Uyghur Organ Harvesting

It is well known that China has some of the largest organ transplant programs in the world. It is a multi-billion-dollar industry. China has about 90,000 transplants a year with a wait time of only a few weeks. They even have back-up organ options. Absolutely no country can come close to providing a similar service. Some Chinese hospitals’ official websites advertise that they’re able to provide matching organs within one to two weeks, and in some cases, even in 72 hours which is a ridiculously short amount of time. Other countries such as the U.S., the U.K. and Canada have a wait time of about three to four years [1]. 

Norman L. Epstein, an emergency physician in Toronto, Canada, and the international chair of the Student Action Committee for End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC) explains that “this should be an impossible feat, given that no one knows in advance of a healthy organ for transplant until a sudden death of a healthy donor occurs, and only within a few hours. This could only be possible if there was a reservoir of healthy living donors, which, again, China does not have” [2].

So the question is, where do all of these organs readily available for transplant come from? Actually, this can only be explained with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “harvesting” organs from political prisoners and detainees of the concentration camps. This includes members of the Falun Gong, and also Uyghurs, Tibetans and Christian sects [3]. Starting in 2000, the Falun Gong practitioners were rounded up in detention labour camps, had physical exams and were blood and tissue typed, which is necessary for organ transplant purposes [4]. These experiences are very similar to what the Uyghur detainees of the concentration camps undergo. David Matas, an international human rights lawyer based in Winnipeg, Canada and a co-author with David Kilgour on organ transplant abuse in China says that, “practitioners of Falun Gong and Uyghurs are swept off the streets and taken into arbitrary detention for brainwashing, recantation, and expressions of support for the Communist Party of China. That is one purpose. But it is not the only purpose. Those who refuse to succumb are put into forced labour and then killed for their organs. The slavery and organ extraction are also purposes’’ [5].

Organ harvesting from Uyghurs actually predates that of the Falun Gong practitioners which began in 2001 [6]. David Kilgour, a former member of the Canadian Parliament, a lawyer, an author and activist, explains: “In 1995, a Uyghur general surgeon in a hospital in Urumqi, the capital, was ordered to go to an execution ground to remove the kidneys and liver from a wounded, but still living, man. Later, agonizing over what he had done, he fled China. In 1998, five Chinese government officials with organ problems checked into a hospital in Urumqi. A Uyghur policeman in the city, now in exile, was sent to the political prisoner wing of the local prison to obtain blood samples from Uyghur prisoners. He learned that once a matching blood type was found, tissue matching was then completed before the “donors” were shot in the right side of their chests. The five officials left with their newly obtained transplanted organs”[7].

An indicator for Uyghur organ harvesting by the CCP is that every Uyghur of East Turkistan has been through a series of physical examinations such as blood tests and DNA tests among others. Blood and DNA are in fact necessary for tissue matching for organ transfers. Another indicator is the CCP preventing Uyghurs to see their deceased family members that were in the concentration camps. This can mean that their organs have been pillaged before their deaths. Other signs of Uyghur organ harvesting include the travel of transplant tourists in East Turkistan, the movement of organs out of the region (with specific signs and lanes at airports), the depletion of the source of organs from the Falun Gong practitioners, and the mysterious disappearances and unexplained deaths of Uyghurs [8]. Moreover, a witness who is a Chinese woman identified as Ms. Aili said she had seen the harvesting of live organs from unwilling Uyghurs [9]. They were killed in order to satisfy the demand of Saudi buyers who wanted “Halal organs” (even though this illegal practice is completely forbidden in Islam). Ms. Aili was told that the waiting time to find and receive a matched organ was from one to six months.

“China first admitted to using prisoners as donors in 2005, and vowed to end the practice in 2013, again in 2014, before saying the practice ended in 2015” [10]. However, the Chinese government has been falsifying the numbers of organ donations. A study led by a PhD student from the Australian National University, Matthew Robertson, showed in his research the evidence of the falsification of the datasets provided by the CCP on organ donations in China. In fact, it was found that the number of organs transplanted matched almost perfectly matched a mathematical formula, a quadratic function [11]. Robertson states that “when you take a close look at the numbers of organs apparently collected, they almost match this artificial equation point for point, year in, year out. They’re too neat to be true” [12]. In fact, this is all to mask the continuous use of “harvested” organs from non-voluntary donors. An estimated 60,000 to 100,000 transplants come from the victims’ organs every year [13]. Human rights organizations, researchers and political institutions have been presenting evidence of the Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs and other political prisoners being used as an “organ bank” [14]. However, the CCP still keeps denying this.

References

[1] Epstein, Norman. (December 16, 2019). We must speak up for the victims of organ transplants. Retrieved from https://www.cjnews.com/perspectives/features/epstein-we-must-speak-up-for-the-victims-of-organ-transplants

[2] Ibid

[3] Bulka, Reuven (July 5, 2019). China still harvests organs from prisoners – and the world does little to stop it. Retrieved from https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/bulka-china-still-harvests-organs-from-prisoners-and-the-world-does-little-to-stop-it

[4]  Epstein, Norman. (December 16, 2019). We must speak up for the victims of organ transplants. Retrieved from https://www.cjnews.com/perspectives/features/epstein-we-must-speak-up-for-the-victims-of-organ-transplants

[5] Matas, David. (December 10, 2019). Legal Options to combat organ transplant abuse in China. Retrieved from http://www.david-kilgour.com/2019/DavidMatas_Brussel_Dec10,2019.pdf

[6] Kilgour, David. (December 10, 2019). Ongoing nightmare for Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang. Retrieved from http://david-kilgour.com/2019/DavidKigour_Brussels_Uyghurs_Dec12,2019.pdf

[7] Ibid

[8] Ibid

[9] Everington, Keoni. (January 22, 2020). Saudis allegedly buy 'Halal organs' from 'slaughtered' Xinjiang Muslims. Retrieved from https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3862578

[10] Doherty, Ben (November 14, 2019). Chinese government may have falsified organ donation numbers, study says. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/15/chinese-government-may-have-falsified-organ-donation-numbers-study-says

[11] Ibid

[12] Ibid

[13] Epstein, Norman. (December 16, 2019). We must speak up for the victims of organ transplants. Retrieved from https://www.cjnews.com/perspectives/features/epstein-we-must-speak-up-for-the-victims-of-organ-transplants

[14] Robertson, Matthew., Hinde, Raymond., Lavee, Jacob. (November 14, 2019). Analysis of official deceased organ donation data casts doubt on the credibility of China’s organ transplant reform. Retrieved from https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12910-019-0406-6