The Laogai Research Foundation Publishes New Report on the Practice of Using Organs from Executed Prisoners for Transplant

February 27, 2014 by admin

As many may know, the majority of organs used in transplant surgeries in China are harvested from executed prisoners. China has systematically carried out this morally repugnant practice for more than 30 years.

In 2013, in an effort to reduce China's dependency on executed prisoners to supply organs for use in transplant operations, China launched its first national organ donation program. The Chinese government has vowed to entirely phase out the practice of harvesting organs from prisoners by 2014. These recent developments have been a welcome change.

It is necessary, however, to recognize and document the full scope of suffering caused by the practice over the past three decades. This report is a comprehensive study of historical and contemporary human rights abuses perpetrated by China's organ transplant system. It is the product of extensive research and interviews with transplant recipients and professionals who have participated in China's transplant system. It reveals how various Chinese government agencies and hospitals coordinate with each other to inhumanely extract organs from unwilling donors for the sole purpose of earning profit. Such abuses are among the most severe, and perhaps most underappreciated, human rights violations that occur in the Chinese prison system.

We hope that shedding light on this issue provides solace to those who have suffered and facilitates the development of an ethical organ donation system in China. We also hope the evidence compiled in this report is useful to governments, human rights organizations, and medical ethicists in their efforts to curb human rights abuses that occur in China's prison system.

Click here for the full report