The report on illicit trafficking in human organs in KosovoNote to be debated during the January 2011 part-session of the Parliamentary Assembly has put the spotlight back on the continuing problem of trafficking in human organs in Europe – and worldwide.
In the report, it is pointed out that trafficking in organs contravenes the most basic standards in terms of human rights and dignity. The report welcomes and concurs with the conclusions of the joint study published in 2009 by the Council of Europe and the United Nations.
This joint study concludes that there is a need for an international legal instrument to be prepared which sets out definitions of human organ, tissue and cell trafficking and measures to prevent such trafficking and to protect the victims, as well as the criminal law measures to punish the crime.
The Assembly thus recommends that the Committee of Ministers: