COFS' Executive Director, Dr. Debra Budiani-Saberi, delivered briefings on organ trafficking for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and the Lantos Commission on Human Rights. These briefings were conducted with Dr. Francis Delmonico, Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, President-elect of The Transplantation Society, and Advisor to the World Health Organization and with Dr. Monir Moniruzzaman, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences, Michigan State University (see http://tlhrc.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=1225 ).

The briefing for the SFRC was followed by a panel discussion with participants from the offices of Senator Rubin, Congressman Chris Smith, the International Office of Migration, as well as Nina Bang-Jenson of Public International Law & Policy Group, Hans Hogrefe of Physicians for Human Rights, and Kevin Bales of Free the Slaves.

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.

The Coalition for Organ-Failure Solutions (COFS) today released an evidence-based victim-centered report,
Sudanese Victims of Organ Trafficking in Egypt which includes video documentation of corroborating testimonies,
ultrasounds and records from transplant centers.