Trafficking in Human Beings for the Purpose of Organ Removal in the OSCE Region: Analysis and Findings

Abstract

Since the beginning of my mandate in 2010, one of my priorities has been to address some of the most invisible forms of trafficking in human beings (THB). Trafficking for the purpose of organ removal is included in the United Nations Palermo Protocol on Trafficking of 2000 in its definition of trafficking in Article 3, but in fact this form of trafficking remains one of the most unknown and least addressed. In recent years however, we have seen an increase in attention to the subject, in part due to several high profile cases within the OSCE region, as well as due to the long-standing efforts of investigative journalists, academics and victim advocates who have gone to great lengths to shed light on this phenomenon. Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of organ removal (THB/OR) is, like all other forms of trafficking, a violation of the fundamental human rights and dignity of individuals, while also clearly representing a grave form of transnational organized crime. My mandate to address this form of trafficking stems back to the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings 1. Other OSCE commitments throughout the years refer to all forms of trafficking; 2 most recently in the Vilnius Declaration 3, participating States expressed their deep concern for this form of trafficking.