Human Organ Trafficking

The demand for organ transplantation has rapidly increased all over the world
during the past decade due to the increased incidence of vital organ failure, the rising
success and greater improvement in posttransplant outcome. However, the
unavailability of adequate organs for transplantation to meet the existing demand has
resulted in major organ shortage crises. As a result, there has been a major increase in
the number of patients on transplant waiting lists as well as in the number of patients
dying while on the waiting list. In the United States, for example, the number of patients
on the waiting list in the year 2006 had risen to over 95,000, while the number of patient
deaths was over 6,300. This organ shortage crisis has deprived thousands of patients of
a new and better quality of life and has caused a substantial increase in the cost of
alternative medical care such as dialysis.
Many people need an organ transplant due to a genetic condition such as
polycystic kidney disease, cystic fibrosis, or a heart defect. Also, infections such as
hepatitis, physical injuries to organs, and damage due to chronic conditions such as
diabetes may also cause a person to require a transplant. Surgeons performed more
than 36,000 organ transplants in 2018, but many more people need organs. In January
2019, more than 113,000 people in the United States were on organ transplant waiting
lists. More than 2,000 children need organs. The transplant process varies slightly
depending on the organ, but the need for a matching donor is a consistent theme.
And there are only 2 ways in finding an organ donor. First is to be in the waiting
list for organ donation and second is to find a relative or someone who is willing for an
organ transplant and of course whose organ is compatible for the patient who needs it.
And take note that finding a donor takes YEARS. And we believe that with the help of
therapeutic cloning, it is faster for us to provide an organ by creating or modifying an
organ out of the patient’s cells and tissues. And according to Gavi: The Vaccine Alliance,
it only takes 2-3 months to grow an organ in a lab, which is faster than waiting for an
organ donor that takes years.
According to the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Trafficking in Persons, an
acute shortage of human organs for transplantation prevails worldwide. The gap
between the growing demand for organ transplants and the limited supply is a
contributing factor to increased abuses in the transplant process, which includes
resorting to trafficking in persons for unlawfully obtaining organs. This means that
because of the organ shortage crisis, people tend to illegally harvest human organs by
kidnapping individuals. And we believe that with the help of human cloning, cases like
this would be lessen in a way that human clones will be used of organ transplantation.
In creating human clones, we would be able to have legal resources for organ
transplants.
Trafficking in Persons note that between 2010 and 2018, approximately 300
victims of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs were detected across multiple
countries. The latest data available confirms that trafficking for the purpose of organ
removal has been reported in North Africa, South and South-East Asia, Central America
and Europe. In comparison to other forms of trafficking in persons, this specific
phenomenon is far less common. The most obvious reason for this is the high medical
skill level required to perform the organ removal.

Trafficking in Persons for the purpose of organ removal (TIP for OR) is a
form of trafficking in which an individual is exploited for their organ, including by
coercion, deception and abuse of a position of vulnerability.
Trafficking in persons is an illegal act and is considered a violation of
human rights. It has three (3) inter-related and interdependent elements for a
situation to be considered trafficking in persons:
 ACTS – It involves the recruitment, obtaining, hiring, providing, offering,
transportation, transfer, maintaining, harboring, or receipt of persons with or
without the victim’s consent or knowledge, within or across national borders;
 MEANS – It is committed by use of threat, or use of force, or other forms or
coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking
advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or the giving or receiving of
payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over
another person; and
 PURPOSE – It is done for the purpose of exploitation or the prostitution of
others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services,
slavery, involuntary servitude or the removal or sale of organs.

Republic Act No. 9208

May 26, 2003
AN ACT TO INSTITUTE POLICIES TO ELIMINATE TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ESPECIALLY
WOMEN AND CHILDREN, ESTABLISHING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL
MECHANISMS FOR THE PROTECTION AND SUPPORT OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS,
PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR ITS VIOLATIONS, AND FOR OTHER

RA 10364 – EXPANDED ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ACT OF 2012

AN ACT EXPANDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9208, ENTITLED “AN ACT TO INSTITUTE
POLICIES TO ELIMINATE TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND
CHILDREN, ESTABLISHING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR THE
PROTECTION AND SUPPORT OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS, PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR
ITS VIOLATIONS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”