‘Extremely Alarmed’ by Alleged Organ Harvesting in China : UN rights experts
United Nations, Jun 14 (UNI) UN human rights experts on Monday expressed alarm at alleged forced organ harvesting of political dissidents and ethnic minorities in China.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a statement alluded to reports of forced organ transplant of Falun Gong practitioners and other detained minorities, such as the ethnic Uighurs and Tibetans in China
“UN human rights experts said today they were extremely alarmed by reports of alleged ‘organ harvesting’ targeting minorities, including Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims and Christians, in detention in China,” the statement said.
The experts, the release said, had credible information that minority groups in detention are forced to undergo organ x-rays and blood tests, while other prisoners are not subjected to such examinations. The results are reportedly registered in a database with information on alive organs donors.
“The most common organs removed from the prisoners are reportedly hearts, kidneys, livers, corneas and, less commonly, parts of livers,” the experts said in the statement.
According to them, procedures of organ removal are facilitated by health professionals, such as surgeons, anesthetists, and other experts.
When in 2006 and 2007 the United Nations requested China to provide information on organ donations, the responses lacked data on the sources of organs and waiting time for allocation. To this date, this information still remains inaccessible, while families of the deceased prisoners are prevented from claiming their bodies, the experts said.
China was first accused of systematic organ harvesting in 2006, including from the persecuted Falun Gong religious movement’s members. The same year, two Canadian lawyers, David Kilgour and David Matas, issued a report based on their investigation into allegations of organ harvesting for Falun Gong practitioners in the People’s Republic.
Although the authors were denied Chinese visas, they compiled information estimating that the sources for 41,000 organ transplants from 2000 to 2005 were unexplained and that Falun Gong prisoners of conscience were the most probable source.