Latest news, statistics and information on illegal organ trafficking. Facts about the trafficking of organs and kidney are taken from arrest reports, criminal court cases, organ donation agencies, media reports and government publications.
A Canadian woman traveled to Pakistan in order to purchase a kidney transplant. The woman told the CTV News that she paid $10,000 for the operation. After returning to Canada, the kidney she received failed and later exams found that the kidney was no longer functioning.
(More prices of organs and illegal kidney transplants.)
Source: “Canadians desperate for transplants turn to illegal organ trade,” CTV News, June 1, 2013.
Due to the one-child policy in China and a cultural preference for boys, there is an illegal industry of providing ultrasounds and abortions to women once it is determined that the unborn child is a female.
It is illegal in China to have an ultrasound in order to determine the gender of the baby. However, black market operators offer ultrasounds for $128-$193 (800 to 1,200 Yuan). If the parents wish to have an abortion, the cost of the procedure in China is $611 (3,800 Yuan).
In addition to abortions, there are between 400 to 500 surrogacy clinics in China where customers pay in order conceive a child. In-vitro fertilization procedures are illegal in China as most customers due to procedure to conceive a boy. A recent clinic that was registered as a cosmetics company was providing in-vitro fertilization for $161,000 (1 Million Yuan) for a successful birth. If the customers wanted a guarantee that they would receive a boy, then they would have to pay an additional $32,186 (200,000 Yuan).
The abortions of girls has lead to a ration of 118 boys for every 100 girls in China.
Source: Gwynn Guilford, “Crackdowns show how China’s one-child policy keeps the black-market boy business churning,” Quartz, March 26, 2013.
A medical technician and four other people were fined by an Egyptian court for selling blood on the black market.
The group would bring street children to an apartment and give them $1.48 (10 Egyptian Pounds) and a meal in order to draw blood. The group would then sell a bag of blood on the black market for $12.61 (85 Pounds).
Source: Al-Masry Al-Youm, “Five imprisoned for trafficking blood of street children,” Egypt Independent, February 27, 2013.
An estimated 10,000 organ transplants are believed to take place in China every year, according to various reports. Up to 7,000 organs used in those transplants are taken from executed prisons.
The Chinese Government stated that by 2015 it plans to phase out the use of organs from prisoners.
China has up to 1.5 million people waiting for an organ donation.
(See illegal organ donation prices.)
Source: Silke Ballweg, “Executed prisoners are still main source for organ transplants in China,” Deutsche Welle, December 21, 2012.
According to security services in Yemen, human traffickers were paid $1,000 per person for trafficking people from Yemen into Egypt. The victims then had their eyes and kidney taken by organ traffickers.
In a separate incident, an organ trafficker sold the kidney of a Yemeni farmer for $5,000. It was previously reported that kidney brokers in Yemen can make up to $60,000 brokering an organ transplant.
Source: “Yemen recognizes spread of human organ trafficking,” Yemen Post, October 11, 2012.
The United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre has reported that 2,077 potential victims of human trafficking were identified in 2011. The figures were submitted by police agencies, the UK Border Agency and other law enforcement agencies.
Out of the total number of victims, 31 percent were trafficked for sexual exploitation. 22 percent were victims of labor trafficking, 17 percent for various criminal activities, 11 percent for domestic servitude, and 5 percent were trafficked for more than one type of exploitation.In a first case of reporting, 1 percent of the victims (3 people) reported being trafficked for the purpose of their organs being harvested.
13 percent of the victims were unable to be determined.
The most common country of origin of the human trafficking victims were the Czech Republic, Nigeria, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
Source: Jamie Doward, “People smugglers target their victims as organ donors and house slaves,” Guardian, August 25, 2012.
According to news reports, the price of a kidney sold on the black market in India is around $1,000 (55,000 Indian Rupees). In India, the prison term for illegally selling a kidney is five years in prison.
In Romania and Moldova, the price to purchase a black market kidney is $2,700. In Turkey, the price of the kidney goes up to $10,000.
See more kidney and organ prices on the black market.
Source: Peter Hummel, “Kidneys on special offer,” Deutsche Welle, July 31, 2012.
In a news report by the New York Times, a man in Greece was quoted as attempting to sell his kidney for $123,000 (100,000 Euros).
Across Europe, the article stated that many individuals were posting advertisements to sell their organs. for that they would sell their lungs for $312,650 (250,000 Euros).
(More prices of illegal organ transplants.)
Source: Dan Bilefsky, “European Crisis Bolsters Illegal Sales of Body Parts,” New York Times, June 1, 2012.
A doctor in charge of monitoring black market organ trafficking for the World Health Organization estimates that there were over 10,000 cases of illegal sales of organs in 2010, a rate of one organ trafficking incident per hour.
75 percent of the black market in organs involves kidneys.
(Prices of illegal kidney transplants.)
Source: Denis Campbell and Nicola Davison, “Illegal kidney trade booms as new organ is ‘sold every hour’,” Guardian, May 27, 2012.
An article by USA Today reported that buyers in China are able to purchase organs on the black market in China at prices between $32,000 to $62,000.
This price reported in 2012 was lower than the previously reported price listed by Havocscope. Previously, it was reported that Japanese tourists were paying $87,000 to receive a black market kidney operation in China in 2009.
(See the complete list of kidney and organ prices on the black market here)
Source: Calum MacLeod, “Organ harvesting changes in China will be tough to realize,” USA Today, May 15, 2012.
