Organ Trafficking : A Large Problem

Many of those who choose to sell their organ is either forced or manipulated by wealth. It is more likely for a poorer citizen from a developing country to be willing to supply n organ for a member of the upper class or for someone who can afford it, either through directly or through a broker. Brokers will do what every it takes to get what is being demanded. Some of the donors involved in organ trafficking are victims of body snatching or involuntary organ donations. Brokers will have the individual drugged and their organ removed without their consent to the procedure, they are also known for kidnaping poor and take whatever organ they desire and leave them there for dead. “Although estimates of trafficked persons are in their millions relatively few are identified” (Steinfall, T.M and Weitzer, R., 2011). Today brokers work with hospital staffs to locate poverty-stricken individuals to sell their organs for money. Some doctors often target children of poor countries in sell their organ in the black-market. In spite of its awareness, trafficking is still increasing. Trafficking a human organ is a growing profitable enterprise much like the unauthorized markets for weapons, humans, and drugs. Without the enforcement of laws against organ trafficking it is easier for an organ trafficker to buy and sell human organ increasing criminal

Before going too deep into this issue, everyone should understand what human trafficking is. Human trafficking is the illegal movement of people, typically for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation.This may include providing a spouse in a forced marriage or the extraction of organs or tissues. Yuri Fedotov, the head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, said,“At any one time, 2.4 million people suffer the misery of this humiliating and degrading crime.” It is estimated that only one out of 100 victims of trafficking are ever rescued.

The buyer needs an organ. The seller needs cash. Two sides of the same coin, both parties are fueled by desperation to survive. With only one country in some way regulating its organ market economy (Iran), all other sales occur in the ever-expanding illegal trafficking network on a global scale. The World Health Organization defines organ trafficking as:

Sex trafficking is a form of human trafficking that has been a worldwide issue since ancient times, but regularly forgotten, due to it being almost an impossible to fix dilemma. Since the dawn of mankind sexual exploitation and slavery has been occurring, dating back to ancient times. Various forms of trafficking occur including, sexual slavery where victims are forced into performing sexual actions including prostitution and pornography. Another form of human trafficking is slavery where the victim is forced into unpaid work which they undertake harsh life threatening conditions. Another form of human trafficking is the trafficking of human tissue, cells, and organs. This is where humans are illegally stripped of their organs,especially kidneys. Due to countries long list of needed transplants, criminals take that opportunity to make quick money by stealing humans and performing dangerous operations to sell the victim 's organs. The thing all trafficking groups have in common is their lust for fast easy money. By using humans to sell sex,work, and organs these pimps can accomplish these goals with little

India, China and Indonesia are just a few of the countries with documented cases. One would ask, why would someone want to traffic organs? The answer is simple, the demand for organs is extremely high. There are hundreds of thousandths of men, women and children that are or organ donor lists areound the world. Desperate times call for desperate measures and people are willing to pay top dollar or these organs, especially if it means they can bypass that list altogether. Trafficking for organs is actually broken down into three categories. There are instances where the victim is forced or tricked into giving up and organ. There are also cases where the person may be treated for an ailment, whether true or not, and unbeknownst to them and organ is removed. And lastly, the victim may have agreed to give an organ for payment but the end result is them giving up an organ and not being compensated. Groups targeted are mainly homeless and illiterate persons that are vulnerable. Kidneys and livers are amongst the most commonly sought after organs but any organ can be subject to illegal removal and trade. In 2013, a Georgia teen died at school and his death was quickly assumed to be an accident by the local authorities. The teen’s parents however, we not convinced. After the young man’s body was exhumed and an autopsy performed, it was found that his body had been stuffed with newspaper. The boy’s brain, heart and lungs had all been removed and his death was actually caused by blunt force trauma. The reality of organ trafficking is not only scary but often times

Organ trafficking is an illegal act that occurs globally. Traffickers are taking organs out of people using unhealthy medical procedures that cause serious health problems in many people in countries all over the world. Money is a strict motivation that keeps this black market running and increasing due to the disproportionate ratio of organs needed to survive, and organs available to transplant. There are many arguments revolving around the issue of organ donation in terms of ethics, limiting the ways people can donate. There is a very long process one would have to go through if considering donation, including a psychological examination in addition to the first part of the process to determine if the organ from the donor is a match for the recipient. Selling organs for profit is considered unethical as society views organ transplantation as an act that should be an altruistic donation, meaning that donations should be done without profit. Although there are laws restricting the act of organ trafficking, it is a growing industry because people do not understand the gravity of the damage being caused to targeted individuals and the community. In order to make a global change to put an end organ trafficking, people unaware of the activity should be educated of the act and the negative consequences it can have on multiple levels of the community. Organ trafficking can hurt an individual physically, mentally and financially

Victims of sex trafficking can be U.S. citizens, foreign nationals, women, men, children, and LGBT individuals. Vulnerable populations are frequently targeted by traffickers, including runaway and homeless youth, as well as victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and more. Sex trafficking occurs in a range of venues including fake massage businesses, via online

Human trafficking is a complex phenomenon hence difficult to conceptualize (Maclnnis, 2012). Scholars, nations and international organizations have individually or collectively tried to define human trafficking and, not surprisingly, they disagree with one another. United States (US) for instance does not consider organ trade as human trafficking whereas the United Nations (UN) and Canada do (United States Department of State 2010; United Nations 2012). According to Malawi Human Trafficking Act (2015), trafficking in persons means:

The National Organ Transplant Act (Public Law 98-507) makes it illegal to sell human organs and tissues in the United States (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2017). Violators are subject to fines and imprisonment. Congress made this law to ensure wealthy individuals do not have an unfair advantage for receiving an organ donation. Some illegal organ trafficking does occur; the World Health Organization estimates about one-fifth of all kidney donation may not be legally donated (Troug, 2005). Paying for an organ is an unjust moral pressure for the donor. In contrast to the law, some argue in favor of allowing organs to be sold for monetary incentive to increase the supply of organs to meet the high demand. This is an example of utilitarianism ethics, as the ends of giving lives from donating organs justify the means of paying for the organ. Furthermore, organs are being sold in other places of the world. For example, in India, individuals sell their kidneys for $700, and in Bombay, there have been kidnapping cases where people are killed for they organs (Troug, 2005).

October 2011 marks the first proven case of black market organ trafficking in the United States. Levy Izhak, a New Yorker, pled guilty in federal court for illegally expediting kidney transplants. His lawyer claimed, “the transplants were successful and the donors and recipients are now leading full and healthy lives” because of the organ donation and receiving the transplant. Contradicting this principle is that the transaction of blood, semen and ovarian eggs are legal however it is illegal to sell organs in the United States.

Organ trafficking deals with the illegal act of exchanging human organs or tissues at an agreed price. This practice involves mafia networks that collect organs from dead or living persons. A majority of people involved in this illicit business are poverty stricken and so, they see it as a promise of a brighter future. While the World Health Organization (WHO) has defined strict rules, imposed ethical standards along with the absence of any monetary compensation, the trade of organs in the black market has continued to develope ridiculously.

In the US recently the issue of human organ trafficking has become a bigger and bigger problem. When people hear that human organs are being bought and sold on the black market, they think that kind of thing only happens in third world countries, but it is quickly becoming one of America's biggest issues. People spend years of their lives on the transplant list waiting for a life saving operation, and they think that if they just buy whatever they need, it will solve all their problems. What most people don’t understand is how corrupt and dangerous organ trafficking is. The sale of human organs either facilitated through a doctor or on the

Trafficking of organs of human beings is taking place on a daily basis. Individuals at the mercy of organized crime groups are experiencing brutal tactics in the forms of “incarceration, rape, torture and sexual enslavement" (UNRIC, 2014) in order to harvest their organs to meet the supply of organs needed for brokers to sell through an organized nexus of crime (UNRIC, 2014). If the process of legalizing organ sales was initiated and the organ trade had the opportunity to be regulated, the heinous treatment of poor organ donors may cease to exit. The primary goal of regulating the sale of organs internationally would be" to get organized crime out of it, get fair prices and safer practices for donors and safer medical care for recipients"(Leslie,

In 1954, the world’s first successful kidney transplant between two live people took place. 30 years later, kidney transplantation was now common and acceptably safe, and in 1984, the sale of organs was banned through the National Organ Transplant Act, meaning any organ used may only be through donation. Under this act, however, only one person has ever be prosecuted for the brokering illegal organs. In the years since, illegal organ trafficking has sprung up in India, China, the US, Brazil, and South Africa with little to no real evidence of an end to the injustice it causes.

The delegate of Russia believes even though some nations like Russia are trying to get rid of organ trafficking, without the uncompromising effort of the other developed nations to ban importing trafficked organs within their own countries, it will be impossible to end this injustice. Developed countries must organize a system that would encourage an increase in legal organ donors, such as the opt-out system which has been successfully introduced in several countries, or reconsider and deregulate the present system on the basis of WHO guidelines. At the same time, laws must be organized to punish illegal trafficking groups in order to protect poor ‘donors’ from being lured into the organ trade.