Alarm raised as China expands forced organ harvesting

Experts warn that China may be expanding its forced organ harvesting of Uyghur Muslims as the Xinjiang Health Commission plans to open six new transplant medical centers by 2030, bringing the total in the region to nine. China stands accused of the genocide, forced abortion, forced sterilization, and forced organ harvesting of Uyghur Muslims who have been moved into concentration camps.

Key Takeaways:

• Six new medical centers that will provide transplants of all major organs are opening in China, prompting experts to warn of increased forced organ harvesting of Uyghur Muslims.
• There are an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 organ transplants in China each year although the voluntary donation stands at just 0.69 donors per million people.
• An estimated two million Uyghur Muslims are being held in concentration camps in China and survivors say they faced forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced labor, and murder as well as forced blood tests, and organ scanning.
• David Matas, International human rights lawyer and investigator of forced organ harvesting in China said, “Given the systemic repression, any claim that donations are voluntary should be treated with the utmost scepticism.”

The Details:

An expansion of medical centers by China’s national health authority has prompted warnings from experts that the Chinese government may be tripling the number of facilities it uses to forcibly harvest organs from detained Uyghur people.

According to MSN, the initial plans for the centers say they will provide transplants of all major organs, including hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys, and pancreas. However, Xinjiang’s voluntary organ donation sits at just 0.69 donors per million people — less than one-sixth of the national average of 4.6, despite there being an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 transplants carried out each year in China. Human rights activists and groups warn that these new centers will increase forced organ harvesting.

“This massive expansion in Xinjiang, a region already under scrutiny for systematic repression, raises deeply troubling questions about where the organs will come from,” said Dr. Wendy Rogers, Chair of the Advisory Board at the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC).

Although Beijing has denied accusations of forced organ harvesting, experts say that with the mass surveillance, forced labor, and massive incarceration of Uyghur Muslims, it is impossible for a voluntary organ donation to exist.

“The concept of informed, voluntary consent is meaningless in Xinjiang’s carceral environment,” said David Matas, International human rights lawyer and investigator of forced organ harvesting in China. “Given the systemic repression, any claim that donations are voluntary should be treated with the utmost scepticism.”

The Backstory:

The Chinese government has long stood accused of organ harvesting and genocide against Uyghur Muslims, who have also been used for forced labor with an estimated two million being kept in concentration camps. Uyghur Muslims held as prisoners of conscience have also reported forced blood tests, ultrasounds, and organ-focused medical scans consistent with organ compatibility testing.

Three survivors of the genocide shared the horror of their experiences, telling the Associated Press in 2021 that they suffered forced abortions, religious persecution, and imprisonment. Uyghur Muslims held in concentration camps are believed to face sadistic sexual violence, forced labor, torture, vivisection without anesthesia, forced sterilization and abortion, and even murder. Whistleblowers have also come forward to report that newborn babies born to Uyghur parents are killed in the hospital. Human rights groups have been investigating for years, and a report concluded that China has violated every provision of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, with an “intent to destroy” the Uyghur people.

The Chinese government said in 2015 that it had stopped using organs from executed prisoners but the practice was never officially banned. In 2019, a public tribunal formed by a British human rights attorney determined that China has committed genocide and crimes against humanity in its treatment of the Uyghur people. In 2020, the China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, revealed “beyond reasonable doubt” that the Chinese government had killed prisoners of conscience to extract organs for transplant.

In addition, a 2022 report in the American Journal of Transplantation revealed that Chinese doctors are harvesting organs from living prisoners as a means of execution. Almost all organ ‘donations’ in China come from prisoners, most of whose causes of death were believed to be organ removal.

“Without meaningful oversight and accountability, this expansion risks becoming a front for continued crimes against humanity and genocide,” said Ramila Chanisheff, President of the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association (AUTWA)

“Governments around the world must push for independent inspections and safeguards to ensure all organ sourcing in Xinjiang adheres to international ethical standards.”

Activists are calling for an international investigation into the plans to build more medical transplant centers.

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by Live Action News.]