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Results for trafficking in organs (africa)

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Author: Coalition for Organ Failure Solutions (COFS)

Title: Sudanese Victims of Organ Trafficking in Egypt

Summary: COFS-Egypt has accumulated compelling evidence that organ traffickers have exploited and are continuing to exploit Sudanese refugees and asylum-seekers in Egypt. These abuses include removing kidneys either by inducing consent, coercion, or outright theft. In some cases, sex trafficking was associated with incidents of organ removal. The victims include men, women, and children. Many of the victims came to Egypt seeking refuge from the genocide and armed conflict in their homeland. Based on its ongoing fieldwork, COFS-Egypt identified 57 Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers in Egypt who said they were victims of organ trafficking. Each case involved the removal of a kidney. COFS-Egypt has conducted in-depth interviews with 12 of these individuals who described their experiences in compelling detail. COFS-Egypt arranged ultrasounds and physical exams for five of the victims as part of its follow-up care outreach services. These medical exams confirmed that kidneys had been removed in all five cases. Arrangements to interview and provide this care for the other victims are ongoing. Four victims also showed COFS' field researchers documents from the hospitals where their nephrectomies and the transplants occurred; the documents included their respective identifiers. Of the 57 victims identified, 39 (68%) are from Darfur, 26 (46%) are female and 5(9%) are children. The twelve victims COFS interviewed ranged in age from 11-36 years with an average of 23.5 years; four (33%) of the victims were 18 years old or younger; and five (42%) were female. Three of the interviewed victims said people smugglers/traffickers helped them to enter Egypt and worked directly with the organ traffickers who arranged their kidney removal. Statements by some of the victims interviewed indicated that some women and girls are simultaneously being trafficked for sex and organs (9 possible cases in the sample of 57), and that the actual number of females in general may far exceed that of males. Thus, women and children are of special concern. Three of the victims interviewed held official "refugee" status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). One victim's application for refugee status was under review; another had filed an application; and seven others were illegal and had not yet applied to UNHCR at the time that they said organ traffickers victimized them. One victim told COFS' researchers that they were imprisoned in an effort to prevent them from reporting their claims of organ theft; this victim escaped during the January 25, 2011 revolution. Four of the victims said they had met the patients who had received their kidneys. Seven of the victims said they knew the nationality of the recipient. These victims reported that three recipients were from Sudan, one was from Jordan, one was from Libya, and two were from countries of the Persian Gulf. Interviewed victims also reported theft of money by the broker. All of the victims interviewed said they had experienced a deterioration of their health in addition to negative social, economic and psychological consequences as a result of the experience. COFS estimates that there are at least hundreds of Sudanese victims of organ trafficking in Egypt as well as numerous others from Jordan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iraq and Syria. The total number of victims of organ trafficking in Egypt is estimated to be in the thousands. The findings presented in this report include only living victim-survivors of the organ trade that COFS was able to identify. This report does not speak to claims of people death as a result of a commercial organ removal. This has special significance considering recent reports about the kidnapping and abuse of sub-Saharan African migrants smuggled into the Sinai Peninsula en route to Israel. The reports include claims of torture and removal of organs that have resulted in death.

Details: Cairo, DC: COFS, 2011. 30p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 15, 2015 at: http://www.cofs.org/english_report_summary_dec_11_2011.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: Egypt

URL: http://www.cofs.org/english_report_summary_dec_11_2011.pdf

Shelf Number: 134407

Keywords:
Human Smuggling
Human Trafficking
Organ Trafficking
Organized Crime
Refugees
Trafficking in Organs (Africa)