Organ Harvest in China

China still professes organ harvesting from their prisoners, even though the practice is supposed to be highly secret.

The official governmental statistics were proven to be unreliable, as thousands of political prisoners were found to be executed in order to harvest their organs.

China does not report the number of total prisoner executions as it is considered to be secret. Moreover, the organ donations are deemed to be voluntary, and prisoners are presented with the option of being a donor as a form of atonement for their crimes.

The investigation was done by the former lawmaker David Kilgour, the human rights lawyer David Matas, and the journalist Ethan Gutmann.

The Chinese government reports 10,000 legal organ transplants. However, the report estimated up to 100,000 organs that are transplanted yearly in China hospitals.

The persons who are executed for organ harvest are religious and ethnic minorities, for example, Uyghurs, Tibetans, individuals who practice Falun Gong or underground Christians.

Falun Gong is considered a cult that engages in political activities aiming at the current communist party ruling in China. The detained Falun Gong practitioners were forced to have blood tests and medical exams, and then they were registered as living organ sources in a medical database.

Only 100 hospitals in China are equipped to perform organ transplants operations. However, the investigation discovered 712 clinics that offer kidney and liver transplants.

In 2015, more than 5,000 organs were used in unofficial operations. The total number of organ transplants that are not mentioned in governmental reports is between 50,000 and 90,000.

Chinese governments and hospitals receive substantial financial benefits out of the illegally harvested organs. The practice is condemned by the media and categorized as “barbaric” and similar to Nazi treatments.

Meanwhile, the Chinese view of organ harvest is not positive. People of China think that mutilating a body is improper and unsacred.

The Chinese embassy officials denied the findings in the report and said the claims are imaginary and have no factual foundation.

Earlier in June, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution asking China to end the prisoners’ organ harvest. The resolution included the request to stop the maltreatment of Falun Gong that had been ongoing for 17 years.

The resolution included restricted visa issuance for Chinese travelers and for other countries that involve in organ trafficking.

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