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Patients become prey in fight against organ trafficking bazaars

Victims are recast as offenders according to Australian Catholic University research that has identified criminal justice gaps and corruption in the fight against illegal organ trafficking bazaars.

Australia and other developed countries are among the destinations for body parts traded on a dark market that is increasingly difficult to police due to capacity and grey areas in international law.

International recipients and brokers target vulnerable migrant and refugee communities in trafficking hubs, including Bangladesh, where donors are persuaded to sell organs for financial reasons.

Sellers become prey for profiteering “middlemen”, according to Dr Kanij Fatima, a lecturer at ACU’s Thomas More Law School.

Dr Fatima’s article, co-authored by La Trobe University’s Associate Professor Sallie Yea, and published in the Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law, found that, instead of being supported by the justice system, sellers were often charged with offences.

“Victims have been landing on the wrong side of the dock,” Dr Fatima said.

“’Illegal organ trade’ and ‘organ trafficking’ are inadequately defined under the Human Organ Transplantation Act 1999. If we analyse the charge sheet of pending cases, it appears that all the alleged accused sold their kidneys to overcome poverty.

“None of our interviewees had any knowledge about the progress of their pending cases. Nor did they receive any help from anyone; rather they had to pay bribes at every step of the criminal proceedings.”

The qualitative research was based on a case study of pending legal cases of organ trafficking in the Kalai region of Joypurat District in northwest Bangladesh.

Dr Fatima’s research found the legislative gaps stemmed from three main sources: vague laws related to organ trafficking; poor implementation of existing laws; and absence of adequate policies.

“These gaps must be closed to ensure recipients benefitting from transplant tourism can’t source organs illegally,” she said.

 Dr Kanij Fatima is available for interview.

Media Contact: Damien Stannard, 0484 387349, damien.stannard@acu.edu.au