China announces the end of organ harvesting: Doubts concerning "voluntary" organ donations

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) raises doubts concerning China's statement about the end of organ harvesting from executed prisoners unless the organ donations are 'voluntary'. "Prisoners of conscience and their families will be unable to avoid organ harvesting as long as the Chinese judiciary is unable or unwilling to stop state arbitrariness. In a country in which official representatives do not feel bound by laws, there are no 'voluntary' actions", said Ulrich Delius, the STP's China-expert, in Göttingen on Thursday. "The many 'voluntary' confessions of tortured dissidents before criminal courts or in the media give a clear impression of what to think of 'voluntary' organ donations."

"Organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience is a crime against humanity," stated the human rights advocate – and demanded: "There must be criminal proceedings concerning the alleged involuntary organ transplantations from tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in the past 15 years – and there must be investigations against Huang Jiefu, the longtime Head of the National Transplantation Committee."

Delius criticized Huang Jiefu's scandalous behavior of letting himself be honored with prizes for stopping the alleged organ harvesting – instead of resigning from his office and taking responsibility for the crimes committed over the years. Huang Jiefu is a specialist in liver transplants and is considered one of the most prominent surgeons in the People's Republic. He lost his position as deputy Minister of Health in March 2013, after his Ministry had become entangled in contradictory statements about organ harvesting. To this day, the influential director of the National Transplantation Committee is considered to be largely responsible for organ harvesting in China.

According to research by a group of prospective journalists and lawyers, up to 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners and an unknown number of Uyghurs are supposed to have become victims of organ harvesting in the People's Republic since the late 90s. In books and human rights reports, the researchers documented the fate of hundreds of victims of organ harvesting. They interviewed relatives and friends of the victims and recipients of new organs as well as doctors and hospital staff, who admitted to have transplanted organs from executed prisoners of conscience. The evidence for these crimes against humanity seems to be unquestionable, even though the authorities are apparently trying to cover up the crimes and the exact number of victims.

Ulrich Delius, head of STP's Asia department, is available for further questions: +49 551 49906 27 or asien@gfbv.de.

Header Photo: Tor Kristensen/Flickr