Inquiry into Human Organ Trafficking and Organ Transplant Tourism

Committee Secretary Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade PO Box 6021 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600

Phone: +61 2 6277 2313 Fax: +61 2 6277 2221 [email protected]

The “persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from nonconsenting prisoners of conscience in the Communist People’s Republic of ” is immoral and abhorrent to all decent human beings.

A 2006/2007 Report entitled “Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Practitioners in China”, 1. and updated in 2016 entitled “Bloody Harvest – The Slaughter, 2. by Canadian MP and human rights lawyer David Matas has documented the extent of Human Rights violations in particularly the removal of organs from live un-consenting people, generally prisoners of conscience.

The reports by Matas and Kilgor, have pointed out: a. volume in China is far larger than official Chinese government statistics indicate; b. The source for most of the massive volume of organs for transplants is the killing of innocents: Uyghurs, Tibetans, House Christians and primarily, practitioners of the spiritually based set of exercises Falun Gong; c. Organ pillaging in China is a crime in which the Communist Party, State institutions, the health system, hospitals and the transplant profession are all complicit; d. The global intergovernmental community should establish an institution-based, independent investigation into organ transplant abuse in China; e. The global transplant community should connect and collaborate with the Chinese transplant community only if and when set criteria are met; f. Organ tourism to China should not be shielded by medical confidentiality, but openly monitored; g. No nation should allow their citizens to go to China for organs until China has allowed a full investigation into the organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience, both past and present.

A decade after evidence emerged of one of the gravest and most extraordinary human rights violations to date, the United States House of Representatives has added its voice to the chorus of censure. On June 13th, 2016, the House unanimously passed legislation condemning Organ Harvesting in China, with the passage of H.Res.343. (House Resolution). 3 “H.Res.343 – “Expressing concern regarding persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience in the People's Republic of China, including from large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups”.

The main points of the House Resolution being:

1. Condemns the practice of state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China.

2. Calls on China and the Communist Party of China to end the practice of organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience.

3. Encourages the U.S. medical community to help raise awareness of unethical organ transplant practices in China.

4. Demands an end to the 17-year persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice and the release of all Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience.

5. Calls on China to allow an independent investigation into organ transplant abuses.”

The Inquiry is asked to undertake serious investigation into the world wide available reported and documented accounts of the issues of Forced Organ Trafficking, particularly in mainland China and also the recognition by other countries of the real seriousness of the issue.

The current Commonwealth’s organ trafficking laws criminalise the movement of people into, from or within Australia for the purpose of the unlawful removal of their organs. For an organ trafficking offence to apply, both elements of ‘movement’ and ‘removal of organ’ must be present. These laws do not cover the aiding of these crimes by training doctors that participate in this industry nor does it cover Australians that travel overseas with the intent on purchasing organs from questionable sources.

The Inquiry is further asked to discourage the growing industry of Transplant Tourism, by recommending legislation to make participation on any level, including the training of doctors participating in organ harvesting or the receiving of organs from questionable sources an offence under Australian Law. This law should be recommended as having Extraterritorial Jurisdiction which makes it illegal under Australian Law even if the act is committed outside the Legal Jurisdiction of Australian Territory. This is possible under Australia’s external affairs powers and has been applied to Sex Tourism since 2010, now contained in Division 272 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth).4

1. “Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China”. By Davis Kilgor and David Matas, downloadable- http://organharvestinvestigation.net/ 2. “Bloody Harvest – The Slaughter”. By Davis Kilgor and David Matas, downloadable - http://bit.ly/BloodyHarvestJune2016 3. US House Resolution 343., https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house- resolution/343 4. The Problem of Enforcement in Extraterritorial Laws Relating to Sex Tourism - http://www.federalcircuitcourt.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/fccweb/reports-and- publications/speeches-conference-papers/2012/speech-pascoe-sex-tourism