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STORY: EU / TRAFFICKING ORGANS REPORT
TRT: 1.58
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 13 OCTOBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT 2009, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
13 OCTOBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY
2. Various shots, conference
3. Wide shot, press conference
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Carmen Prior, Public Prosecutor of Austria:
“The fundamental difference is that in the case of trafficking in organs tissues and cells, the organ and the use of it are in the center of transactions, the organ might be from a living donor but it can also be from a deceased donor. Contrary to this in trafficking in human beings for the removal of organs, this is a severe human rights violation, and a crime with the exploitation of living persons for the removal of organs is the center of attention.”
5. Cutaway, press conference
6.SOUNDBITE (English) Arthur Caplan, Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Director of the Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania:
“The basis for obtaining organs and tissues for transplant should be voluntary altruism. This report does not find any reason to change that policy and indeed we affirm as a primary principle no financial gain should be coincident with obtaining organs and tissues for transplant.”
7. Cutaway, press conference
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Arthur Caplan, Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Director of the Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania:
“The problem that leads to trafficking is basically shortage, internationally many nations do not supply many organs for local use, there are disparities in the access to transplant services, they’re mentioned in the report, people travel therefore across national boundaries to get access to organs or people are moved to bring to where transplant facilities are. These are obvious problems that require international efforts to address.”
9. Cutaway, press conference
9. Wide shot, press conference closing
A joint study launched today (13 October) by the United Nations (UN) and the Council of Europe says that a new, binding international treaty is needed to prevent trafficking in organs, tissues, and cells, protect victims and prosecute offenders in this exploitation of the deeply impoverished.
The report calls for the prohibition of financial gain from the human body or its parts as the basis of all legislation on organ transplants, adding that organ donation should be promoted to increase availability, with preference given to organ, tissue, cell (OTC) donation from the deceased.
Following the launch at UN headquarters in New York, the authors of the study briefed journalists at a press conference.
Co-author Carmen Prior, the Public Prosecutor of Austria, summed up the legal pillars of a proposed treaty with the words “Prevention, protection and prosecution.”
Trafficking in OTC should be clearly distinguished from trafficking in human beings for the removal of organs, a small part of the wider problem, the report says, pointing to widespread confusion in the legal and scientific communities between the two types of trafficking, which require different solutions.
Prior said that the fundamental difference was that in the case of trafficking in OTC, the organ and the use of it were in the center of transactions. Contrary to this, she said, in trafficking in human beings for the removal of organs, this was a severe human rights violation, where the crime of exploiting living persons for the removal of organs was the center of attention.
Co-author Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania, said that the report pointed out that the basis for obtaining organs and tissues for transplant should be voluntary altruism, and added that the report did not find any reason to change that policy. No financial gain should be coincident with obtaining organs and tissues for transplant.
Caplan also said that the problem that led to trafficking was basically shortage, adding that internationally many nations did not supply many organs for local use. He said that there were disparities in the access to transplant services, and that was why people traveled across national boundaries to get access to organs.
The report calls for the collection of reliable data on trafficking in OTC and in human beings for organ removal, separated by sex to assess if the problem impacts women and men differently.
The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, and the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, already contain measures to combat trafficking in human beings for organ removal.
