WHO Briefing Paper

8/18/2019 WHO Briefing Paper

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World Health Organization

Illicit Organ Trafficking and the Black Market for

Human Body Parts

Note to the Committee

September 2009Dear Delegates,

Thank you for attending the 25th Annual St. Johns !odel "nited #ations

$onferen%e and &el%ome to the 'orld (ealth )rgani*ation.

The 'orld (ealth )rgani*ation &as designed to %oordinate authority oninternational publi% health. There are +9 member states and it is head-uartered in

ene/a, S&it*erland.n this %ommittee, &e &ill be dis%ussing the problem of illegal organ traffi%king

and the sale of human body parts on the 1la%k !arket. t is an issue that plagues

%ountless %ountries o/er the globe, and needs to be stopped. lease read the atta%hed briefing paper to familiari*e &ith this issue. Also, be sure to kno& your %ountrys poli%y

and &here they stand on this issue. lease do additional resear%h on your o&n.

f you ha/e any -uestions or %on%erns email me at 3a%kkod4gmail.%om. look

for&ard to seeing all of you on %onferen%e day.

Ja%k )Day

Member States

Afghanistan, Argentina, $ambodia, $anada, $hina, gypt, (aiti, (onduras, ndia, taly,

ndonesia, slami% 6epubli% of ran, 7a*akhstan, 7enya, !e8i%o, !oro%%o, !yanmar,

akistan, eru, 6ussian ederation, 6&anda, Saudi Arabia, Sierra :eone, Singapore,South Afri%a, Thailand, Turkey, "ganda, "nited 7ingdom, ;iet #am

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Statement of the Problem

'ith hundreds of thousands of people around the &orld needing organ transplants

e/ery year, the list for donors seems short and the &ait long. !any people in this

situation feel like they ha/e no&here to turn. They look for the easy &ay out, and

usually seek out the dangerous underground &orld of the illegal organ trade. There is an

intri%ate underground e%onomy based solely on the remo/al, pur%hase, and transfer of

human organs. 'hile this pra%ti%e is illegal, legislation /aries from %ountry to %ountry.

!any organ traffi%kers disguise their illegal a%ti/ities as medi%al tourism, a legal and

&idespread &ay of getting medi%al %are. The term medi%al tourism is defined as,


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are ndia, eru, and 7enya. Three of the &orlds largest slums are lo%ated in these

%ountries. The most impo/erished areas &here many of the donors %ome from are

Dhara/i, referred to as


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the kidney. Sin%e humans only need one to fun%tion, donors /ie& this as an opportunity

to make easy money. The donors think that the operations &ill go on &ithout a hit%h, and

that they &ill be re%o/ering in a hospital in the "nited States or $anada. The donors

usually get some sort of ba%kground information about the person that &ill be re%ei/ing

their organ, and also &hen they &ill be paid. )n the 1la%k !arket, a kidney usually goes

for ten thousand "nited States dollars. The most %ommon situation e8perien%ed by

donors is not getting paid in full for their organs. The traffi%ker &ill usually tell them

right before their s%heduled operation that they ha/e a %ertain defe%t that prohibits them

from getting the full amount they &ere promised. n most %ases, they are too far into the

agreement, and ha/e no &ay of getting out of the donation.

The health risks posed by the illegal organ trade are immense. #ot only the donor

and re%ipient are in danger, but e/eryone in/ol/ed in the pro%ess. The mules, or %arriers

of the organs, are those most in danger &ho do not ha/e any surgi%al pro%edures

performed on them. n %ountries su%h as 7enya and ndia, the mules often &ont &ear

glo/es or take any real %are of the organs being transported. To get them onto airplanes,

they &ill &rap them in plasti% and tape them to their stoma%hs, or &ill pla%e them in

hollo&ed out ob3e%ts su%h as basketballs or %o%onuts. The organs are not stored at the

temperatures re%ommended by the Ameri%an A%ademy of Surgeons, and often end up

&ith some sort of defe%t upon arri/al in the "nited States or another first &orld %ountry. 5

'ith these underground organ transplants, the re%ipients are in immense danger if

the organs are not stored and transported properly. As &ith any organ transplant, the list

of possible side effe%ts is -uite large. atients might e8perien%e some shortterm side

effe%ts su%h as nausea, diarrhea, mood s&ings, anemia, arthritis, and tremors. f the

5 http@&&&.fa%s.orgorgansmuggling22


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organ pi%ks up a disease in transport, the re%ipient &ill also be at risk of that disease.

There is al&ays the %han%e that the patient &ill re3e%t the organ, and &ill die as a result.

'ith organs obtained illi%itly, the risk for re3e%tion is almost four times as high. C

The person in most danger in this entire pro%ess is the donor. eople &ho are

untrained in medi%ine, and largely unedu%ated in general, %arry many of these operations

out. The operations are usually %arried in %rude settings &ith little or no anesthesia and

unhygieni% instruments. Donors are almost ne/er gi/en postoperati/e %are and most

patients are released the day of or the day after the surgery. !any of the donors also

%ontra%t diseases be%ause of the unsanitary %onditions, tools, and pra%ti%es.

F

Past Actions

#ot mu%h has been done to %ontrol health threats posed by organ traffi%king.

)ther general assemblies and spe%iali*ed %ommittees &ithin the "nited #ations ha/e

tried to %urb this problem. They mainly fo%us on the so%ioe%onomi% effe%ts of the trade

and the %lass struggles bet&een the donors and the traffi%kers. )ther %ommittees also

deal &ith the ethi%s of the entire trade, and &hether or not donors should be allo&ed to

gi/e their organs a&ay for a pri%e.

Different %ountries ha/e taken some steps to try to %ontrol the bla%k market for

human organs and its health risks. ndia, &ith one of the most %on%entrated number of


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traffi%kers &ithin the "nited States ha/e been tried and %on/i%ted of pra%ti%ing medi%ine

&ithout a li%ense, patient endangerment, denying postoperati/e %are, and the use of

unsanitary tools &hen %ondu%ting a surgery.

There are also a number of antitraffi%king groups &ithin the international

%ommunity trying to %ontain and e/entually end this problem. The Transplantation

So%iety, the only international %oalition &orking spe%ifi%ally against the traffi%king and

sale of human organs, has been &orking to end the trade %ompletely. This group also

spe%ifi%ally deals &ith the health risks brought by organ traffi%king. They seek re%ipient

and donor 3usti%e, and pro/ide legal assistan%e to try to bring the


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in%luding up to 25 years in 3ail. The Ameri%an $ollege of Surgeons also ad/ises the

"nited States ederal o/ernment in dealing &ith the smugglers %aught &ith the organs.

The United "ingdom

:ike the "nited States of Ameri%a, the "nited 7ingdom of reat 1ritain and #orthern

reland has hea/y penalties and 3ail time atta%hed to the trade. There are not as many

antismuggling organi*ations as in the "nited States, but there are a fe& groups &orking

to %ombat this trade.

#ormer $ommunist %ations and o&iet atellite tates

!any " members ha/e la&s banning the trade. !oldo/a leads as one of the top three

nations harboring the trade. The go/ernment has attempted to institute legislation to %urb

the trade but su%%ess has been limited. $urrently, organ farms are a %ommonality a%ross

the %ountry and the trade is in%reasing to e8treme rates.

!frican %ations

llegal trade and traffi%king are a gro&ing problem in the region. 7enya, gypt, South

Afri%a are main hubs of the trade. Although some la&s are in pla%e to pre/ent the trade,

the high le/els of po/erty and ine-uality for%e people to go against these la&s and

parti%ipate in the trade.

The Middle East

!any people rely on illegal organ trade be%ause of faulty go/ernment systems and long

&aiting times. There are high rates of medi%al tourism from &ealthy !iddle asterners to

South Asia to a%-uire organs.


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'atin !merican %ations

1ra*il, a %urrent sour%e of trade, has banned the trade and set high fines and 3ail times of

I years. To %ombat the high &aitlists &orld&ide, 1ra*il is attempting to in%rease their

supply by mandating that ea%h adult be a donor e8%ept under spe%ial %onditions.

!sia

As the %urrent sour%e of mu%h of the illegal trade, go/ernment poli%ies differ greatly

bet&een the %ountries. Japan and other ad/an%ed industriali*ed nations ha/e strong

poli%ies against the trade, but they are not ne%essarily highly effe%ti/e. $hina is a ma3or

sour%e of %ontention be%ause the go/ernment sells the organs of e8e%uted prisoners if

their bodies are not immediately %laimed. Southeast Asia is a key hub for the trade, due to

po/erty. ndia used to allo& the trade but has instituted la&s to prohibit it. !edi%al

tourism is a ma3or problem in this area, as &ealthy foreigners %ome to a%-uire organs.

$hina and the (ussian #ederation

These t&o %ountries dont ha/e many spe%ifi% la&s go/erning this trade. The

go/ernments of these nations are &orking to %ombat this problem, but the programs are

still either being %on%eptuali*ed or in their infant stage.

WHO Briefing Paper

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