Illegal trade is booming; Organ harvesting is a multi-billion dollar business

The fact that organ trafficking and harvesting in China is well documented is partly due to David Matas (80). The Canadian human rights lawyer began researching this topic in the 2000s, along with prosecutor David Kilgour. When he and the now deceased prosecutor Kilgour began investigating, China officially spoke of 10,000 organ transplants per year.

However, the figures published – and accessible – by hospitals contradicted the government information. “In the early years (of our research, note) we discovered that it was not 10,000 transplants, but 60,000. Later the number was no longer 60,000. It was 100,000 (per year, note),” Matas said in an APA interview with Moritz Hell.

25,000 registered donors in just one day
The 2023 report ‘Forced Organ Harvesting Form Living People in China’ from the organization Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) provides official Chinese figures. On one particular day in 2015, there was a surge of 25,000 registered donors.

The Chinese government says all organs come from donations, Matas said. If you ask the authorities how to explain the difference between the actually low donation numbers and the high transplant numbers, you are told that organs are also available through accidents. “You can plan for transplants, but you can’t plan for accidents,” says Matas, refuting the claim.

Video: Organ trafficking is also flourishing in Afghanistan

Hepatitis B a “problem” among prisoners
China also lists death row inmates as organ donors. But this claim is just as unreliable for Matas: “Transplants are planned far in advance.” In addition, hepatitis B is widespread among prisoners in China, rendering their organs unusable for donations. And global pressure on China to abolish the death penalty has made it harder to be sentenced to death.

Falun Gong movement as ‘target group’
According to Matas, the largest group of victims in numbers are Falun Gong practitioners. In 1999, the “Meditation School” had no fewer than 100 million people, mostly very healthy people, spread across the country. The transport logistics were therefore simple. Today, of the 100 million, only two million remain, says Matas. Falun Gong was a ‘gold mine’ and a new ‘source of income’. Organ transplants in China have become a “billion-dollar business.”

The walking pattern became even tighter
Two ‘factors’ were crucial here. First of all, the financial aspect. Furthermore, the persecution was politically motivated because the group was popular but not communist – and posed a potential threat to the regime. One day the population will disappear. In 2017, China didn’t even tighten things up. Transplants were advertised, organs were sold, and attempts were made to cover up the crimes.

Meanwhile, some hospitals no longer provide Chinese medical students, many of whom were trained abroad, with proper training in organ transplants.

‘Don’t make Austria an accomplice of China’
Only China itself can decide what happens in China. According to Matas, it won’t even take a change of power in China to put an end to involuntary organ transplants. But the states can decide for themselves what happens outside China, the lawyer says. “If the Austrians do not want to become accomplices of China, they are free to do so. They don’t need to allow transplant tourism to China.”

193 countries have not yet signed any agreements
In 2015, Austria signed the Council of Europe Convention against Organ Trafficking. “The agreement requires states to enact a law criminalizing complicity in organ trafficking.” However, the agreement has not been ratified in the National Council since then. If Austria were to pass such a law, its citizens would not be able to legally travel to China to receive an organ. According to Matas, 20 states currently have relevant laws. “But there are 193 countries, so there is still a long way to go.”