The trafficking of human body parts

The trafficking of human body parts

The trafficking of human body parts, also known as the organ trade in the black markets, is the illegal trade of human organs for transplantation. This business has risen to become a very lucrative business amassing wealth for the traffickers. The increase in demand for body organs that can sustain the lives of the patients is the primary reason for the boom in this business out of the set medical systems as per the World Health Organization (WHO). For instance, as of the end of January 2020, there were more than 112,000 recipients in the urgent need for organ transplants in the United States. (citehsb). The average wait periods for the candidates who require liver and heart transplants in America is approximated to about 148 days while for a class A1 patient with heart disease is about 73 days. Hence, time is a critical factor in this business, hence the rise and gradual increase in the profits made in the market. Although stringent and stern measures have been taken by the governmental authorities and the United Nations, the business has gone deeper underground and become more robust hence the increased cases of organ trafficking worldwide due to the donors or victims being exploited excessively.

The ordinances put forward by the authorities have been vital in ensuring that the black market where this business operates goes deeper. These strict regulations have provided that vulnerable people are discouraged from temptations to engage in the industry. Furthermore, there are tough fines and convictions associated with one being involved in the business outside the set regulations by the governments. The organ brokers and traffickers are subject to harsh consequences if found guilty. Therefore, the people are protected from being exploited or lured into deals or prospect jobs that turned into human trafficking schemes where they are used as sources of organs to be transported.

Additionally, the morality, value of the donation, and freedom of choice are well maintained in the regulated market. The organs to be transplanted are obtained within the legal boundaries and in confines of the law, having received approval from the donor. This is very important as the set price on the organs is in the acceptable regions hence affordable to most patients. Moreover, the regulations have made it possible for families to donate more and freely by having paid donor schemes. This primarily applies to the kidney transplants in which a donor can exchange a kidney with another compatible person in the instances where the donor’s kidney is not fit to the recipient. This exchange does not involve the use of cash but is a form of trade. Furthermore, the legal organ trade, which requires consent from the donor either alive or before death, makes it possible to have the recipients on the waiting lists to receive the organs in time as needed.

However, there has been a persistent increase in demand for organs, which has been gradually increasing for the past two decades. The increased demand has led to more wicked ways of acquiring the organs. On average, about 5% to 42% of the organs transplanted are purchased illegally. In these situations, the recipient usually has little say in terms of the prices of the organ due to its scarcity. Therefore, the organs are purchased at exorbitant prices at the likeness of the organ brokers. Thus, despite these strict regulations and declarations by the international bodies on human rights, the people are still forced into these fraudulent deals. Therefore, regardless of the presence of these rules, the organ trade network still exists deep inside the black market, where people try to acquire the organs to sustain life, disregarding the source of the organ.

Market

Similar to other businesses, the organ trade business is hugely reliant on the principles of macroeconomics of demand and supply. In this market, the need is always higher than the supply of the organs to the patients. For instance, over 100,000 patients required organ transplants as of January 2020 in America. The presence of the waiting lists prioritizes the people who need the organs more, and about 40 people die daily due to not obtaining the required organ after the waiting period ends. This high demand for organs is the primary motivator to the traffickers to go through different means to get the organs such as the use of violence, luring of the vulnerable people, and purchase of the organs directly from the donors. Additionally, the long waiting lists also make some of the patients to opt for the black market disregarding all the dangers involved in the transplant to get the operation. The availability of the ready market for organs worldwide hence is a prime cause for the increase of the underground market in this business. Thus, more misery is caused by the dealers and traffickers to the people.

Moreover, the organ trafficking industry is a lucrative market that is very profitable to the dealers, organ brokers, intermediaries, and traffickers. For instance, the business makes profits of up to 1.2 billion dollars a year. Due to these enormous sums of money, the criminals, therefore, engage in violent acts and other dubious methods to obtain the much sought for organs required in the industry. Being a black market means that the profits are tax-free; hence the income earned is very enticing to the parties involved. This makes it possible for the middlemen to trick the vulnerable people, especially the poor, into donating or selling their organs such as the kidneys to make money. For instance, the black-market price of a kidney is at least $2000, which will seem appealing to the donor. The same organ may be sold for up to $160,000 to the recipient. The exorbitant prices involved in this market with large sums of money have posed a challenge to the authorities since the traffickers have established a well-organized organ trade network challenging to trace and track.

Furthermore, not all countries have banned the sale of human organs between parties. For instance, Iran legalized the organ trade at the beginning of the 1980s. Although this is restricted to Iranian citizens only, it has given the traffickers grounds to operate the black market in the region(ckjxkm). This has also encouraged the sale of organs in the country hence increasing instances where the poor people are mistreated and used wrongly during the process of obtaining the organs. Although the Iranian government has given prospects that the system is effective and the best way of having a regulated organ market, legalizing the sale of the organs has set precedence for a robust market in the region, and in most cases, the vulnerable people are always oppressed. For instance, there is no follow-up made on the health condition of the donors of the organs, and over 70% of the Iranian donors are poor people. Besides, this has had adverse outcomes on the physical and mental health of the population. (sljcxnm)

Furthermore, the presence of widespread poor people in some regions of the world has been a significant boost to the flourishing of the market. The poor people have a higher likelihood of falling prey to organ theft, unlike other people. This has predominantly affected the developing countries of the world. In India, for instance, more than 70% of all the donors are below the poverty line. (sdhbsj). Extreme poverty and residing in impoverished conditions offer the perfect setting for the transplant tourists to easily lure the poor people into selling their organs with promises of getting compensation money that will help improve the living standards. ssxxccaskjmne78ss). Also, the donors who rely on physical labor to sustain their families are left languishing in poverty after the little income they obtained from the trade is finished. This is because they relied on their physical well-being to work, which after the surgery they are unable to.74

Violence as a business strategy

This business strategy has proved very profitable and lucrative to the organ brokers and transplant tourists who look for potential donors. The traffickers engage in violent conduct to attack the vulnerable people or lure them into situations that they can obtain the organs from them. The most vulnerable people are children, teenagers, and women who live in disadvantaged communities. In most instances, criminal networks are used to either kidnap or trick people into locations where the medical equipment is available. The victims are then killed, and their organs then taken to be used in the market. In these situations, the traffickers get maximum profits as there are no kickbacks or prior monetary engagements with the victims.

Furthermore, there is limited evidence because of the difficulty to trace the traffickers. The use of violence, therefore, becomes a very significant technique employed by the traffickers. Additionally, the organs are easily packed and transported, or even sometimes, the transplant is done in the rooms with medical equipment. Although the effects of the surgery conducted after the transplantation are not well known, this room converted to a theater is affordable to the parties hence saving on a lot of expenses that arise from a myriad of factors, therefore, saving money and thus high incomes are obtained. This adversely affects the poor people as the increased cases of disappearance of people are witnessed, which in turn increases their misery in the penurious conditions.

Moreover, violence offers the best situation for the traffickers to obtain fresh human organs. Therefore, the use of violence has been put on the forefront in bids to get organs. The cases of kidnappings have increased in most of the developing countries with high cases of mutilated bodies recovered after the organs have been removed. For instance, the body of a young boy six years of age was found in Tiberia Village in Bangladeshi a few days later after being kidnapped. The kidneys and other vital organs had been removed. (citekjmds) this is an instance where the criminal group used this business strategy to obtain the body organs illegally. In most cases, the criminals subdue the victim first before undertaking the process of acquiring the organ and later on dump the body of the deceased. Due to the magnitude of the profitability margin of this business, this technique is conducted very efficiently and by the use of sophisticated medical equipment, and the team ensures that they leave no trace of the culprits. Therefore, the plight of the poor is not given justice as the people are difficult to trace.

The desire for the incentives that come from organ trade has also increased the instances for the use of violence to obtain the body organs. For example, terrorist groups also engage in organ trade by using organs derived from the victims of war or terrorist activities. For instance, ISIS sells the human body organs obtained from the victims held in captive for periods to fund their terrorism. Since this group is actively associated with violence and oppression to the people, numerous attacks are made on the people, and they are kidnapped after which their organs are obtained and sold. (Cjhskc )therefore, wars, instability, and anarchy, offer the best situations for the criminal gangs and terrorist groups to use violence as a means of obtaining the human organs after pacifying the victims.

Violence, however, is most suited to the side of the oppressors and the organ traffickers. Violence undermines all the rules of humanity and equal living, as well as the morality of human beings. Violence undermines respect for life and freedom of will. Thus, although it is one of the best approaches in use by the organ traders, it is significantly discouraged and out of the regulations. Hence the continuous fights by the governments with the criminals, which have been able to curb the instances of violence. Kidnappings remain common but are still thoroughly dealt with by law enforcement teams, which have proved productive and hence reduced the considerable increase in human body organ trafficking instances.

Conclusion

Health is a great driver in the organ industry, and thus, people are always willing to pay more to get back to optimum body conditions. People go to great extents to get the organ transplants done and, therefore, a great stimulus to the organ trade. The lucrativeness of this black-market industry is the reason why both the donors and traders involve themselves in the business. The continuous regulations by governments and the use of law enforcement teams have had great success in the recent past, although the organ trade remains persistent in the world. This is due to the increasing demand for the organs always present, which offers a ready market for the acquired organs. Since the profit margin is very high, the traffickers go to all extents, including the use of violence or tricks to obtain the organ. This leaves the poor people languishing in poverty as they were before the engagement and in severe pain with inches of scars from the surgeries conducted and the ordeals they went through. Although it is difficult to trace, more stringent measures should be taken to protect the poor and vulnerable in society to prevent frequent exposure to the greedy human organ traffickers. Therefore, the authorities should put in place unprecedented levels of focus on protecting human life and regulation of the organ trade in the required standards.