PRESS RELEASE
Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Senator Chris Coons (D-Delaware) today introduced the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act to combat the unethical and criminal practice of harvesting organs,often from minority groups and other vulnerable victims in China and elsewhere.
The legislation authorizes the Secretary of State to deny passports and visas to anyone involved in illegal organ trafficking. It also mandates annual reporting on forced organ harvesting in foreign countries and sanctions individuals that facilitate organ harvesting.
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Senator Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nevada), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Senator Angus King (I-Maine), Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Senator Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), and Senator Todd Young (R-Indiana). The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed this bipartisan bill unanimously on February 28.
“There is growing evidence that the Chinese Communist Party has and continues to harvest organs from persecuted religious groups, prisoners of conscience, and inmates. This bill will identify and punish CCP members involved in forced organ harvesting. It’s past time to hold Beijing accountable for these heinous acts,” said Senator Cotton.
“Forced organ harvesting is cruel and immoral, often targeting ethnic and religious minorities and some of the most vulnerable groups in the world. As co-chair of the Senate Human Rights Caucus, I am proud to re-introduce the bipartisan Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act that will empower the Biden administration to take action against those who practice this despicable crime,” said Senator Coons.
Bill text may be found here.
Background:
Reports indicate that China is a major harvester and trafficker of forcibly acquired organs. A groundbreaking study last year in the American Journal of Transplantation found evidence that strongly suggests that physicians in China participated in executions by organ removal.
Experts estimate that the human organ trafficking industry in China is worth $1 billion a year and is fueled by harvesting organs from China’s 1.5 million concentration camp inmates.
China appears to be the primary perpetrator of forcefully-acquired human organ trafficking, but it is not the only offender. Corrupt government officials, transnational criminal groups, and terrorist organizations around the world also traffic in forcibly harvested human organs.