government has not refuted the specific evidence cited by investigators, nor has it given an alternative explanation for the origin of the organs used in transplants. This is despite the fact that China's Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu first admitted in December 2005 that the organs of executed prisoners are widely used and that up to 95% of all organ transplants are believed to have come from executions.
When a medical doctor named Annie (alias) made a public statement on March 9, 2006 that there was large-scale organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners taking place in China, three weeks later the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman replied, "It is a lie that organs from executed prisoners are removed without their consent. "
The Chinese government also tried to prevent public discussion of the issue outside of its own borders and penalized Chinese citizens for talking about the issue of organ harvesting. In May 2006, European Parliament Vice President Edward McMillan-Scott traveled to China to investigate human rights violations and organ harvesting allegations. His tour guide, Cao Dong, told him that he knew about the organ harvesting and saw the body of his friend, who was a Falun Gong practitioner, "in the morgue with holes in which body parts were removed." Cao Dong was sentenced to five years in prison for speaking with the Vice President of the European Union.
David Kilgour and David Matas said of the Chinese government's response to their 2006 investigation that it "contained a lot of abuse but no factual information that refutes or undermines our conclusions or analysis." The Chinese government's response was particularly focused insisted that Falun Gong was an "evil cult" and questioned the investigators' motives and independence. She also replied that China banned the sale of human organs and required written consent from donors. However, Kilgour and Matas noted that the evidence available did not make these claims true.
From 2006 to 2008, two UN Special Rapporteurs repeatedly requested the Chinese government to respond to allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners. They also wanted an explanation of the origins of the organs used in transplants, particularly the organ sources of the 41,500 kidney transplants identified by Kilgour and Matas. However, the Chinese government's responses did not address these questions, nor did they explain the sources of the transplant organs. Instead, the government wrote that China is acting in accordance with World Health Organization standards and that the conditions under which organ transplants are performed are permitted under Chinese laws and regulations. It was also stated that the organ harvesting allegations were "only the product of the excitement from Falun Gong ... most of which have already turned out to be baseless rumors."
In 2007, the Chinese Embassy in Canada intervened to prevent the broadcast of a documentary about Falun Gong and the organ harvesting that was scheduled for the national broadcaster CBC Television . That same year, the Chinese Embassy in Israel tried unsuccessfully to break off a lecture by investigator David Matas on the subject of organ harvesting by threatening the Israeli government that Mata's statements would have a negative impact on relations between China and Israel.
In 2008, Huang Jiefu published in the Lancet that 90% of the organs for organ transplants are still from death row inmates. In August 2009, China Daily reported that approximately 65% of the organs transplanted were still from death row inmates. However, the convicted criminals were labeled an "unsuitable source of organ transplants" by Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu. This was confirmed by Huige Li. He listed several factors as to why death row convicts were not suitable sources of organs. These include the up to 60% spread rate of hepatitis B in prisons, the poor compatibility of blood and tissue types between donor and recipient, only local usability of the organs, the illegal practice of organ removal (organs from executed persons are not allowed according to international standards and the time factor, as Chinese law requires executions to be carried out no later than seven days after the death sentence.
In 2010, Huang Jiefu, now director of the Organ Donation and Organ Transplant Committee, announced that 90% of the organs were still from executed inmates. In March 2012, Huang Jiefu again admitted that the practice of organ harvesting from inmates was continuing in China, but that the intention was to end the practice within the next five years. Huang told China's Xinhua News Agency that "the promise to end the use of organs of sentenced inmates represents the government's decision." The Chinese Minister of Health did not want to confirm this statement.
In March 2014, Huang, as head of the Chinese Organ Donation Committee, announced that he would integrate prisoners' organs into the Chinese organ donation and distribution system and classify them as voluntary organ donation by Chinese citizens. This sparked outrage from leading international organ transplant experts, who called for an end to exchanges with Chinese experts. In response to the US House of Representatives resolution against organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in July 2014, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy said that China would require written consent from organ donors, stating that "the so-called organ harvesting from prisoners sentenced to death a complete lie fabricated by Falun Gong. ”The embassy official urged American lawmakers to stop“ supporting and cooperating with Falun Gong ”.
International reactions
Medical circles and publications
Allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners have reoriented international medical institutions and professional associations to focus on Chinese transplant practices. Medical professionals raised a number of concerns about the use of prisoners' organs and discussed the ethics of conducting exchanges with Chinese transplant hospitals. In addition, recognized medical journals began to stop publishing articles on organ transplants in China due to the violation of medical ethics.
In 2006 the World Medical Association passed a resolution calling on China to stop using prisoners as organ donors. The National Kidney Foundation in USA expressed "deep concern about the coercive procedures used to preserve organs and tissues as described in the recent allegations."
In December 2006, the Australian government responded to allegations of unethical organ transplants in China by abolishing Chinese organ transplant training programs in the Prince Charles and Princess Alexandra Hospitals , Australia's two largest transplant centers. At the same time, the joint research programs on organ transplantation with China were ended.
On February 22, 2011, doctors GM Danovitch, ME Shapiro and Jacob Lavee demanded in an article in the American Journal of Transplantation that Chinese transplant doctors should no longer publish articles in the AJT. The Journal of Clinical Investigation , a prestigious publication on biomedical research, stated in 2012 that China's organ use by executed inmates “violates fundamental human rights. This violates basic ethical rules of transplant medicine and medical ethics. Worse still, some of those killed are prisoners whose 'crimes' consist in having a certain political or spiritual belief. ”…“ We strongly condemn this practice and, with immediate effect, will no longer accept any manuscripts about human organ transplants, if so no adequate, non-enforced consent of the donor is presented and conclusively justified. "
In October 2011, in the medical journal The Lancet , a group of prominent American surgeons and bioethicists called for a boycott of Chinese science and medicine in the area of organ transplants: “Based on the information provided by China, it is clear that not all organs are for Chinese Citizens and transplant tourists come from voluntary organ donors. The sources of many of these organs come from executed inmates whose consent is either absent or ethically invalid, and whose death may be matched with the expediency of a waiting organ recipient. "Article lead author Arthur Caplan later added," The killing of inmates for their organs is unethical in itself, but this practice is even more appalling since some of the executed prisoners were imprisoned for their religious or political beliefs. "
On February 9, 2015, the ÄrzteZeitung published an article by Huige Li, Professor of Vascular Pharmacology at the University of Mainz, in which Professor Li comments on the current transplant system in China and confirms that there has not yet been any real change in behavior in China.
In February 2017, the specialist journal Liver International declared , due to ethical concerns, that it would never publish the studies of two Chinese transplant experts again. In October 2016, Liver International published a study by two Chinese transplant experts that reported more than 563 operations in a hospital affiliated to Zhejiang University between 2010 and 2014. Wendy Rogers, medical ethics expert at the Australian University of Macquarie in Sydney, and ethics colleagues found in the published work of the two liver transplant doctors from China data that "with a high probability come from transplants with organs of executed prisoners". Rogers argued that it was impossible to conduct such a large study in a hospital with organs from voluntary donors alone, and that there was no evidence of any morally acceptable procurement of the organs. Their concerns about the study led to a letter to Mario Mondelli of the University of Pavia in Italy, the editor-in-chief of Liver International, that "there is a lack of credible evidence of the ethical procurement of organs". At Mondelli's request in China, neither the authors, Shusen Zheng and Sheng Yan, nor their institute, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, were able to provide solid explanations that the operations had met ethical standards. Therefore Mondelli withdrew the contribution and gave the authors a "lifelong ban" to publish their work in Liver International.
United Nations Special Rapporteur
Between 2006 and 2008, two United Nations Special Rapporteurs repeatedly urged the Chinese government to comment on the allegations and explain where the organs come from, which are necessary for the sudden surge in organ transplants in China since 2000. Chinese officials denied the allegations, alleging that China adhered to the WHO's principles that prohibit the sale of human organs without the donor's written consent.
On March 12, 2007, Manfred Nowak , the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, stated in an interview with Profil magazine that the chain of circumstantial evidence from Canadian investigators Kilgour and Matas "paint a coherent picture" and that it is "very cause for concern." Nowak pointed out that it is a fact "that Falun Gong has been greatly suppressed since 1999". It is also indisputable that “since the start of the repression against Falun Gong, the number of organ transplants has massively increased. The official Chinese medical association also shows in its statistics that between 2000 and 2005 there were 60,000 organ transplants ”. Nowak also noted that "Falun Gong followers are ideal organ donors because of their way of life and the sociological typology of the members: They do not smoke, do not drink, and are mostly between the ages of 25 and 35". Since his own investigations had not yet been completed and he “still awaited important information from the Chinese government”, Nowak did not want to give a verdict on the allegations. “Now, in any case, it is the turn of the Chinese government,” said Nowak, “to refute the chain of evidence point by point with appropriate facts (e.g. the exact number of executions, the exact origin of the transplanted organs). In any case, it is not enough to simply reject the massive allegations raised from various sides.
On March 20, 2007, Manfred Nowak presented his annual report at the 4th meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, directly referring to the organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. In addition, Nowak stated that in March 2006, shortly after the first allegations by the wife of a Chinese surgeon were published, the Chinese government presented a bill that would prohibit the sale of human organs, require written consent from organ donors and limit transplants to institutions, which can prove the source of the organ. This law should have entered into force on July 1, 2006. However, Manfred Nowak pointed out that, contrary to the Chinese government's claim, “to this day (March 2007), Chinese law allows organs to be bought and sold; does not require the organ donor's written permission; there are no restrictions for institutions to participate in organ procurement or transplantation; there are no requirements that the institutes involved in organ transplants must provide evidence of the legal sources of the transplanted organs; and there is no requirement that transplant ethics committees must pre-approve all transplants. "
The Chinese government did not respond to the allegations in 2006 or 2007. In May 2008, Asma Jahangir, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and Manfred Nowak again urged the authorities to provide an appropriate response and to name the organ donors for the surge in organ transplants in China since 2000. The government failed to provide a clear explanation.
Nowak later said in August 2009, “The Chinese government still needs to become clean and transparent ... It is still not clear how the massive increase in organ transplants in Chinese hospitals since 1999 can be possible, even though there have never been so many volunteer donors Has. … The Chinese government has not invalidated anything [resp. the allegations], but on the other hand they have not yet been proven. This creates a difficult dilemma - one that can only be resolved if China is willing to cooperate. And that is lacking. ”In 2013, Nowak said in an interview with Die Zeit that the accusations by Kilgour / Matas were“ well researched and very serious ”.
Reactions from countries and governments
Kilgour / Matas submitted their investigation report to the United Nations and 50 western and eastern governments. As a result, they began their own investigations and passed resolutions, as well as legislative changes to ban the trade in organs and transplant tourism.
European Union
The European Parliament passed a resolution on December 12, 2013 condemning the harvesting of organs from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. In the resolution, it expressed, among other things, “its deep concern at the persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-approved organ harvesting from conscientious objectors in the People's Republic of China that are carried out without the consent of those concerned, including large amounts of Falun Gong. Followers detained for their religious beliefs and members of other religious and ethnic minorities. ”The resolution called for the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience and urged China to respond to United Nations inquiries about organ sources used in transplants. This resolution was forwarded to the United Nations Secretary-General, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese National People's Congress, among others.
On March 19, 2014, Henri Malosse , President of the European Economic and Social Committee , in his opening speech at the conference “Organ harvesting in China: Europe must act now” in Brussels, described it as “scandalous that such a practice is being carried out by Chinese officials” . Malosse stated that "the use of the organs of prisoners of conscience, executed and minorities to sell inside and outside of China is a disgrace to humanity and must be stopped immediately". Malosse called for greater pressure on the Chinese government to end organ transplant abuse. The conference was a follow-up event on organ transplant abuse in China. In it the participants and speakers confirmed the content and recommendations of the resolution of the European Parliament.
On March 1, 2018, the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs entered into force, the aim of which is to prevent and combat organ trafficking by criminalizing related acts. It is also intended to protect the rights of victims through organ trafficking and to facilitate cooperation at national and international level to combat organ trafficking.
France
In September 2010, a bill against organ transplant tourism was introduced in the French National Assembly. In the justification for this draft, it was pointed out, among other things, that organs from living donors are often used against their will and that this particularly relates to the situation of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Several studies have revealed the existence of organ use by members of this community. The bill required that patients must prove the source of the organs they received before the transplant or no later than 30 days after their return, and that doctors are required to notify the biomedical authority of patients who have undergone a transplant abroad.
Spain
On June 22, 2010, Spain passed a law prohibiting its citizens from traveling abroad to receive illegal organ transplants. The law was proposed on November 17, 2009 after a newspaper report said that a Spanish citizen had traveled to Tianjin, China to receive a liver transplant for $ 130,000 within 20 days. The law punishes trafficking in human organs with prison terms of up to twelve years.
Italy
In March 2014, the members of the Italian Human Rights Commission unanimously passed a resolution calling for the immediate release of Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience in China.
On March 5, 2015, the Italian Senate passed a bill which, among other things, bans the trade in organs from living donors. Senator Maurizio Romani said that organs from Falun Gong practitioners are the predominant source of transplanted organs. Due to the Italian legal process, the bill was then submitted to the Italian Chamber of Deputies for a vote. On November 23, 2016, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, unanimously and without amendment, passed the law that was inserted into the Italian Criminal Code as Article 601.
The law punishes anyone who illegally trades, sells or acquires organs from a living person with a prison sentence of three to twelve years and a fine of 50,000 to 300,000 euros. If the offense is committed by a person working in the healthcare sector, this person will be excluded from the relevant professional association. If the crime is committed by a criminal organization, the sentence is 5 to 15 years in prison.
Austria
On April 7, 2017, the Vienna City Council passed a motion introduced by the ÖVP , the SPÖ and the Greens to condemn the systematic removal of organs from living prisoners of faith - especially Falun Gong followers. The motion was unanimously accepted by all parties. As a result, Vienna is the first capital of an EU member state to support the implementation of the resolution of the EU Parliament of December 12, 2013 at the regional level. In its motion, the Vienna City Council condemns “the systematic, state-approved organ removal from prisoners in the People's Republic of China, which are carried out without the consent of the persons concerned, as well as, on a large scale, from Falun Gong followers and members of politically persecuted, religious and ethnic minorities ". Furthermore, the application calls on the federal government of Austria to take an active part in ensuring that “the abuse of organ transplants in China is publicly discussed and condemned”, an international commission is to be established “in order to investigate the practices of organ transplants in China and illegal organ harvesting and the international community should work “for the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience”.
Australia
In December 2006, the Australian Ministry of Health announced that two of the country's largest transplant hospitals had banned the training of Chinese surgeons in response to concerns about organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and other inmates.
On March 21, 2013, the Australian Senate unanimously passed a motion regarding reports of organ harvesting in China. The motion was presented to the Senate the day after a parliamentary hearing on organ harvesting from Falun Gong detainees, which called on the Australian government to introduce strict laws against international organ trafficking.
Israel
In 2007, the Chinese Embassy tried to prevent the Israeli government from talking to David Matas about the organ harvesting investigation report. Israel met Matas despite China's threats that this testimony would adversely affect China's relations with Israel.
A year later, in May 2008, Israel's legislative body, the Knesset , passed the new transplant law that exempts insurance companies from paying for overseas transplants if an organ transplant was performed in a country known for organ trafficking. At the same time, organ trafficking and remuneration for organs were made a criminal offense. On the one hand, the law was the result of the story of a patient who traveled to China in 2005 to have a heart there. The patient reported to his Israeli doctor, Dr. Lavee that the organ transplant had been scheduled two weeks beforehand, which led to the question of how a heart transplant can be made to order. Second, it was in response to an investigation into which the Israeli authorities arrested several men who were involved in arranging transplants of Chinese prisoner organs for Israelis. A man involved in organ trafficking admitted in a secret interview that the organs come from "people who oppose the regime, have been sentenced to death and from Falun Gong inmates."
Canada
In 2007, the Chinese Embassy in Canada tried to prevent the broadcast of a documentary about Falun Gong and the organ harvesting that was scheduled by the national television company CBC Television.
In 2009 MP Borys Wrzesneskyj introduced Bill C-381, which prohibits organ trafficking and the receipt of organs from involuntary donors. In 2013, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler introduced Bill C-561, relating to human trafficking and transplantation of human organs and other parts of the body, in order to “create criminal penalties for anyone who knowingly participated in medical practices in Canada or outside Canada Transplantation of human organs or other parts of the body that were removed or acquired as a result of a direct or indirect financial transaction without the donor's consent ”. In 2014, during the Universal Periodic Review process at the United Nations in Geneva , the Canadian government again brought up the subject of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners, and in the same year passed a resolution ending the abuse of transplant methods against religious and ethnic groups Calls for minorities.
On April 4, 2017, Canadian Conservative MP Garnett Genuis announced during a press conference at the National Press Theater that he would reactivate Bill C-561, first introduced in 2013 by Liberal Irwin Cotler. Bill C-561 punishes those in Canada and abroad who “knowingly trade in or acquire human organs that have been removed without the consent of the organ source or for financial gain.” Bill C-561 also changes the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to include those involved in organ trafficking are no longer eligible to come to Canada. Genuis told the press that he was pursuing two issues in the bill: first, that it was a criminal offense for Canadian citizens to obtain organs that you know or should know are being obtained illegally; second, it relates to Chinese officials and other leaders in a country. The law does not directly designate a country, but it is obvious that it is a major issue in China.
On December 7, 2017, Senator Salma Ataullahjan delivered her second reading address in the Senate on Bill S-240, a law amending the Criminal Code and Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to impose criminal sanctions on anyone inside or outside Canada who knowingly in Are involved in the trafficking, harvesting or medical transportation of human organs without the donor's consent. In addition, people involved in this crime should be prohibited from staying in Canada. Ataullahjan hoped "that the bill will immediately find widespread support in both the Senate and the House of Commons." Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said that Bill S-240 will "create a real deterrent for people who would otherwise be involved in this horrific practice [ violent organ removal] could be involved ”. At a press conference on December 12, Ataullahjan said that her draft would build on previous bipartisan attempts, notably by former MP and human rights leader Irwin Cotler. "With the legislation that has been submitted to both chambers [Senate and House of Commons], we have a unique opportunity to stick together and give priority to human rights," said Genius. Bill S-240 was passed unanimously by the Canadian Senate on October 23, 2018, and then submitted to the Canada's House of Commons for incorporation into legislation. After a second reading, the House of Commons passed the draft law to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, which accepted the draft on February 28, 2019 and returned it to the House of Commons for a final vote.
United States of America
Allegations by the US first appeared in the 2009 Executive Commission report on China, and later in the US State Department's 2011 country report on human rights in China.
On September 12, 2012, Dana Rohrabacher , a member of the US House of Representatives, said during a joint hearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee, “The CCP and its national security machine use a wide range of repression techniques such as censorship, beatings, house arrest, forced labor camps, etc. The most horrific manifestation of this gangsterism, however, is the harvesting of organs from political prisoners and incarcerated religious followers, especially the Chinese religious movement Falun Gong. Cutting open the body of a person engaging in religious, personal or political ideas is contrary to the wishes of the ruling elite. Cutting open the body of such a person, especially if the religious or political belief is pacifist and does not pose a threat to the regime, is the most egregious crime I can imagine. "
In July 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Subcommittee unanimously passed a resolution condemning state-sanctioned organ harvesting from Falun Gong inmates and minority members, and calling for an end to the abuse of transplant methods against religious and ethnic minorities.
In response to the resolution of the United States House of Representatives, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the United States said that "the so-called organ procurement from prisoners sentenced to death is a fabricated lie by Falun Gong." In addition, representatives from the Chinese Embassy urged American lawmakers to stop supporting Falun Gong or to "join forces" with them.
After a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee of the US House of Representatives on the 2015 Human Rights Report and the human rights situation in China, the House of Commons passed a revision of Resolution 343 of June 2015 in March 2016. It included state-sanctioned organ harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners and others Convicted minorities again and urged the State Department to carry out a detailed analysis of this crime and publish it in its annual human rights report. Furthermore, entry into the USA is to be banned for Chinese who are involved in organ harvesting. This resolution was passed unanimously by the US House of Representatives on June 13, 2016.
Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan replied to the resolution that the allegations were fabricated and baseless. He called Falun Gong an anti-China movement and again asked Congress to withdraw its support for this spiritual practice that combines meditation with qigong exercises and a moral philosophy based on the principles of honesty and kindness.
Taiwan
In October 2006, Taiwan "severely condemned" China's removal of human organs from executed Falun Gong practitioners. Taiwan's Ministry of Health urged Taiwanese doctors to discourage their patients from having commercial organ transplants in mainland China. With lawmakers finding that Taiwanese citizens were traveling to China to purchase organs, some of which were harvested from living donors, Taiwan passed an amendment to its transplant law in June 2015 to restrict the sale and purchase of organs, including from overseas. forbidden is. The law also prohibits the use of organs from executed prisoners.
present
TEDxMunich
On November 10, 2015, David Matas and David Kilgour pointed out in their speech at TEDxMunich that nothing has changed in the crime of state-subsidized organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners, only some hospitals no longer continue to do so to openly advertise it. In addition, the Chinese government still fails to answer where the organs for the transplants come from.
Human Harvest on 3sat
In the 3/16 issue, TV-Wissen reported in the report "Murderous Organ Trade" about organ harvesting from political prisoners and that the preferred victims of this "perverse on-demand system" were supporters of the religious movement Falun Gong . According to official figures, 8,600 organ transplants were performed in China in 2014, with 80% of the organs required coming from inmates. HÖRZU reports similarly in issue 6/16 in the report “The business with death”.
Both articles were an advance notice of the documentary "Dislodged - Organs on Order" which was broadcast on 3Sat on February 18th. “Disused - organs on order” is the German version of the multiple award-winning documentary Human Harvest . This was followed by the 3sat talk show "scobel: Organ trafficking - The value of man", in which the trade in human organs was highlighted as a modern variant of slavery, and what reasons could be responsible for this "particularly brutal form of social Darwinism" at all could arise. In an interview with 3sat, Professor Li reported that 500 Chinese transplant doctors were trained in Germany in 2013.
Written declaration 48
On April 27, 2016, 12 EU MPs from five political groups submitted the “Written Declaration 48 on Measures against Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China”, calling on the Commission and the Council of the European Parliament to “immediately conduct an independent investigation into continued trafficking with human organs in the People's Republic of China ”. This declaration required the approval of the majority of the MEPs (with a deadline of July 27, 2016) in order to be forwarded to the Commission and the Council of the European Parliament. By the cut-off date, 414 of the 751 MPs had spoken out in favor of the Commission and the Council of the European Parliament implementing the parliamentary resolution of December 12, 2013 on organ removal in China and reporting to Parliament on it. EU Parliament President Martin Schulz read out the result of the vote and the content of the Written Declaration 48 at the first session of Parliament in Strasbourg on September 12, 2016.
Kilgour-Matas-Gutmann investigation report
On June 22, 2016, David Kilgour, David Matas and Ethan Gutmann published the jointly prepared investigation report "Bloody Harvest / The Slaughter - An Update".
The 680-page report provides forensic analysis from over 2,300 sources, including publicly available figures from Chinese hospitals, interviews with doctors claiming to have performed thousands of transplants; Media reports, public statements, medical journals and publicly available databases.
According to the investigation report, between 60,000 and 100,000 organ transplants have been performed annually at 712 liver and kidney transplant centers across China since 2000 to 2016, so that to date almost 1.5 million organ transplants have been performed without China having a functioning organ donation system.
The report finds that the number of organ transplants in China is far higher than the Chinese government said; the organ sources for this high number of organ transplants come from killed innocent Uyghurs, Tibetans, domestic Christians, and mainly Falun Gong practitioners; and organ harvesting is a crime in China involving the Communist Party, state institutions, the health system, hospitals and transplant doctors.
Debate in the British House of Commons on "Organ Harvesting in China"
On October 11, 2016, a debate on “Organ Harvesting in China” took place in the UK House of Commons. Representative Jim Shannon , who moderated the debate, emphasized the importance of addressing the organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China and introduced the participants to the history of the investigation's findings, which has been conducted since 2006 by David Kilgour, David Matas , Ethan Gutmann, and other investigators. Panellists included Sir Alan Duncan , Minister for Europe and the American Countries, Lilian Greenwood , Fiona Bruce , Patrick Grady , Richard Graham , Margaret Ferrier , Matthew Offord , Martyn Day and Catherine West . Shannon closed the debate by calling on the UK government to address this issue internationally so that the international community could end organ harvesting in China: "If we can do that, this House [House of Commons] will work with those of the rest of the world, who are also in favor of an end to this nefarious and terrible kind of organ transplant. ”The debate was broadcast on October 15th on the BBC .
International expert forum of the WOIPFG in Berlin
On October 28, 2016, international investigators met in Berlin to share their findings on organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and other dissidents in China. Speakers included Zhiyuan Wang, President of the non-governmental organization "World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong" (WOIPFG), founded in 2003, and his deputy Professor Sen Nieh, who had been collecting evidence for ten years and telephoning numerous perpetrators in China as undercover agents. who willingly gave them information.
The China analyst and investigative author Ethan Gutmann described his own research from 2006 to 2016, mentioning that while the organ harvesting is mainly carried out from Falun Gong practitioners, testimonies show that internal investigations were carried out on domestic Christians as early as 2002 Labor camps and from 2003 on Tibetans were carried out. Gutmann also mentioned that the "forced disappearance" of Tibetans has been increasing since 2013 and that since 2015 there have even been blood tests on Falun Gong practitioners in their private homes.
The Bundestag member Martin Patzelt emphasized that this matter is not limited to China and the people affected there, but concerns us all. MEP Arne Gericke , initiator of “Written Declaration 48”, spoke about the need to make these issues accessible to the public. Former Vice-President of the European Union Edward McMillan-Scott had his own research read out because he was unable to attend the forum in person.
Arne Schwarz, who examined the role of Western pharmaceutical companies in China by analyzing medical literature and described it at the forum, raised the charge that pharmaceutical companies such as Hoffmann-La Roche , Novartis and Sandoz and western transplant centers in the USA, Australia and Europe are harvesting organs in China indirectly promoted.
Italy adopts law against organ trafficking and transplant tourism
MdB Martin Patzelt of the CDU and member of the Bundestag Human Rights Committee told the Epoch Times about the passage of this law: “This law also sets standards for Germany, here Germany would have every reason to follow Italian law. It is a grave injustice if we just watch and not act. This makes us all complicit. "
Ruth Rissing-van Saan , presiding judge at the Federal Court of Justice a. D. and head of the trust center for transplant medicine , explained at the press conference of the German Medical Association on December 6, 2016 that she was concerned about the "apparently unhindered possible organ trade between individuals and / or organized associations" internationally. This is also noticeable in Germany, as "digital channels are used to target organ offers to institutions or individuals who are recognizably involved in German transplant medicine." This could lead to a conflict of conscience among doctors as to whether they should treat a patient who is "An organ transplanted illegally abroad cannot be excluded". Cases of this kind have already been brought to the trust agency.
At the press conference in Berlin, the chairman of the permanent organ transplantation commission of the German Medical Association, Professor Hans Lilie, mentioned that the guidelines for transplants should be revised by the end of 2017.
Hearing in the Irish Foreign Affairs Committee
On July 6, 2017, the Irish Parliament held a hearing before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defense . Participants included Ethan Gutmann, Enver Tohti, David Matas and transplant surgeons Conall O'Seaghdha and James McDaid; Brendan Smith chaired the committee.
China analyst Ethan Gutmann pointed out that despite statements made by the Chinese government to the contrary, dissidents are still the target of organ harvesting and that China's $ 8 to 9 billion transplant industry continues as usual. Enver Tohti described how, as a young doctor in China, he was forced to remove organs from a living man who was supposed to be executed but was deliberately only shot. Canadian human rights attorney David Matas has called for disclosure of China's transplant registries, and Irish legislation prohibiting organ advertising, brokering and trafficking and prosecuting anyone traveling to China for an organ transplant. Kidney transplant surgeon James McDaid pointed out that transplant tourism also exists in Pakistan, Egypt and India, but “China is unprecedented among any of these countries in executing prisoners for the sale of their organs. Members of several ethnic and religious groups are imprisoned for their beliefs and mercilessly executed to use their organs for transplants. ”McDaid reported that the Vatican had invited two surgeons to the“ International Organ Trade and Transplant Tourism ”conference in February 2016 , who“ openly admitted the unethical executions of prisoners for organs ”. Conall O'Seaghdha, the medical director of the National Kidney Transplant Service in Ireland, condemned the practice of transplant tourism and called for an end to the shameless organ harvesting from living people in China. Brendan Smith pointed out that a European agreement against trafficking in human organs had already been adopted in 2015 and that he would inform the Minister of Health about the hearing in order to move forward with legislation. Smith was sure of the support of the two chambers of the Oireachtas. In addition, he wanted to call on the Foreign Minister to discuss this subject at the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union.
Changes to Norwegian organ trafficking legislation
On June 8, 2017, the Norwegian government ( Stortinget ) updated the national transplant law and made organ trafficking a criminal offense. The purpose of the change in the law is to "prevent and combat trafficking in human organs", since the real purpose of the Transplantation Act is to "ensure access to organs for transplants and the respect and care of donors". Therefore, the law refers to the overall process of transplantation, “including the donation and transplantation of living human organs, cells and tissues to another person” and aims to ensure “that the unauthorized removal and use of organs regardless of the purpose of the removal and Use is punishable ". Accordingly, it is forbidden to “remove, insert or use human organs, cells or tissue in order to achieve a financial gain or a comparable advantage, as well as to demand, offer, receive or grant such profits or advantages”. The penalty ranges from fines to imprisonment, which in serious cases can be up to 6 years. Norway is the third country to have implemented the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings into national law.
South Korean documentation confirms that organ harvesting continues
On November 15, 2017, the South Korean television broadcaster Chosun TV broadcast a documentary in its program "Informe de Investigación 7" which, through direct investigations in China, showed that organ harvesting from dissidents is still taking place in China. The team of journalists investigated the transplant tourism from South Korea to China, where an estimated 2,000 people have traveled to China annually to undergo an organ transplant since 2000. The investigation took place at a hospital in Tianjin, northeast China, which, according to the description, may have been Tianjin's First Central Hospital, which "has a full, multi-story organ transplant building with a capacity of 500 beds."
Using a hidden camera, the team of journalists filmed a conversation with the hospital staff. This announced that "a compatible organ can be found" within one, two weeks or 50 days. However, “the waiting time could be shortened” if the patient's family donated additional amounts to the hospital's own “charity” so that they could “be assigned a suitable organ earlier”. The reporter was also told that "the hospital only selects organs from young people."
The team of reporters also visited a research laboratory in Chongqing Hospital. There, laboratory staff showed him a machine that is said to be based on the patent of former police chief Wang Lijun. Wang became known for his morbid human experiments, which examined methods of organ transplantation in order to better preserve the condition of transplanted organs. When asked about the purpose of the machine by the reporter, laboratory staff confirmed "that the machine could be used on a person to make them brain dead while keeping other organs in the body healthy".
The documentary comes to the same conclusions as earlier independent researchers, namely that there must be a living organ bank from which people are killed on behalf of transplant surgery. Although the Chinese authorities claim that organs have not been taken from prisoners since 2015, the documentation provides concrete evidence directly from Chinese hospital staff and South Korean doctors that organ theft has continued uninterrupted to this day.
Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs
On March 1, 2018, the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs (CETS No. 216) , which was launched in March 2015 and is open to member states and non-member states of the Council of Europe, entered into force. The objectives of the convention are to: prevent and combat trafficking in human organs by criminalizing related acts; protect victims' rights through organ trafficking and facilitate national and international cooperation to combat organ trafficking.
Measures to prevent organ trafficking include collecting, analyzing and sharing data on illegally acquired organs with all related authorities, as well as banning advertising for the need for or availability of organs for financial or other gain .
In order to combat organ trafficking, the contracting states undertake to make the following acts punishable (excerpt): The use of human organs without the donor's voluntary and express consent or if the donor or third parties were offered or accepted payment or other benefits in exchange for this when organs are harvested in a context other than that of the state transplant system. Implantation of organs outside of the national transplant system or in violation of essential principles of national transplant law. Finding and recruiting paid organ donors or organ recipients. Preparation, preservation, storage, transport, transfer, reception, import and export of illegally harvested human organs. Promise, offer, or provide any form of compensation to, and acceptance of, any form of compensation to health care workers or officials in support of organ trafficking (organ removal or organ implantation, or facilitating such act).
Bundestag debate on human rights violations in China
A Bundestag debate on human rights violations in China took place on November 8, 2018. Among other things, the harvesting of organs from Falun Gong practitioners was pointed out. Michael Brand, CDU, emphasized that the human rights violations in China had something to do with us here in Germany and that they would challenge us here in Germany and pointed out the ignorance of the West regarding these human rights violations: "In view of serious reports, the silence in the West is also about re-education - and forced labor camps, as well as quite loud about organ trafficking and death by order, the silence is quite loud. "Jürgen Braun, AfD, demanded that all human rights violations in China must come to an end, but the illegal organ trade should be looked at in particular: “I am talking specifically about the massive organ removal from prisoners who are locked in camps for the purpose of organ harvesting. ... Human rights activists speak of 60,000 to 100,000 illegal transplants. ... This gruesome number is also confirmed by an official report of the American Congress from 2016. In China, Falun Gong supporters and other prisoners continue to have their organs removed, sometimes without anesthesia. "Braun pointed to the" mass mutilation and murder of Falun Gong followers ”. Sebastian Brehm, CSU, also addressed organ harvesting directly, stating that “prisoners of conscience, political prisoners, and these are mainly the Uyghurs, but unfortunately also the Tibetans, members of the Christian house churches, Kazakhs and Falun Gong were killed in large numbers to sell their organs. The world is watching organ harvesting. ... "According to Spiegel, the Chinese side was extremely dissatisfied with the debate in the Bundestag and issued a serious protest note to the German Bundestag and the federal government, in which it was pointed out that the Bundestag debate was" a blatant interference in internal affairs and a gross one Violation of the sovereignty of China ”. It was also announced that members of the Bundestag had been pressured by China in writing and by telephone.
Investigation report from WOIPFG confirms the ongoing organ harvesting
A recent series of investigations found that organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China is continuing at a number of leading transplant centers. From October 19 to December 2, 2018, Dr. Wang, former chief medical officer of the People's Liberation Army Air Force and chairman of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), conducted an investigation calling senior transplant surgeons from twelve top-level hospitals in China and looking for live organs from Falun Gong . Gong practitioners asked.
Dr. Wang posed as a relative of a patient and the deputy director of the Stability Preservation Bureau of the Sichuan Province Political and Legal Committee . The report assumes that this may have moved the doctors who called them to respond more openly, as the Political and Legal Committee is responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong and is thus seen as an accomplice. At the same time, transplant centers depend on the Political and Legal Committee to get organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
The 16 transplant surgeons called are all directors or presidents of high-level organ transplant clinics in China; some responsible for related projects at the state level, some as technical experts at the provincial level, and some within organizations that persecute Falun Gong. Eleven out of 16 doctors from nine hospitals immediately admitted using organs from Falun Gong practitioners. The remaining five avoided answering. None of the transplant surgeons showed up to answer Dr. Wang surprised, dismayed, or angry. It seemed like routine questions to her.
Questions to transplant surgeons (excerpt):
- Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): "You use Falun Gong practitioners as donors, that is, these healthy donors, right?" - Peng Zhihai, director of the Shanghai General Hospital Organ Transplant Center: "Definitely healthy. How can it be acceptable if they are not healthy? "
- Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): "The organs you use are Falun Gong practitioners' healthy organs, normal donors, right?" - Wang Jianli, deputy chief physician of the Organ Transplant Institute, Beijing Armed Police General Hospital : "Right, right, right, right. "
- Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): "The donors are from normal healthy Falun Gong practitioners, right?" - Lang Ren, Liver Transplant Director, Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital: "Right, right, that's right, you are right."
- Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): "You are using Falun Gong (practitioners) as a donor now, right?" - Hang Hualian, Senior Physician, Liver Transplant Surgery Department at Shanghai Renji Hospital: "Yes, it is safe."
- Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): "You still use Falun Gong (practitioners) as healthy donors, right?" - Wang Changxi, Director of the Second Kidney Transplant Department at the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou: "All, all of it is them. All donated are. "
- Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): "You mentioned that you have a new technology that can shorten the warm ischemia period, right?" - He Xiaoshun, Vice President of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou : "Right, we have it. ... Actually it doesn't shorten the time, it is ... "- Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): “Oh, really? That means that there is no more warm ischemia at all, right? ”- He Xiaoshun:“ Right, right, right. We always carry out the [organ] transplants when the liver has continuous blood flow during the entire process. ”- Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): “Oh, to be carried out when there is always blood circulation. What is the name of your technology? ”- He Xiaoshun:“ It is so. We call it 'no ischemia'. There is no blood loss, so it is called a 'no ischemia liver transplant.' ”- Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): “Oh, let me confirm again. So the organs you are currently using are all from Falun Gong [practitioners] who are healthy. So they're very healthy organs, aren't they? ”- He Xiaoshun:“ Right. It is not necessary to rinse [the organs] with ice-cold water or to keep them in ice. All of these procedures can be omitted! ”- Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): “Oh, that makes sense. So the organs of Falun Gong [practitioners] are inherently very good, and there is no problem with warm ischemia, that would be even better. ”- He Xiaoshun:“ Right, right, right. ” Comment from Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): "No-ischemia liver transplants are only possible if the organs are removed from living people."
Organ harvesting in the hospital: The report indicates that the doctors had no problem confirming that the organ harvesting was taking place in the hospital to ensure “organ quality”. Seven doctors confirmed that both the organ harvesting and the transplants are performed in their hospitals. In the US, which has a mature organ donation system, it is very rare for an organ donor to die in the same hospital where a suitable recipient is waiting for an organ. This suggests that live organ removal or killing of people for their organs may be done by doctors in the same hospital.
Waiting times and organ sources: The report also states that the waiting times for living organs have not changed either. Most doctors promised an organ transplant within one to two weeks, with the longest waiting period of two months and the shortest “tomorrow”. In addition, it was confirmed that organ sources are the same as those of organ brokers. Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): "The organs taken by the brokers are also the normal organs of Falun Gong (practitioners), and the organ sources are the same, right?" Li, on-duty doctor of the Urological Surgery of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital: "Yes, everything taken from them." Note From Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): “If a doctor admits that organ sources from organ brokers and hospitals are the same, what does that mean? It means that 'brokers' are just a cover for the government-sanctioned business. "
Awards: The report publishes for the first time that there are internal awards for officials of the Communist Party of China. When Dr. Wang (WOIPFG) asked about the price of an organ transplant, Wang Jianli, deputy chief physician of the Organ Transplant Institute at Beijing Armed Police General Hospital , said the price was not high; 200,000 to 300,000 yuan ($ 28,000 to $ 43,000) would be enough for a liver transplant. Dr. Li from the urology department at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital reported 100,000 yuan (US $ 14,000) in advance for a kidney transplant. Comment from Dr. Wang (WOIPFG): "A liver transplant in China typically costs between 700,000 yuan and over a million yuan (101,000 to 144,000 US dollars)." Wang therefore assumes that he was given a "discount price" by Wang Jianli because he assumed that Dr. Wang (WOIPFG) is a senior official on the Political and Legal Committee.
Belgian House of Lords adopts law against organ trafficking and transplant tourism
On April 25, 2019, the Belgian House of Lords unanimously passed a law supplementing the Criminal Code, which punishes anyone involved in the purchase and sale of human organs. The sentence amounts to a fine of 1.2 million euros and 20 years in prison. The law prohibits all Belgian citizens from obtaining organs, regardless of whether it is inside or outside Belgium. As a result, Belgium also criminalizes transplant tourism to other countries. The law stipulates that organ sellers and recipients as well as all middlemen, doctors and medical professionals involved in the sale of organs will be prosecuted. The maximum sentence - 20 years imprisonment and a fine of 1.2 million euros - relates to transplant procedures that lead to the death of the donor. If criminal organizations are involved in the crime, all members can be punished. The text of the law contains a section that refers to the resolution passed by the European Parliament in December 2013 condemning organ harvesting in China. The bill passed by the Belgian House of Lords is forwarded to the Belgian Senate and then put into effect by the King.
See also
Web links
- Organ Harvesting in China on YouTube . Video, 6 minutes. August 2006.
- Killed for Organs: China's Secret State Transplant Business on YouTube . Video, 8 minutes. 2006.
- Organ Harvesting in China - Between Life and Death on YouTube . Video, 52 minutes. 2011.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Price list for organs ( memento of October 29, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) of the China International Transplantation Network Assistance Center, Shenyang, January 15, 2006, accessed on April 22, 2016
- ↑ Guarantee for organ transplants ( Memento of May 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) of the China International Transplantation Network Assistance Center, January 15, 2006, Shenyang, accessed on April 22, 2016
- ↑ Ethan Gutmann: The Slaughter (German version): mass murders, organ harvesting and China's secret solution to its dissident problem, GoodSpirit Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3862391059
- ↑ a b Parliament of Canada, “International Human Rights Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs,” November 6, 2014, accessed March 9, 2015
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- ↑ a b Congress.gov, “Res. 281: Expressing concern over persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience, in the People's Republic of China, including from large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned for their religious beliefs, and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups ” , 113. Congress, July 30, 2014, accessed December 12, 2015
- ↑ a b United Nations Human Rights Special Rapporteurs Reiterate Findings on China's Organ Harvesting from Falun Gong Practitioners ( Memento of May 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), The Information Daily, May 9, 2008, accessed December 12, 2015
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