Human Trafficking for the Purpose of Organ Removal

• In Event: Unusual Actors in Human Trafficking

Abstract

Human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal (THBOR) is a new and neglected form of human trafficking about which limited empirical knowledge exists. The prevailing discourse externalizes it a criminal practice operating outside the legal transplant industry. Although prohibited worldwide, only a few cases have appeared at the judicial level. Furthermore, with most studies addressing the detrimental outcomes reported by kidney sellers on the black market, limited knowledge exists about the role of other actors such as patients, transplant professionals, brokers and hospitals. This presentation draws on the results of an international, qualitative research project on THBOR, conducted in Sweden, Macedonia, The Netherlands, USA, Kosovo, Israel and South Africa. More than 100 interviews were held with patients, transplant professionals, police officers, prosecutors and other stakeholders. In addition, a vast amount of prosecuted case materials were collected and analyzed. The presentation will describe the role and modus operandi of actors in the organ trade. In addition, it will demonstrate that the common conceptualization of the trade as an organized crime that exists separately from the legal transplant industry is most probably false. Finally, the presentation will discuss strategies to help improve non-legislative responses to the organ trade.

Author

• Frederike Ambagtsheer, Erasmus MC