[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6573 Introduced in House (IH)]
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6573
To combat trafficking in human organs, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 12, 2012
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To combat trafficking in human organs, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Trafficking in Organs Victims
Protection Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) World Health Organization (WHO) officials have
estimated that approximately 10 percent of all transplanted
kidneys worldwide are illegally obtained, often bought from
impoverished persons who sell their organs out of desperation
or harvested from prisoners.
(2) The Council of Europe is investigating allegations made
by Ms. Carla del Ponte, a former chief prosecutor at the
International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia, that
approximately 300 ethnic Serbs in Kosovo were kidnapped in 1999
with their organs being forcibly removed for sale by their
captors.
(3) The Special Rapporteur for the Council of Europe's
Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, Mrs. Ruth-Gaby
Vermot-Mangold, interviewed a number of coerced kidney donors
during a May 2003 visit to Moldova, who were all young men
driven by extreme poverty to sell their kidneys for a sum of
$2,500 to $3,000, and reported that the medical follow-up of
these illegal organ harvesting operations lasted no more than
five days, after which the donors were sent back on a bus to
their home country, frequently causing permanent disabilities
due to complications from the operations.
(4) The Council of Europe's Special Rapporteur, Vermot-
Mangold, also reported that the recipients of these kidneys
were estimated to have paid between $100,000 and $250,000 for
kidney transplants.
(5) On June 3, 2003, the Council of Europe's Special
Rapporteur, Vermot-Mangold, testified that international
criminal organizations had exploited those in extreme poverty
in nations in Eastern Europe in order to harvest their organs
for sale on the black market.
(6) Between 2001 and 2003, a South-African black market
kidney transplant ring coerced over 109 impoverished people,
mostly from Brazil and Romania, to travel to Durban, South
Africa, to forfeit a kidney for the promise of approximately
$120,000, with that payment sometimes not being provided
following the operation.
(7) According to the January 2007 report by David Matas and
David Kilgore entitled, ``Bloody Harvest: Revised Report into
Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in
China'', the Web site of the Organ Transplant Center of the
Armed Police General Hospital in Beijing, China, stated in 2004
that, ``Our Organ Transplant Center is our main department for
making money. Its gross income in 2003 was 16,070,000 yuan.
From January to June of 2004, income was 13,570,000 yuan. This
year (2004) there is a chance to break through 30,000,000
yuan.''.
(8) In May 2004, the World Health Assembly passed a
resolution urging its member-states to take measures to protect
the poorest as well as vulnerable groups from exploitation by
organ traffickers.
(9) On May 3, 2004, Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty
reported that Afghanistan's Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Lakali
announced that in 2003 the Interior department had made over
100 arrests on charges of child abduction, and stated that the
problem was growing as children were being taken to be sold for
``sex or labor, or to provide human organs''.
(10) On November 20, 2004, Xin Ren from California State
University stated to the International Bureau for Children's
Rights Conference in Montreal, that, ``[In 2003] [c]hildren
were often either sold by their parents for little money or
kidnapped and abducted by the traffickers to have their
organ(s) removed for transplant purpose. . . . [S]ome people
were even murdered in the process of forcible removal of their
organs.''.
(11) According to the January 2007 report by David Matas
and David Kilgore, from 2000 through 2005, the sources of the
organs used were not identified in an estimated 41,500 organ
transplants that were performed in China during that period.
(12) On March 30, 2006, the Police Superintendent of
Paranaque, Philippines, announced the arrest of a suspect
alleged to have been involved with a kidnapping syndicate in
the region which had been abducting children to remove and sell
their organs on the global black market, as in the case of one
child who was discovered dead in Cavite, Philippines, with his
internal organs missing.
(13) In March 2006, a children's rights expert at the
Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, Hengameh Anwari,
stated, ``Other reports that cause concern indicate that a
number of children are abducted because of their body organs;
they become victims of trafficking to foreign countries
especially for their kidneys.''.
(14) In mid-November 2006, China's Deputy Health Minister
Huang Jiefu acknowledged that executed prisoners sentenced to
death are sources for organ transplants, and Asia News reported
that Deputy Health Minister Huang had said he was cognizant of
the fact that too often organs come from non-consenting parties
and are sold for high fees to foreigners.
(15) Senator Patrik Vankrunkelsven of Belgium reported that
in November 2006 he called two hospitals in China and was
offered a kidney by each facility for the price of 50,000
Euros.
(16) According to the January 2007 report by David Matas
and David Kilgore, the Web site for the China International
Transplantation Network Assistance Centre in May 2006 posted
the following statements in its frequently asked questions
section: ``The First Affiliated Hospital of China was
established in 2003 specifically for our foreign friends . . .
Viscera providers can be found immediately! . . . The supreme
demotic [``people's''] court, supreme demotic law-officer,
police, judiciary, department of health and civil
administration have enacted law together to make sure organ
donations are supported by the government . . . Our organs do
not come from brain death victims because the organ may not be
good.''.
(17) On January 8, 2007, the Sun newspaper of London
reported that a severe shortage of available organs for
transplant in the United Kingdom had contributed to that
country becoming one of the top recipients of illegally
trafficked organs.
(18) In 2007, Pakistan was identified by the WHO as one of
the top destinations for ``transplant tourism''.
(19) Pakistani authorities in April 2007 raided a black
market organ ring in Lahore that consisted of doctors,
officials, and middlemen who had abducted potential donors,
drugged them and removed their kidneys without consent to then
sell for profit.
(20) Dr. Zafar ul Ahsan, a top urologist at Fatima Jinnah
Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, stated in September 2007,
``Nearly 2,000 kidneys are transplanted in Pakistan every year,
and seventy percent are bought by foreigners from Saudi Arabia,
the UAE, Britain and Canada . . . A mafia is running Pakistan's
kidney transplant business with agents paying $1,000 to poor
donors and then selling their kidneys on the black market for
thousands of dollars.''.
(21) According to organ trafficking specialists at the WHO,
the country of Moldova ranks third as a source of organs for
sale on the global black market, with such human organs
frequently smuggled into neighboring Romania for delivery to
underground clinics located in several European Union member-
states.
(22) In 2007, five employees of the tissue bank at the
Faculty Hospital in Brno-Bohunice, the Czech Republic, were
arrested and charged with illegal organ trafficking for selling
more than $340,000 worth of illegally obtained skin grafts to a
tissue bank in the Netherlands.
(23) In January 2008, the Government of India's Health
Ministry released an estimate that more than 100,000 kidney
transplants are needed in India each year, but only 5,000 are
performed legally.
(24) On February 13, 2008, the United Nations Global
Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UNGIFT) hosted the
``Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking'', and cited in its
subsequent report that a lack of adequate laws against illicit
organ trafficking has created the opportunity for such illegal
trade to grow and that there were clear indications that organ
trafficking was increasing and frequently involved members of
international criminal organizations.
(25) On April 12, 2008, police raided a black market organ
transplant house near Manila, Philippines, arresting three
traffickers and discovering nine donors in the house, one of
whom stated to authorities that he had been promised $2,800 for
his kidney, and he was doing it because, ``I can barely provide
for my wife and children.''.
(26) On April 30, 2008, the Government of the Philippines
passed a ban on transplants to foreign citizens, except in
cases of familial relations, in response to data showing that
kidney transplants from Filipinos to foreign recipients had
increased over 60 percent between 2002 and 2006, which
confirmed earlier reports of a thriving illegal organ black
market in the Philippines.
(27) On November 17, 2008, the Congress of the Philippines
passed a resolution which directed a Senate committee to
investigate the rising instances of child organ trafficking in
the country, and stated that the National Bureau of
Investigation's Human Trafficking Division reported that, ``the
abducted children are housed somewhere in Mindanao where
victims are supplied with vitamin supplements to keep their
internal organs healthy, and are then transported outside the
country to undergo surgery for organ transplants''.
(28) In November 2008, Kosovar police searched a private
clinic and found drugs and blood in plastic bags, and charged
two doctors for the crime of performing illegal organ
transplants.
(29) A February 2008 police raid on an organ trafficking
ring in Gurgaon, India, found that men posing as doctors to
remove kidneys from migrant laborers conducted approximately
five hundred illegal kidney transplants over nine years, and
possessed a waiting list of potential recipients of those
organs from Canada, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, the United
Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
(30) On April 8, 2009, the Global Post in Cairo reported
that the Egyptian Government was considering legal measures to
increase the number of legal organ donations to meet demand,
which included a proposal supported by some in the religious
community to harvest organs from executed criminals, with or
without their consent, as Ministry of Health spokesman, Dr.
Abdel Rahman Shahin stated, ``They [some religious clerics in
favor of the measure] are saying that when [convicts'] organs
are taken, they're compensating for the bad they did.''.
(31) According to a June 1989 report by Georgetown
University's Joseph and Rose Kennedy Institute of Ethics
entitled, ``Anencephalic Infants as Potential Organ Sources:
Ethical and Legal Issues'', some European physicians have
addressed the shortage of human organs available for transplant
by disregarding bioethical standards and removing the vital
organs from anencephalic infants, prior to the medical
determination of whether total brain death or cardiac death had
occurred, on the ground that these infants were ``brain-
absent'' and could be treated as if they were brain dead or,
alternatively, that they were sufficiently lacking in cognitive
capacity that the usual moral constraints on killing persons
did not apply, which in effect authorized them to actively
cause the death of these infants.
(32) In November 2010, the Associated Press reported that
Netcare KwaZulu, a hospital in South Africa's eastern KwaZulu-
Natal province, pleaded guilty to removing organs from five
minors between 2001 and 2003.
(33) On January 12, 2011, Doctor Yusuf Sonmez, who has been
dubbed the ``Turkish Frankenstein'', was arrested in Pristina
for his alleged participation in illegal organ trafficking in
Kosovo and Azerbaijan.
(34) On March 21, 2011, the Council of the European Union
adopted minimum rules supplementing the definition of criminal
offences and the level of sanctions, which strengthens the
prevention of organ trafficking and the protection of those
victims.
(35) In May 2011, a Kosovo court brought charges against
five suspects for their alleged participation in a network
involved in trafficking people into the country, and selling
their kidneys for illegal transplants.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the kidnapping or coercion of individuals for the
purpose of extracting their organs for profit is abhorrent and
in contradiction of the ideals and standards for ethical
behavior upon which the United States has based its laws;
(2) the harvesting of organs from living children,
regardless of the level of brain activity, is a violation of
the human rights of the child and is a breach of
internationally accepted medical ethical standards described in
World Health Organization Assembly Resolution 57.18 (May 22,
2004); and
(3) the illegal harvesting and trafficking of human organs
violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in Article
3 which states, ``Everyone has the right to life, liberty and
security of person.'', and Article 4 which states, ``No one
shall be held in slavery or servitude.''.
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It shall be the policy of the United States to--
(1) seek to end the offensive practice of exploiting the
poor and vulnerable for the purpose of harvesting and
trafficking their organs;
(2) combat criminal trade in human organs; and
(3) promote the dignity and security of human life in
accordance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961.
Section 116(f)(1)(B) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2151n(f)(1)(B)) is amended--
(1) in clause (v), by inserting after ``mental and physical
health care'' the following: ``, post-operative and
rehabilitation care for victims of trafficking in human organs
(as defined in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act of 2000),''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(x) The extent to which violations of the
country's laws against trafficking in human
organs (as defined in section 103(12) of the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000)
have occurred, as determined by the human
rights officer at the United States embassy in
the country.''.
SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS TO THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT OF 2000.
(a) Definitions.--Section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection
Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2)--
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``or'' at the
end;
(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at
the end and inserting ``; or''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(D) exploitation of a person through the promise
of granting of payments or benefits in order to compel
or entice the person to consent to the removal of one
or more of the person's organs for a transplant
operation, in a manner contrary to the standards
described in World Health Organization Assembly
Resolution WHA 57.18 (May 22, 2004).'';
(2) in paragraph (8)--
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``or'' at the
end;
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at
the end and inserting: ``; or''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) trafficking in human organs (as defined in
paragraph (12)).'';
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (12) through (14) as
paragraphs (13) through (15), respectively; and
(4) by inserting after paragraph (11) the following:
``(12) Trafficking in human organs.--
``(A) In general.--The term `trafficking in human
organs' means--
``(i) the recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harboring, or receipt of a person,
either living or deceased, for the purpose of
removing one or more of the person's organs, by
means of--
``(I) coercion;
``(II) abduction;
``(III) deception;
``(IV) abuse of power or a position
of vulnerability; or
``(V) transfer of payments or
benefits to achieve the consent of a
person having control over a person
described in the matter preceding
subclause (I); and
``(ii) the illicit transportation and
transplantation of those organs in one or more
other persons for profit or any other purpose.
``(B) Organ defined.--In subparagraph (A), the term
`organ' means the human (including fetal) kidney,
liver, heart, lung, pancreas, bone marrow, cornea, eye,
bone, and skin or any subpart thereof and any other
human organ (or any subpart thereof, including that
derived from a fetus) specified by the President by
regulation for purposes of this division.''.
(b) Interagency Task Force To Monitor and Combat Trafficking.--
Section 105(d)(3) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22
U.S.C. 7103(d)(3)) is amended by inserting after the first sentence the
following: ``Such procedures shall include collection and organization
of data from human rights officers at United States embassies on host
country's laws against trafficking in human organs and any instances of
violations of such laws.''.
(c) Protection and Assistance for Victims of Trafficking.--Section
107(a) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C.
7103(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Definition of victim of trafficking.--For purposes of
this subsection, the term `victim of trafficking' means only a
person who has been subjected to an act or practice described
in paragraph (8) or (9) of section 103 as in effect on the day
before the date of the enactment of the Trafficking in Organs
Victims Protection Act.''.
(d) Reports to Congress.--Section 110(b)(1) of the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in subparagraph (F), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(G) with respect to trafficking in human organs--
``(i) a list of the 10 countries determined
to be the largest source of illegally
trafficked human organs during the period
covered by the report and a list of the 10
countries determined to be the largest
recipients of illegally trafficked human organs
during the period covered by the report;
``(ii) any actions taken by each country
listed under clause (i) to address and prevent
trafficking in human organs;
``(iii) any cooperative efforts by the
United States and each country listed under
clause (i) to address and prevent trafficking
in human organs through joint public awareness
campaigns; and
``(iv) information regarding practices of
trafficking in human organs of each country
listed under clause (i) in the Department of
State's travel advisories.''.
SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT BASIC AUTHORITIES ACT OF
1956.
Section 42 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956
(22 U.S.C. 2714) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``convicted of an
offense described in subsection (b) of this section during the
period described in subsection (c) of this section'' and
inserting ``convicted of an offense described in subsection (b)
or (c) of this section during the period described in
subsection (d) of this section'';
(2) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), and (e) as
subsections (d), (e), and (f), respectively; and
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
``(c) Human Organ Trafficking Offenses.--Subsection (a) of this
section applies with respect to any individual convicted of an offense
under section 301 of the National Organ Transplant Act (42 U.S.C.
274e).''.
SEC. 8. ACTIONS UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY ECONOMIC POWERS ACT.
(a) In General.--The President may exercise the authorities set
forth in section 203 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(50 U.S.C. 1702) without regard to section 202 of that Act (50 U.S.C.
1701) in the case of any of the following:
(1) The export of anti-rejection human organ transplant
drugs to countries identified by the Secretary of State as the
largest source of illegally trafficked human organs or the
largest recipients of illegally trafficked human organs in the
report required under section 110(b) of the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)).
(2) The travel abroad by United States citizens for the
purpose of participation in any activity relating to human
organ trafficking (as defined in section 103 of the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act of 2000).
(b) Penalties.--The penalties set forth in section 206 of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) apply to
violations of any license, order, or regulation issued under this
section.
SEC. 9. LIMITATION ON FUNDS.
No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out
this Act or any amendment made by this Act.
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