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Organ traffickers are targeting refugees in Egypt, warns charity BMJ2011;343doi: 10.1136/bmj.d8254(Published 20 December 2011), 1. Peter Moszynski 1. 1London The ongoing political turmoil in Egypt has allowed organ traffickers to continue to prey on Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers, concludes a new report by the US based charity the Coalition for Organ Failure Solutions. Abuses include removing kidneys “by inducing consent, coercion, or outright theft.” In some cases sex trafficking was associated with incidents of organ removal. “Many of the victims came to Egypt seeking refuge from the genocide and armed conflict in their homeland,” says the report.  |
COFS Engages UN Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking 15, November 2011 COFS Director, Dr. Debra Budiani-Saberi, met with UN Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo to discuss COFS' call for investigations on the abuses of African migrants in the Sinai that may include organ trafficking. The Special Rapporteur agreed to the need for such credible investigations and expressed willingness to bring the collective call for action that COFS has mobilized with NGOs to UN bodies. |
COFS Prepares to Present Testimony on Organ Trafficking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Lantos Commission on Human Rights 15, November 2011 COFS has assisted to arrange a panel discussion for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Staff on human trafficking for organ removal and organ trafficking and a hearing or briefing for the Lantos Commission on Human Rights on human trafficking with a testimony on organ trafficking. These events are likely to occur on a single day in January 2011. Check the COFS site for updates soon. |
COFS calls for Independent Investigations of Abuses of African migrants in the Sinai 1, November 2011 COFS has mobilized the efforts of NGOs that have collected testimonies of African migrants who have experienced or witnessed abuses in the Sinai to call for independent investigations of the allegations of torture, rape, human trafficking for labor, sex and organs and murder that have trickled out of the region for over a year. Read More |
COFS-Egypt Continues to Identify Victims of Organ Trafficking 26, November 2010 COFS-Egypt continues to meet recent victims of organ trafficking in Egypt. Special attention has been given Sudanese asylum seekers, many of whom are from Darfur, who have been solicited for a commercial transplant. Some of these victims were solicited in Darfur while brokers have targeted others in Egypt. COFS is making special arrangements for outreach for these victims and preparing a report of its findings. |
COFS-India Launches Outreach Programs to Victims in India 8, September 2010 COFS-India launched its outreach programs to serve 800 victims in Chennai, Erode and Pallipalayam. The India team's Program Manager, Mr. Sundar Thirunavukkarasu, and Lead Field Researcher, Mr Raja Dinesh Kumar, have identified these victims, conducted baseline interviews, and established medical follow-up for them. |
After decades of grappling with definitions of death, Egypt passes a law on organ transplantation 16 February, 2010 After many final months of debate, both bodies of Egypt's legislative branch- the Advisory Council (Maglis El-Shura) and the People's Assembly (Maglis El-Sha'ab)- passed a law on organ transplantation. The law prohibits organ trafficking and permits organ donation from the deceased. |
Emerging Cases of Organ Trafficking in the Middle East Attract Global Attention 12 October, 2009 AlJazeera (English) covers emerging cases of organ trafficking in the Middle East and consults with COFS' Director about the regional situation. |
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COFS Announces its Documentary Film - Organs SOS: a plea from the shadows In its ongoing efforts to create public awareness about organ trafficking and enhance alternatives of altruistic and deceased donation, COFS announces its documentary film that feature these aims. Click here to view the trailer and read more about the film. Also see: www.organssos.com |
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COFS Opposes Draft Legislation in the U.S. that would Permit Material Compensation for Organ Donation June 2009 In recent months, Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pennsylvania) has circulated at least five drafts of a proposed bill which would enable U.S. government entities to provide material compensation for organ donation. The current draft of this bill commendably also includes clauses to combat organ trafficking in an effort to distinguish regulated from unregulated organ markets. However, a provision of material compensation to organ “donors” would dissolve a central feature ofthe National Organ Transplantation Act (NOTA) that prohibits the buying and selling of human organs for transplantation. COFS maintains the position that material incentives for organ donation lead to violations of human rights, and present ethical, social, strategic and economic problems. Material incentives inevitably take unfair advantage of the poor and vulnerable who would otherwise not consider resorting to a commercial living organ donation. Employing material inducement to procure organs from a certain segment of a population may also damage society's trust in medicine and transplantation and simultaneously undermine efforts to secure and enhance altruistic donation. Accordingly, COFS is conducting a campaign to oppose this bill. COFS' Director Dr. Debra Budiani-Saberi and Board Member Deborah Golden published a white paper via the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy to elaborate this opposition. Read more>>> |
COFS and the American University of Cairo (AUC) Partner to Enhance Civic Engagement in Transplants COFS and AUC's have partnered in an effort to enhance civic engagement in improving transplant practices in Egypt. In addition to linking COFS to various support networks, the Gerhart Center is also networking AUC faculty, students and NGO partners to assist with COFS' awareness campaign about altruistic and deceased organ donation. |
COFS Completes Assessment in Nepal August 2008 COFS and its partners, the Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS), completed an assessment of organ trafficking and its consequences on commercial living donors (CLDs). The study was conducted in Hokse, a rural village commonly referred to as "kidney village" for its reputation of housing victims of the black market trade in organs. Like COFS programs elsewhere, COFS and NIDS are using its findings to develop prevention and outreach services for victims in Nepal. |
Hokse, a rural village in Nepal, is the site of COFS' recent assessment on the impact of organ trafficking in Nepal |
NIDS Investigators Bishow Gurung (center) and Pramila Yonjan (right) conducted interviews in the homes of CLDs in Hokse (left) |
COFS Advances it Collaborative Work with the Ulema COFS has advanced collaborative projects with the Ulema (Islamic clerics) to combat organ trafficking. COFS and various groups of ulema are working towards operationalizing the ulema's influence to create awareness of fatawa (Islamic declarations) that deem the buying and selling of organs as haram (sinful) in the Islamic world. Projects are targeted for at-risk communities as well as the general public to address concerns around organ trafficking and transplants more generally. |
Kabir Karim, COFS-Egypt Program Manager, and Sheikh Yasser plan collaboration of COFS with ulema leaders to combat organ trafficking |
Representatives Convene and Announce the Istanbul Declaration On Organ Trafficking, Transplant Tourism and Transplant Commercialism. May 2008 The Transplantation Society (TTS) and International Society of Nephrology (ISN) convened an international summit of 152 participants from 78 countries from 30 April to 1 May 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey. Participants included medical and scientific professionals, representatives of governmental and social agencies, social scientists, legal scholars and ethicists. The Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism is the result of these deliberations which received full consensus at the summit. This Declaration calls for a legal and professional framework in each country to govern organ donation and transplantation activities, a transparent regulatory oversight system that ensures donor and recipient safety and enforces the prohibitions of unethical practices. Governments should ensure that the provision of care and follow-up of living donors be no less than the care and attention provided for transplant recipients. Professional societies should not continue to enable membership status for those individuals that violate the principles of the Declaration. Pharmaceutical companies and public and private funding agencies must affirm the Declaration in their consideration of clinical research support. COFS' Director participated in the Istanbul summit and COFS has employed the Declaration in its work to combat organ trafficking.  |
UN Recognizes Organ Trafficking in its Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking (UNGIFT) February 2008 The UNODC paid recognition to the trafficking of humans for organs in its recent global forum to Fight Human Trafficking. Although this issue has been included in its Protocol against Human Trafficking, an unprecedented panel was hosted at the Vienna Forum in which experts reviewed various aspects of trafficking for the purpose of removal of organs, including a review of cases. Panelists included COFS' Director Dr. Debra Budiani, Captain Louis Helberg of the South African Police Service; Dr. Nancy Sheper-Hughes of the University of California, Berkeley USA, and Maria Amihan Valles Abueva of the ECPAT, Asia Against Child Trafficking (ASIA ACTs). Comments were made by Nicole Maric of the UNODC and Luc Noel of the WHO. The discussion addressed assessing the problem, the detection, investigation and prosecution of cases, as well as measures for prevention and outreach.
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COFS Partners with AYB-SD to Enhance Economic Empowerment Outreach Services February 2008 |
COFS Partners with AYB-SD to Enhance Economic Empowerment Outreach Services. February 2008 COFS and the Alashanek ya Baladi Association for Sustainable Development have partnered to enhance COFS' economic empowerment outreach services to its beneficiaries. Accordingly, AYB-SD will extend its programs to the CLDs and potential CLDs that COFS identifies and who have expressed their need to participate in such assistance programs. |
COFS Continues Efforts to Establish a National Transplantation Law in Egypt May 2007
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COFS Participates in Libyan Initiative to Advance Deceased Donation May 2007 In an effort to enhance national self-sufficiency in organ supplies and curb patients from
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COFS Participates in WHO's Second Global Consultation on Organ Transplants March 2007
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COFS Invited to Present its Work and Study’s Findings at Regional WHO and MESOT Meetings, Kuwait November 2006
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WHO-EMRO Supports COFS July 2006 The Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO) granted institutional support to COFS for its work on combating organ trafficking in the region. WHO and COFS' share commitments to protecting the poor and vulnerable from exploitation for human tissues and organs as well as long-term follow up of living donors. |
COFS Facilitates Pioneering Donor Support Groups Beginning in July, 2006, COFS outreach staff have facilitated support group meetings per the request of commercial living organ donors and victims of organ theft. Participants have ranged from those who “donated” an organ 10 years ago to those who were still in recovery from their donation. The meetings provoked extensive narratives and discussion on misconceptions about what the donation experience would involve, donors’ fears of eventual health outcomes, compromised ability to carry out labor-intensive activities and compromises in income, difficulties or inability of explaining their experience to loved ones, and long-term psychological distress from the donation. A trained psychologist also provided group therapeutic intervention and several participants requested private therapy sessions. The meetings provide the first chance for many commercial living organ donors to meet other commercial living organ donors and obtain peer support about their donation experiences. |
COFS Expands Partnerships with Civil Society Groups November 2006 COFS has recently expanded its partnerships in Bahrain, India, Nepal, and Pakistan with various civil society groups who share COFS Mission. Read More. |
COFS and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights Build Partnership November 2006 COFS and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) partner to address the situation of transplants in Bahrain and the Gulf region. Conditions of poor or no access to organs for transplant facilitate the production of transplant tourism for commercial living donorship as a human rights concern. COFS and BCHR strategize to promote alternative sources of organ supplies in Bahrain and the region to curb transplant tourism for organs abroad, largely in Asia. BCHR is a non-profit, non-governmental organization committed to the promotion of democracy and the protection of human rights. BCHR’s Vice President Nabeel Rajab and Executive Director Dr. Debra Budiani conducted meetings recently in Manama, Bahrain and Bangkok, Thailand to establish the parternship and begin developing a framework for advocacy. Media Stories:
GULF DAILY NEWS - 18 November, 2006 |
COFS Facilitates Key Actors Meetings in Egypt December 2006
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COFS Invited to Speak about COFS Outreach and Prevention Work at the 8th Annual Southwest Nephrology Conference (United States) October 2006 COFS’ has been invited to speak about its donor outreach services and prevention projects at the 8th Annual Southwest Nephrology Conference in Phoenix, Arizona February 23 and 24, 2007. These meetings are sponsored by the Arizona Kidney Foundation and the Mayo Clinic. COFS’ Executive Director, Dr. Budiani will discuss global trafficking of human organs and COFS work to combat this problem and secure alternative sources of organ and tissue supply policies. |
COFS Participates in Conference on Islam and Bioethics March 2006 COFS' Advisory Council member Dr. Othman Shibley and Executive Director Dr. Debra Budiani participated in an international multi-disciplinary conference to explore the emerging field of Islamic bioethics and to highlight the diversity of methodologies and practices that the field encompasses. The conference entitled, Islam and Bioethics: Concerns, Challenges, and Responses, was held at the Penn State campus with international broadcasts made via the conference website. |
COFS and the Alashanek ya Baladi Association for Sustainable Development have partnered to enhance COFS' economic empowerment outreach services to its beneficiaries. Accordingly, AYB-SD will extend its programs to the CLDs and potential CLDs that COFS identifies and who have expressed their need to participate in such assistance programs.
In addition to
the facilitation of the Egyptian Strategic Group on Organ Transplants (ESGOT) to enhance the transplant legal structure in Egypt, COFS has expanded its
efforts with other medical professional leaders who share this aim. In an allied effort with UNOS via its immediate past president, Dr. Francis
Delmonico, COFS facilitated Dr. Delmonico's initial visit to Egypt to assess the potential for UNOS' provision of technical assistance in the development
of an Egyptian registry for transplants. UNOS is considering providing this assistance upon the request of the Egyptian Society of Nephrology's
(ESN) and Roche Pharmaceuticals. UNOS' assistance is also contingent upon the establishment of an appropriate legal framework for transplants-
particularly a framework that prevents commercial living donorship and assures national oversight of transplant practices. Dr. Delmonico, a
Professor of Surgery at Harvard University, is now the Director of Medical Affairs of the international Transplantation Society and an Advisor of Human
Transplantation to the WHO.
resorting to transplant tourism, Libyan transplant officials commenced a national initiative to establish organ donation from the deceased.
This effort followed the passing of a national law to permit deceased donation in Libya in March 2007. Dr. Ehtuish Farag Ehtuish, the Director of
the Libyan National Transplantation program, organized a conference with transplant doctors in Libya to advance this initiative.
COFS’ Executive Director, Dr. Debra Budiani, was invited to participate in theWorld Health Organization (WHO) regional
meetings November 25 and 26 andthe meetings of the 