[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3694 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3694
To combat trafficking in human organs, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 6, 2015
Mr. Trott (for himself and Mr. Deutch) 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 ``Strategy To Oppose Predatory Organ
Trafficking Act'' or the ``STOP Organ Trafficking Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that
approximately 10 percent of all transplanted kidneys worldwide
are illegally obtained, often bought from vulnerable
impoverished persons or forcibly harvested from prisoners.
(2) In 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.
(3) On February 13, 2008, the United Nations Global
Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UNGIFT) hosted the
``Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking'', and subsequently
reported that a lack of adequate illicit organ trafficking laws
has provided opportunity for the illegal trade to grow.
(4) On March 21, 2011, the Council of the European Union
adopted rules supplementing the definition of criminal offenses
and the level of sanctions in order to strengthen the
prevention of organ trafficking and the protection of those
victims.
(5) In November 2012, Erasmus University Hospital along
with institutions in Romania, Sweden, Bulgaria, and Spain
launched a 3-year study backed by Europol into illegal organ
trafficking, and released a statement that, ``there are more
and more indicators of `organ tourism', whereby a patient
travels abroad with the aim of receiving a transplanted organ
which may have been bought . . . donors are often victims of
human trafficking.''.
(6) According to organ trafficking specialists at the WHO,
Moldova ranks third as a source of organs for sale on the
global black market, with such human organs frequently smuggled
to underground clinics located in several European Union
member-states.
(7) Between 2001 and 2003, a South African black market
kidney transplant ring coerced over 109 people, mostly from
Brazil and Romania, to travel to Durban, South Africa, to
forfeit a kidney for the promise of approximately $120,000,
although payment was frequently withheld following the
operation.
(8) On May 3, 2004, Afghanistan's Interior Minister Ali
Ahmed Lakali stated that the problem of child abduction was
growing and children were being taken to be sold for ``sex or
labor, or to provide human organs''.
(9) 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.''.
(10) In June 2001, Dr. Wang Guogi testified before the
Subcommittee on International Organizations and Human Rights of
the Committee on International Relations of the House of
Representatives that Chinese hospitals worked in collusion with
state security agencies to extract organs from executed
prisoners without written consent of the organ donors, and that
these transplants were a lucrative source of income.
(11) Researcher and journalist Ethan Gutmann estimates that
approximately 65,000 Falun Gong adherents may have been killed
for their organs from 2000 to 2008, and that a number of other
religious and ethnic minorities may also have been targeted.
(12) On November 20, 2004, Xin Ren from California State
University stated to the International Bureau for Children's
Rights Conference in Montreal, that, ``[In India, Pakistan, and
some other Asian countries 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.''.
(13) The website of the Organ Transplant Center of the
Armed Police General Hospital in Beijing, China touted that,
``Our Organ Transplant Center is our main department for making
money . . . This year (2004) there is a chance to break through
30,000,000 yuan.''.
(14) Canadian researchers David Matas, human rights
attorney, and David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State
for Asia-Pacific, conducted an investigation into allegations
of organ harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience in
2006, and based on extensive circumstantial evidence, their
report concluded that the allegations were true and that tens
of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners may have been killed
for their organs.
(15) In mid-November 2006, China's Deputy Health Minister
Huang Jiefu acknowledged that condemned prisoners 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.
(16) In May 2006, the website for the China International
Transplantation Network Assistance Centre 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! . . . Our organs do not come from
brain death victims because the organ may not be good.''.
(17) In November 2008, the United Nations Committee on
Torture reported concern over the allegations of organ
harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners and called on the
Government of the People's Republic of China to increase
accountability and transparency in the organ transplant system
and punish those individuals responsible for abuses.
(18) In 2005, the United States ratified the Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, a supplement to the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which
includes the removal of organs as a form of exploitation under
the definition of ``trafficking in persons''.
(19) On March 30, 2006, the Police Superintendent of
Paranaque, Philippines, arrested a suspect alleged to have ties
to a regional kidnapping syndicate involved with abducting
children in order to remove their organs and sell them on the
global black market, as in the case of a child discovered dead
in Cavite, Philippines, with his internal organs missing.
(20) 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.''.
(21) In November 2008, the National Bureau of
Investigation's Human Trafficking Division in the Philippines
reported, ``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''.
(22) In 2007, Pakistan was identified by the WHO as one of
the top destinations for ``transplant tourism''.
(23) 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.
(24) Dr. Zafar ul Ahsan, a top urologist at Fatima Jinnah
Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, stated in September 2007, ``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.''.
(25) 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.
(26) 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.
(27) A February 2008 police raid on an organ trafficking
ring in Gurgaon, India, found that men posed as doctors to
remove kidneys from migrant laborers, and conducted
approximately 500 illegal kidney transplants over nine years.
(28) On April 8, 2009, the Global Post in Cairo reported
that the Egyptian Government was considering measures to
increase the number of legal organ donations to meet demand,
which included a proposal to harvest organs from executed
criminals, with or without their consent, as then Ministry of
Health spokesman, Dr. Abdel Rahman Shahin stated, ``They are
saying that when [convicts'] organs are taken, they're
compensating for the bad they did.''.
(29) In November 2010, Netcare KwaZulu, a hospital in South
Africa's eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, pleaded guilty to
illegally removing kidneys from five minors between 2001 and
2003.
(30) 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.
(31) In April 2013, a Kosovo court convicted five
defendants for conducting over 30 illegal harvest operations in
an organ trafficking ring at the Medicus clinic, where
impoverished people from Turkey, Russia, Moldova, and
Kazakhstan were coerced into selling their kidneys.
(32) In 2011, Egypt passed a law prohibiting the exchange
of money for human organs and restricting human organ donations
to relatives up to four degrees removed.
(33) In February 2015, the Iraqi Ambassador to the United
Nations alleged that the Islamic State was illegally harvesting
organs from murdered civilians to finance their operations.
(34) According to a 2013 United Nations report from the
Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women
and children, the economic and social divisions within and
among countries is notably reflected in the illicit organ
trafficking market, in which the victims are commonly poor,
unemployed, and more susceptible to deceit and extortion.
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 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
WHO Assembly Resolution 57.18 (May 22, 2004);
(3) the illegal harvesting and trafficking of human organs
violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in Article
3 which states that ``Everyone has the right to life, liberty
and security of person.'', and in Article 4 which states that
``No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.''; and
(4) efficient national organ donation systems with
effective enforcement mechanisms that ensure voluntary organ
donations are the most effective way to combat trafficking in
human organs.
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It shall be the policy of the United States to--
(1) combat the international trafficking in human organs;
(2) promote the adoption of national transplantation
systems that ensure voluntary organ donation processes in
bilateral diplomatic meetings, as well as in international
health forums; and
(3) promote the dignity and security of human life in
accordance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
SEC. 5. 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 the section heading, by adding at the end the
following: ``and organ traffickers'';
(2) in subsection (a)(1), 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'';
(3) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), and (e) as
subsections (d), (e), and (f), respectively; and
(4) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new
subsection:
``(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)
if such individual used a passport or otherwise crossed an
international border in the commission of such an offense.''.
SEC. 6. ACTIONS UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY ECONOMIC POWERS ACT
AND AMENDMENTS TO THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT
OF 2000.
(a) International Emergency Economic Powers Act.--The President may
exercise the authorities specified in section 203 of the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) without regard to
section 202 of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) in the case of travel abroad
by United States citizens for the purpose of participation in any
activity relating to trafficking in human organs.
(b) Definitions.--Section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection
Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (3)--
(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 new
subparagraph:
``(D) exploitation of a person through the promise
of the 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 WHO Assembly Resolution WHA 57.18 (May 22,
2004).'';
(2) in paragraph (9)--
(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 new
subparagraph:
``(C) trafficking in human organs (as defined in
paragraph (13)).'';
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (13) through (15) as
paragraphs (14) through (16), respectively;
(4) by inserting after paragraph (12) the following new
paragraph:
``(13) 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); or
``(ii) the illicit transportation and
transplantation of 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.''; and
(5) in paragraph (15), as so redesignated, by inserting
before the period at the end the following: ``or (13)''.
(c) 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 new sentence: ``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.''.
SEC. 7. REPORTING.
(a) In General.--Not later than six months after the date of the
enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that
includes the following information:
(1) A list of the ten countries determined to be the
greatest sources, facilitators, or recipients of trafficking in
human organs during the period covered by each such report.
(2) Any actions taken by each country included on a list
under paragraph (1) to address and prevent trafficking in human
organs.
(3) Any cooperative efforts by the United States and each
country included on a list under paragraph (1) to address and
prevent trafficking in human organs through joint public
awareness campaigns.
(4) Information regarding practices of trafficking in human
organs of each country included on a list under paragraph (1)
in the Department of State's travel advisories.
(b) Additional Information.--The reports required under subsection
(a) shall include the collection and organization of data from human
rights officers at United States diplomatic and consular posts on host
countries' laws against trafficking in human organs and any instances
of violations of such laws.
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
(2) Coercion.--The term ``coercion'' means the exploitation
of a person through the promise or granting of payments or
benefits in order to compel or entice such person to consent to
the removal of one or more of such person's organs for a
transplant operation, in a manner contrary to the standards
described in WHO Assembly Resolution WHA 57.18 (May 22, 2004).
(3) Human organ.--The term ``human 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).
(4) Trafficking in human organs.--The term ``trafficking in
human organs'' means--
(A) the recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harboring, or receipt of a person, either living or
deceased, for the purpose of removing one or more of
such person's human 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
subparagraph (A); and
(B) the illicit transportation and transplantation
of such human organs in one or more other persons for
profit or any other purpose.
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.
<all>