International Organ Trafficking Crisis: Solutions Addressing the Heart of the Matter

IntroductionUniversal organ shortages have catalyzed a thriving underground market for organs, which has generated human rights abuses, public health disasters, and transnational crime.1 While most commentators believe that curtailing organ trafficking requires a coordinated global effort, few policymakers agree on what that effort should entail.2 Coun- tries have adopted many policies to address the illicit sale of human body parts, but competing cultural values and disparate enforcement have yielded inconsistent results.3 Moreover, globalized markets, com- munication, and transportation enable traffickers to move their opera- tions fluidly, taking advantage of legal loopholes.4 As a result, enforce- ment in one country merely prompts traffickers to seek other countries with more favorable legal environments.5The challenge inherent in constructing a coordinated global solu- tion to organ trafficking is rooted in confusion over the scope of the problem itself.6 News reports on the subject frequently focus on the kidnapping that results in stolen organs,7 drawing more attention to human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal rather than the larger problem of trafficking in organs, tissues, and cells (OTC).8 Hu- man trafficking for the purpose of organ removal involves the coercive transport of an individual and subsequent organ removal.9 By contrast, in OTC trafficking organs are obtained by coercion and then sold for transplant.10 The international community has established binding le- gal standards for human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal,11 but has paid significantly less attention to the broader problem of OTC trafficking.12 Thus, while international organizations condemn OTC trafficking, they have failed to construct an international legal instru- ment to address the problem.13This Note explores the possibility of a more effective global anti- OTC-trafficking regime by evaluating as a model the current frame- work that combats human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal. Part I outlines the growth of the global underground market for or- gans, highlighting the difference between OTC trafficking and human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal. Part II discusses the vari- ous international and domestic legal regimes that have attempted to quell both types of trafficking. It contrasts the apparent lack of interna- tional law concerning OTC trafficking with the more comprehensive system that prohibits human trafficking for the purpose of organ re- moval. Part III analyzes whether a binding multilateral treaty, as pro- posed by the Council of Europe and the United Nations (UN), would reduce the prevalence of OTC trafficking. After evaluating existing treaties' effectiveness in reducing human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal, Part III concludes that similar methods would fail to address OTC trafficking effectively. Rather, a multilateral treaty should aim to remove the cause of the underground market by reducing the organ shortage itself.I. BackgroundA. Snapshot of International Organ TraffickingTrafficking in organs is a growing, lucrative enterprise much like the illicit markets for weapons, humans, and drugs.14 The media has sensationalized myths concerning organ trafficking since the 1980s,15 reporting both exaggerated kidnapping accounts and reliable reports of underground organ markets.16 Although the precise scope of the prob- lem remains shrouded in uncertainty, the international community rec- ognizes organ trafficking as a human rights and public health con- cern.17 The underground organ trade constitutes ten percent of worldwide organ transplants, producing between $600 million and $1.2 billion in illicit revenue each year.18Although organ trafficking centers routinely shift locations, several countries have gained notoriety as hotbeds.19 Pakistan, one of the larg- est "kidney bazaars" in the world, has a thriving underground market supplied by impoverished citizens. …