Organ Trafficking – A Growing Problem with No Easy Solutions

The organ trade is a complex crime that is fuelled by the high demand for organ transplants and rising global inequalities. The root causes of the trade need to be addressed and stronger responses are needed to tackle the more organised and exploitative forms of the trade, writes Frederike Ambagtsheer for The Conversation.

Organ trade is the illegal sale and purchase of organs for financial or material gain. It is a serious problem that disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, such as those living in poverty or conflict zones. The WHO estimates that 5% of all transplants performed worldwide are illegal, and the most commonly reported form of organ trade is the sale of living donor kidneys. The increased value of organs makes them more profitable, which fuels the desire of some people to trade and sell them. Global developments and catastrophes such as the widening gap between the rich and poor, conflicts, famine, climate change, and forced migration further increase the risk of organ sale and exploitation among the world's vulnerable populations. It is important to raise awareness of this issue and to work to prevent organ trafficking and exploitation.

In March 2023, a Nigerian politician Ike Ekweremadu his wife, and a medical middleman were found guilty of an organ-trafficking plot after they brought a man to the UK from Lagos to sell his kidney. Several months later in Kenya, following the arrest of a televangelist on charges of a mass killing of his followers, autopsies on the corpses revealed missing organs, raising suspicions of forced organ harvesting. And, in 2020, researcher Sean Columb exposed how numerous African migrants sold their kidneys in Egypt's capital city Cairo, in hopes of using the earnings to pay smugglers to take them across the Mediterranean into Europe.