Guest editorial: Organ trafficking and transplant tourism: a call for international collaboration

Abstract

The thematic issue of the Journal of Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy is dedicated to the global efforts to combat organ trafficking and transplant tourism. The negative impact of trafficking of human organs and transplant tourism on the application of transplant technology and the exploitation of the vulnerable people as organ providers has been documented worldwide (Gill et al. 2008; BudianiSaberi and Delmonico 2008; WHO 2010). As stated in the Declaration of Istanbul, ‘‘organ trafficking and transplant tourism violate the principles of equity, justice and respect for human dignity, ...transplant commercialism targets impoverished and otherwise vulnerable donors, it leads inexorably to inequity and injustice...’’ (Steering Committee of the Istanbul Summit. 2008). The issue of exploitation of the vulnerable people through trafficking of human organs and transplant tourism is no longer a domestic but an international problem (Bagheri 2007). A comprehensive sustainable policy in fighting against organ trafficking and trade requires an international participation and global collaboration. It is crucial to find an innovative and realistic solution that can not only stop the migration of donors, recipients and human body parts across borders but also respect patients’ desperate need and provide patients with a realistic alternative for transplantation. It is the time to pay more attention to the link between human trafficking and trafficking of human organs. In fact, the definition of organ trafficking was derived from the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, in which the ‘‘removal of organs’’ is included as a key purpose of human trafficking (UN Protocol 2000). However, organ trafficking has yet to receive widespread international recognition as a criminal activity in the way that human trafficking has. In 2008, the Council of Europe and the United Nations agreed to prepare a ‘‘Joint Study on trafficking in organs, tissues and cells and trafficking in human beings for the purpose of the removal of organs’’. By upholding the principle of prohibition of making financial gains with the human body or its parts, the study identified the need to distinguish clearly between trafficking in human beings for the purpose of the removal of organs and the trafficking in human organs per se (Joint Council of Europe/United Nations study 2009). It worth to note that an extension of the precedent Council of Europe activity would be for the U.S. Congress to recognize human trafficking for the removal of an organ under the rubric of the Trafficking in Persons Report annually issued by the Department of State (US Trafficking in Person Report 2012). No doubt, to solve a global problem, global collaboration is crucial. To this end, development of an international legally binding agreement to ban organ trafficking and trade and criminalization of organ trafficking is a step forward. This would not only prevent victimising the world’s poor people as the source of organs for the rich, but also will protect organ recipients from unsafe organ transplantation. In this international forum, six articles present national and international initiatives, experiences, and legislations to curb unethical practice of organ trafficking and transplant tourism. In the first piece, Bagheri and Delmonico presents a summary of international initiatives to govern organ A. Bagheri (&) Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran e-mail: bagheria@yahoo.com