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Organ transplant tourism to China

Motion for a resolution | Doc. 14190 | 18 October 2016

Signatories:
Ms Lotta JOHNSSON FORNARVE, Sweden, UEL ; Ms Anastasia CHRISTODOULOPOULOU, Greece, UEL ; Mr Yves CRUCHTEN, Luxembourg, SOC ; Ms Miren GORROTXATEGI, Spain, UEL ; Mr Matjaž HANŽEK, Slovenia, UEL ; Mr Ögmundur JÓNASSON, Iceland, UEL ; Mr Carles JORDANA, Andorra, ALDE ; Ms Filiz KERESTECİOĞLU DEMİR, Turkey, UEL ; Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Florian KRONBICHLER, Italy, SOC ; Mr Ertuğrul KÜRKÇÜ, Turkey, UEL ; Mr Hişyar ÖZSOY, Turkey, UEL ; Ms Liliana PALIHOVICI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Ms Judith PALLARÉS, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Georgios PSYCHOGIOS, Greece, UEL ; Ms Ulla SANDBÆK, Denmark, UEL ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Miltiadis VARVITSIOTIS, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Nikolaj VILLUMSEN, Denmark, UEL ; Mr Jordi XUCLÀ, Spain, ALDE

On 22 June 2016, a new report was presented by David Matas, human rights lawyer, David Kilgour, former Canadian parliamentarian/cabinet minister, and Ethan Gutmann, journalist. The 798-page report is based on an examination of hundreds of hospitals involved in organ transplants, estimating the number of transplantations in China to be at least 60,000-100,000 per year.

The report concludes that organ transplantation volumes in China are far larger than official statistics indicate (10,000 per year), and that the source of most of the transplant organs is the killing of prisoners of conscience, primarily practitioners of the spiritual practice Falun Gong.

The Parliamentary Assembly should condemn organ pillaging by the State party in China. In December 2013, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for an end to organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience in China. In July 2016, the European Parliament Written Declaration P8-DCL-2016-0048 was passed on the same subject. On 13 June, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Resolution 343, which condemned State-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience in China. The Israeli and Spanish Parliaments also enacted new laws in 2008 and 2010 to stop illegal organ transplants.

The Assembly should:

  • call on the Government of China to immediately end organ pillaging from prisoners of conscience;
  • call on the People’s Republic of China to allow an international credible, transparent, and independent investigation into their organ transplant system;
  • demand that organ transplant tourism to China should not be shielded by medical confidentiality, but openly monitored;
  • demand that no nation should allow their citizens to travel to China for organ transplants until China has allowed a full investigation into organ pillaging of prisoners of conscience, both past and present.