Those most at risk of being trafficked for the harvesting of body parts are the poor and the desperate. If you are living in extreme poverty and there seems no way out, then you will be very tempted by the offer of a large amount of money for one of your kidneys, especially when this is accompanied by promises of lifetime care.

The severe shortage of body organs for transplant in India, is a reflection of the international imbalance in supply and demand. Inevitably, there are people who see the potential for making a lot of money, hence there is a flourishing black market in organs in India. The Indian government has attempted to combat this by encouraging people to become official organ donors since the 1990s, but this appears to have done little to restrict the trafficking of organs and the trafficking of people in order to harvest body parts. There is confusion between the two in both research articles and news reporting, but it is the latter that falls within the definition of human trafficking.

[most gruesome trafficking]

Even though trafficking for body parts is one of the most gruesome forms of human trafficking, there has been little research and it is difficult to gauge the size of the problem with any degree of accuracy. The limited research in the Chennai area by Geisinger Health Systems clearly indicates that the main victims are from among the poorest. 96% of those selling their kidneys did so in order to pay off their debts (although 75% were still in debt afterwards); 71% were living below the poverty line and those that were in work were labourers or street vendors.

[exploited and deceived]

News reports in India reveal how people are being exploited. For those who received money after donating an organ, it was often only a fraction of what they were promised. Brokers make a lot of money. Typically, people would be promised anything from £2,000 to £7,000, but would receive at most £400.

There is also anecdotal evidence of people who were tricked or forced into donating organs. 28-year-old Suresh Raju, who needed a £700 loan, was advised to donate a few pints of blood in return for money. When he woke up from sedation he realised that one of his kidneys had been removed. In one of the biggest rackets involving the illegal transplant of 500 kidneys, many of the victims were day labourers, who would be offered work, only to find themselves taken to a clinic and duped or forced at gunpoint to undergo operations. The offer of well paid work is a common theme with this and other forms of human trafficking.

[vulnerability of the poor]

Ruthless agents take advantage of the poor and illiterate, as evidenced by how many victims of the 2004 tsunami were forced to sell their kidneys – many were from the ruined fishing industry, particularly in the Chennai area.

As with all forms of human trafficking in India it is Dalits and Tribals, those who fall below the caste system, who are most at risk. They lose out financially, and also are put at risk with the after-effects on their health.

DFN UK wants to see an end to trafficking people to harvest body parts in India. End Dalit Trafficking. [Read more...]