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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3694 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3694

     To combat trafficking in human organs, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 6, 2015

 Mr. Trott (for himself and Mr. Deutch) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
     To combat trafficking in human organs, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Strategy To Oppose Predatory Organ 
Trafficking Act'' or the ``STOP Organ Trafficking Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 
        approximately 10 percent of all transplanted kidneys worldwide 
        are illegally obtained, often bought from vulnerable 
        impoverished persons or forcibly harvested from prisoners.
            (2) In 2004, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution 
        urging its member-states to take measures to protect the 
        poorest as well as vulnerable groups from exploitation by organ 
        traffickers.
            (3) On February 13, 2008, the United Nations Global 
        Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UNGIFT) hosted the 
        ``Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking'', and subsequently 
        reported that a lack of adequate illicit organ trafficking laws 
        has provided opportunity for the illegal trade to grow.
            (4) On March 21, 2011, the Council of the European Union 
        adopted rules supplementing the definition of criminal offenses 
        and the level of sanctions in order to strengthen the 
        prevention of organ trafficking and the protection of those 
        victims.
            (5) In November 2012, Erasmus University Hospital along 
        with institutions in Romania, Sweden, Bulgaria, and Spain 
        launched a 3-year study backed by Europol into illegal organ 
        trafficking, and released a statement that, ``there are more 
        and more indicators of `organ tourism', whereby a patient 
        travels abroad with the aim of receiving a transplanted organ 
        which may have been bought . . . donors are often victims of 
        human trafficking.''.
            (6) According to organ trafficking specialists at the WHO, 
        Moldova ranks third as a source of organs for sale on the 
        global black market, with such human organs frequently smuggled 
        to underground clinics located in several European Union 
        member-states.
            (7) Between 2001 and 2003, a South African black market 
        kidney transplant ring coerced over 109 people, mostly from 
        Brazil and Romania, to travel to Durban, South Africa, to 
        forfeit a kidney for the promise of approximately $120,000, 
        although payment was frequently withheld following the 
        operation.
            (8) On May 3, 2004, Afghanistan's Interior Minister Ali 
        Ahmed Lakali stated that the problem of child abduction was 
        growing and children were being taken to be sold for ``sex or 
        labor, or to provide human organs''.
            (9) In March 2006, a children's rights expert at the Afghan 
        Independent Human Rights Commission, Hengameh Anwari, stated, 
        ``Other reports that cause concern indicate that a number of 
        children are abducted because of their body organs; they become 
        victims of trafficking to foreign countries especially for 
        their kidneys.''.
            (10) In June 2001, Dr. Wang Guogi testified before the 
        Subcommittee on International Organizations and Human Rights of 
        the Committee on International Relations of the House of 
        Representatives that Chinese hospitals worked in collusion with 
        state security agencies to extract organs from executed 
        prisoners without written consent of the organ donors, and that 
        these transplants were a lucrative source of income.
            (11) Researcher and journalist Ethan Gutmann estimates that 
        approximately 65,000 Falun Gong adherents may have been killed 
        for their organs from 2000 to 2008, and that a number of other 
        religious and ethnic minorities may also have been targeted.
            (12) On November 20, 2004, Xin Ren from California State 
        University stated to the International Bureau for Children's 
        Rights Conference in Montreal, that, ``[In India, Pakistan, and 
        some other Asian countries in 2003] [c]hildren were often 
        either sold by their parents for little money or kidnapped and 
        abducted by the traffickers to have their organ(s) removed for 
        transplant purpose . . . [S]ome people were even murdered in 
        the process of forcible removal of their organs.''.
            (13) The website of the Organ Transplant Center of the 
        Armed Police General Hospital in Beijing, China touted that, 
        ``Our Organ Transplant Center is our main department for making 
        money . . . This year (2004) there is a chance to break through 
        30,000,000 yuan.''.
            (14) Canadian researchers David Matas, human rights 
        attorney, and David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State 
        for Asia-Pacific, conducted an investigation into allegations 
        of organ harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience in 
        2006, and based on extensive circumstantial evidence, their 
        report concluded that the allegations were true and that tens 
        of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners may have been killed 
        for their organs.
            (15) In mid-November 2006, China's Deputy Health Minister 
        Huang Jiefu acknowledged that condemned prisoners are sources 
        for organ transplants, and Asia News reported that Deputy 
        Health Minister Huang had said he was cognizant of the fact 
        that too often organs come from non-consenting parties and are 
        sold for high fees to foreigners.
            (16) In May 2006, the website for the China International 
        Transplantation Network Assistance Centre posted the following 
        statements in its frequently asked questions section: ``The 
        First Affiliated Hospital of China was established in 2003 
        specifically for our foreign friends . . . Viscera providers 
        can be found immediately! . . . Our organs do not come from 
        brain death victims because the organ may not be good.''.
            (17) In November 2008, the United Nations Committee on 
        Torture reported concern over the allegations of organ 
        harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners and called on the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China to increase 
        accountability and transparency in the organ transplant system 
        and punish those individuals responsible for abuses.
            (18) In 2005, the United States ratified the Protocol to 
        Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially 
        Women and Children, a supplement to the United Nations 
        Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which 
        includes the removal of organs as a form of exploitation under 
        the definition of ``trafficking in persons''.
            (19) On March 30, 2006, the Police Superintendent of 
        Paranaque, Philippines, arrested a suspect alleged to have ties 
        to a regional kidnapping syndicate involved with abducting 
        children in order to remove their organs and sell them on the 
        global black market, as in the case of a child discovered dead 
        in Cavite, Philippines, with his internal organs missing.
            (20) On April 12, 2008, police raided a black market organ 
        transplant house near Manila, Philippines, arresting three 
        traffickers and discovering nine donors in the house, one of 
        whom stated to authorities that he had been promised $2,800 for 
        his kidney, and he was doing it because, ``I can barely provide 
        for my wife and children.''.
            (21) In November 2008, the National Bureau of 
        Investigation's Human Trafficking Division in the Philippines 
        reported, ``the abducted children are housed somewhere in 
        Mindanao where victims are supplied with vitamin supplements to 
        keep their internal organs healthy, and are then transported 
        outside the country to undergo surgery for organ transplants''.
            (22) In 2007, Pakistan was identified by the WHO as one of 
        the top destinations for ``transplant tourism''.
            (23) Pakistani authorities in April 2007 raided a black 
        market organ ring in Lahore that consisted of doctors, 
        officials, and middlemen who had abducted potential donors, 
        drugged them and removed their kidneys without consent to then 
        sell for profit.
            (24) Dr. Zafar ul Ahsan, a top urologist at Fatima Jinnah 
        Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, stated in September 2007, ``A 
        mafia is running Pakistan's kidney transplant business with 
        agents paying $1,000 to poor donors and then selling their 
        kidneys on the black market for thousands of dollars.''.
            (25) In 2007, five employees of the tissue bank at the 
        Faculty Hospital in Brno-Bohunice, the Czech Republic, were 
        arrested and charged with illegal organ trafficking for selling 
        more than $340,000 worth of illegally obtained skin grafts to a 
        tissue bank in the Netherlands.
            (26) In January 2008, the Government of India's Health 
        Ministry released an estimate that more than 100,000 kidney 
        transplants are needed in India each year, but only 5,000 are 
        performed legally.
            (27) A February 2008 police raid on an organ trafficking 
        ring in Gurgaon, India, found that men posed as doctors to 
        remove kidneys from migrant laborers, and conducted 
        approximately 500 illegal kidney transplants over nine years.
            (28) On April 8, 2009, the Global Post in Cairo reported 
        that the Egyptian Government was considering measures to 
        increase the number of legal organ donations to meet demand, 
        which included a proposal to harvest organs from executed 
        criminals, with or without their consent, as then Ministry of 
        Health spokesman, Dr. Abdel Rahman Shahin stated, ``They are 
        saying that when [convicts'] organs are taken, they're 
        compensating for the bad they did.''.
            (29) In November 2010, Netcare KwaZulu, a hospital in South 
        Africa's eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, pleaded guilty to 
        illegally removing kidneys from five minors between 2001 and 
        2003.
            (30) On January 12, 2011, Doctor Yusuf Sonmez, who has been 
        dubbed the ``Turkish Frankenstein'', was arrested in Pristina 
        for his alleged participation in illegal organ trafficking in 
        Kosovo and Azerbaijan.
            (31) In April 2013, a Kosovo court convicted five 
        defendants for conducting over 30 illegal harvest operations in 
        an organ trafficking ring at the Medicus clinic, where 
        impoverished people from Turkey, Russia, Moldova, and 
        Kazakhstan were coerced into selling their kidneys.
            (32) In 2011, Egypt passed a law prohibiting the exchange 
        of money for human organs and restricting human organ donations 
        to relatives up to four degrees removed.
            (33) In February 2015, the Iraqi Ambassador to the United 
        Nations alleged that the Islamic State was illegally harvesting 
        organs from murdered civilians to finance their operations.
            (34) According to a 2013 United Nations report from the 
        Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women 
        and children, the economic and social divisions within and 
        among countries is notably reflected in the illicit organ 
        trafficking market, in which the victims are commonly poor, 
        unemployed, and more susceptible to deceit and extortion.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the kidnapping or coercion of individuals for the 
        purpose of extracting their organs for profit is in 
        contradiction of the ideals and standards for ethical behavior 
        upon which the United States has based its laws;
            (2) the harvesting of organs from living children, 
        regardless of the level of brain activity, is a violation of 
        the human rights of the child and is a breach of 
        internationally accepted medical ethical standards described in 
        WHO Assembly Resolution 57.18 (May 22, 2004);
            (3) the illegal harvesting and trafficking of human organs 
        violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in Article 
        3 which states that ``Everyone has the right to life, liberty 
        and security of person.'', and in Article 4 which states that 
        ``No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.''; and
            (4) efficient national organ donation systems with 
        effective enforcement mechanisms that ensure voluntary organ 
        donations are the most effective way to combat trafficking in 
        human organs.

SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It shall be the policy of the United States to--
            (1) combat the international trafficking in human organs;
            (2) promote the adoption of national transplantation 
        systems that ensure voluntary organ donation processes in 
        bilateral diplomatic meetings, as well as in international 
        health forums; and
            (3) promote the dignity and security of human life in 
        accordance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT BASIC AUTHORITIES ACT OF 
              1956.

    Section 42 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 
(22 U.S.C. 2714) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by adding at the end the 
        following: ``and organ traffickers'';
            (2) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ``convicted of an 
        offense described in subsection (b) of this section during the 
        period described in subsection (c) of this section'' and 
        inserting ``convicted of an offense described in subsection (b) 
        or (c) of this section during the period described in 
        subsection (d) of this section'';
            (3) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), and (e) as 
        subsections (d), (e), and (f), respectively; and
            (4) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(c) Human Organ Trafficking Offenses.--Subsection (a) of this 
section applies with respect to any individual convicted of an offense 
under section 301 of the National Organ Transplant Act (42 U.S.C. 274e) 
if such individual used a passport or otherwise crossed an 
international border in the commission of such an offense.''.

SEC. 6. ACTIONS UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY ECONOMIC POWERS ACT 
              AND AMENDMENTS TO THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT 
              OF 2000.

    (a) International Emergency Economic Powers Act.--The President may 
exercise the authorities specified in section 203 of the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) without regard to 
section 202 of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) in the case of travel abroad 
by United States citizens for the purpose of participation in any 
activity relating to trafficking in human organs.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection 
Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``or'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``; or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
                    ``(D) exploitation of a person through the promise 
                of the granting of payments or benefits in order to 
                compel or entice the person to consent to the removal 
                of one or more of the person's organs for a transplant 
                operation, in a manner contrary to the standards 
                described in WHO Assembly Resolution WHA 57.18 (May 22, 
                2004).'';
            (2) in paragraph (9)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``or'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting: ``; or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
                    ``(C) trafficking in human organs (as defined in 
                paragraph (13)).'';
            (3) by redesignating paragraphs (13) through (15) as 
        paragraphs (14) through (16), respectively;
            (4) by inserting after paragraph (12) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(13) Trafficking in human organs.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `trafficking in human 
                organs' means--
                            ``(i) the recruitment, transportation, 
                        transfer, harboring, or receipt of a person, 
                        either living or deceased, for the purpose of 
                        removing one or more of the person's organs, by 
                        means of--
                                    ``(I) coercion;
                                    ``(II) abduction;
                                    ``(III) deception;
                                    ``(IV) abuse of power or a position 
                                of vulnerability; or
                                    ``(V) transfer of payments or 
                                benefits to achieve the consent of a 
                                person having control over a person 
                                described in the matter preceding 
                                subclause (I); or
                            ``(ii) the illicit transportation and 
                        transplantation of organs in one or more other 
                        persons for profit or any other purpose.
                    ``(B) Organ defined.--In subparagraph (A), the term 
                `organ' means the human (including fetal) kidney, 
                liver, heart, lung, pancreas, bone marrow, cornea, eye, 
                bone, and skin or any subpart thereof and any other 
                human organ (or any subpart thereof, including that 
                derived from a fetus) specified by the President by 
                regulation for purposes of this division.''; and
            (5) in paragraph (15), as so redesignated, by inserting 
        before the period at the end the following: ``or (13)''.
    (c) Interagency Task Force To Monitor and Combat Trafficking.--
Section 105(d)(3) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 
U.S.C. 7103(d)(3)) is amended by inserting after the first sentence the 
following new sentence: ``Such procedures shall include collection and 
organization of data from human rights officers at United States 
embassies on host country's laws against trafficking in human organs 
and any instances of violations of such laws.''.

SEC. 7. REPORTING.

    (a) In General.--Not later than six months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that 
includes the following information:
            (1) A list of the ten countries determined to be the 
        greatest sources, facilitators, or recipients of trafficking in 
        human organs during the period covered by each such report.
            (2) Any actions taken by each country included on a list 
        under paragraph (1) to address and prevent trafficking in human 
        organs.
            (3) Any cooperative efforts by the United States and each 
        country included on a list under paragraph (1) to address and 
        prevent trafficking in human organs through joint public 
        awareness campaigns.
            (4) Information regarding practices of trafficking in human 
        organs of each country included on a list under paragraph (1) 
        in the Department of State's travel advisories.
    (b) Additional Information.--The reports required under subsection 
(a) shall include the collection and organization of data from human 
rights officers at United States diplomatic and consular posts on host 
countries' laws against trafficking in human organs and any instances 
of violations of such laws.

SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
        Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
        Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
            (2) Coercion.--The term ``coercion'' means the exploitation 
        of a person through the promise or granting of payments or 
        benefits in order to compel or entice such person to consent to 
        the removal of one or more of such person's organs for a 
        transplant operation, in a manner contrary to the standards 
        described in WHO Assembly Resolution WHA 57.18 (May 22, 2004).
            (3) Human organ.--The term ``human organ'' means the human 
        (including fetal) kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas, bone 
        marrow, cornea, eye, bone, and skin or any subpart thereof and 
        any other human organ (or any subpart thereof, including that 
        derived from a fetus).
            (4) Trafficking in human organs.--The term ``trafficking in 
        human organs'' means--
                    (A) the recruitment, transportation, transfer, 
                harboring, or receipt of a person, either living or 
                deceased, for the purpose of removing one or more of 
                such person's human organs, by means of--
                            (i) coercion;
                            (ii) abduction;
                            (iii) deception;
                            (iv) abuse of power or a position of 
                        vulnerability; or
                            (v) transfer of payments or benefits to 
                        achieve the consent of a person having control 
                        over a person described in the matter preceding 
                        subparagraph (A); and
                    (B) the illicit transportation and transplantation 
                of such human organs in one or more other persons for 
                profit or any other purpose.

SEC. 9. LIMITATION ON FUNDS.

    No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act or any amendment made by this Act.
                                 <all>
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