© ETAC | 2017
The issue of China’s transplant practices first came to light through a whistleblower in March 2006. In response, David Kilgour and David Matas launched an independent investigation. Investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann later spent seven years doing his own research. He reached similar conclusions. In 2016, the three investigators joined forces, evaluating primary source research about the activities of hundreds of transplant hospitals around China. Drawing on media reports, official statements, medical journals, hospital websites, and web archives, their findings show that China’s transplant industry became among the most prolific in the world in just a few years, despite the lack of any organ donation system.
Victims & Numbers | The dark secret of China’s transplant industry is that another source entirely has been used: non-consenting prisoners of conscience. Those targeted include prisoners of conscience as far back as the 1970s, then Uyghurs, a Turkic, Muslim people residing in the northwest region of Xinjiang during the 1990s, and over the years that follow, some anecdotal evidence indicates, Tibetans and House Christians in captivity were also used. But by far the largest group to be targeted for organ harvesting is Falun Gong. The serious, large-scale development of China’s transplantation system coincided with the Communist Party’s campaign to wipe out Falun Gong.
Suppression by the Communist Party | The relationship between the Communist Party and the state is unlike anything we see in democratic countries. In democratic states, those in government rule. In China, it is the Party that rules. State functionaries are puppets. It is the Party which pulls the strings. Because the Party rules the state, the state organs do not control the Party. That is true of the legal as well as the political system. The Party is above the law, because the Party tells the legal system what to do. The Party does not need the law or the courts to engage in repression. It uses the police and the prisons without any law which supports their activity.
Legislation & Advocacy | Laws are being passed to criminalize the purchase of trafficked organs at home or abroad. The Coalition continues to call on Governments to enact measures including mandatory reporting of ‘organ tourism’, a ban on entry of individuals involved in trafficking organs, and prohibition of pharmaceutical companies participation in transplant field tests and clinical trials in China. We encourage you to connect with other academics, lawyers, ethicists, medical professionals and human rights advocates to participate in a variety of initiatives to end forced organ harvesting in China.
Copyright © 2017 The International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse. All Rights Reserved.
