CORRUPTION

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Interview with Professor Susanne Lundin Over the years, organ trafficking—or rather, the illicit trade with organs—has become more complex because new types of buyers and sellers are turning up. International Affairs Forum Sellers and suppliers. The payments that suppliers receive vary worldwide. Individuals from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Colombia, and the Philippines have, over the past five years, received between US$1,000 and US$2,500 for a kidney or part of a liver. Iran has a regulated organ procurement system only for Iranian citizens where the standard amount from the government is US$1,219. Sellers from Romania reported having received about US$5,000, and sellers from Brazil reported having received about US$3,000. Sellers from Israel and Turkey reported having received between US$7,500 and US$20,000. Profit. Organ brokers and organ syndicates make money. The illicit organ trade is estimated to generate profits between US$600 million and US$1.2 billion annually. Have any trends in organ trafficking evolved over the years? Over the years, organ trafficking—or rather, the illicit trade with organs—has become more complex because new types of buyers and sellers are turning up. The buyers are not always wealthy. They may be seriously ill people who scrape together the money for a new organ with the help of their relatives. Nor are the sellers exclusively poor people who need food for the day. There are people who sell a kidney or a piece of their liver to pay for university studies or even to buy an iPad. The trade in organs has become permeated with cultural ideas about the body as commodity. Are there specific regions or countries where the issue is more prevalent? Do certain characteristics of a nation or population contribute to the prevalence of organ trafficking? Organ trafficking is found throughout the world. This commerce, just like other businesses, is carried on within the framework of a market system. The trade is governed by a short supply and an increasing demand. The selling of organs primarily exists in countries marked by corruption, war, and social or economic hierarchies. The global organ economy follows a geographical and social flow. The organs come from poor countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South America, Asia, Brazil, and various countries in Africa. The recipients are inhabitants of richer countries such as Israel, the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Japan, as well as smaller countries such as Sweden. There is little surprise that the individuals from wealthy social groups are the buyers and that the most vulnerable people in poor countries are the sellers. It is a complicating factor that the operations are often performed in another country, such as the Philippines, Latin America, or an Eastern European country. Signs have been appearing in recent years that people in Northern Europe too are dealing in organs. In the summer of 2012, for instance, the head of the transplant clinic in Göttingen, Germany, was suspended for supplying wealthy patients from Russia with organs. At the same time, one of the chief physicians at Franziskus 118
International Affairs Forum Fall 2016 Hospital in Berlin was charged with involvement in international organ trafficking in connection with the Medicus Affair, named for a clinic in Kosovo where patients with kidney disease went to buy organs from poor Eastern Europeans. In countries including Serbia, Latvia, and Romania, an increasing number of people are attempting to sell their own or other people’s body parts. In Southern Europe, too, the illegal trade is intensifying. What power does the international system have in preventing or tracking down organ trafficking? Are these methods effective, or is organ trafficking better addressed at a national level? Organ trafficking must be addressed at the international level and the national level. Interdisciplinary research is necessary to discover what is going on, how it’s done, and who is involved. This includes research in ethnography, criminology, law, medicine, and so on. Close collaboration between various worldwide organizations and prosecutors is vital. In your new book, Organs for Sale (2015), you focus on the proliferation of organ trafficking in Moldova, Israel, South Africa, and the Philippines. What is the significance of these four countries? As mentioned in one of my previous responses, organ trafficking is found throughout the world and is carried out within the framework of a market system. The trade primarily exists in countries marked by corruption, war, and social or economic hierarchies. This is especially true for Moldova, South Africa, and the Philippines. Israel is characterized in a slightly different way. Like many other countries where the organ trade is occurring, including India and Egypt, South Africa and the Philippines have historically been characterized by cultural and ideological patterns where distinctions are made between individuals by race, social class, and so on. Similarly, countries that have been colonized and left with a strong impression of such historic and exploitative experiences have experienced organ trafficking. Individuals belonging to the so-called underclass of society (because of race, social class, or gender) are easily seen as commodities and objects. Historically speaking, people of color have been deemed to lack “natural” human emotions or feelings of pain. Those ideas were used to legitimize the idea that the people at the top (the elite, those in power, whites, etc.) can exploit certain groups of people and use them as slaves, serfs, or organ banks. In these postcolonial environments, poor people are historically familiar with being victimized, and therefore it is a well-known path they tread when they make their bodies available for others and accept very little payment. Thus, organ sellers in these countries are not primarily ashamed of the sale of kidneys. In fact, it has in many parts developed into a proper trade where families and villages more or less officially offer their organs. Consequentially, no one wants to report to the police if the promised money from the broker is not paid, because they would risk their own business being revealed. This situation differs from that of Moldova. In Moldova, I’ve found quite different cultural and ideological patterns that are important to how organ trafficking works. Organ sellers in Moldova feel shame. Moldova is a former Soviet nation with persistent ideas about equal rights—far from the colonial experiences. Even if the Soviet state exploited the citizens, it was done in terms of “equality”, “democracy”, and so on. Organ sellers, who are cheated out of their promised payment, do not complain to the police. They are too ashamed. In both cases, South Africa and Fall 2016 119
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Page 140 and 141: Interview with Ms. Taina Bien-Aimé
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Page 166 and 167: Shen, Anqi (2015). Offending Women
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