http://www.ntd.tv/en/programs/news-politics/china-forbidden-news/20140312/110295-continued-suspicion-over-organ-donations-from-executed-prisoners.htmlContinued Suspicion Over Organ Donations from Executed Prisoners
"These prisoners did not donate the organs, and their families were unaware of the harvesting," Huang Jiefu told media.
The international community has brought into question the source of donors for escalating numbers of organ transplant operation in China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has responded in various ways to allegations sourcing organs from executed prisoners.
Recently, former Vice Minister of Ministry of Health, Huang Jiefu, admitted that it is a systematic routine that the CCP harvests organs from executed prisoners. He also admitted that these prisoners did not donate the organs, and their families were unaware of the harvesting.
Hong Kong’s Ming Pao has reported about former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Health Huang Jiefu speaking to media. Huang admitted that transplantation in China, using organs from executed prisoners, has been conducted systematically. This is due to a lack of voluntary donation.
Huang Jiefu explained the executed prisoners’ organs were transferred through doctors and people within the system. This includes the courts and the armed police, and that it was hard for him to explain details. When asked if the donors and the families were informed and consulted of the donation, Huang Jiefu admitted that, “We have not been able to do that.”
Chen Yanling, Professor and physician “Under these circumstances, you cannot exchange the term ‘not informed’ with the term ‘donation’. By law, a donor must be capable of making an independent, informed, free decision. A healthy mental state must also be identified first.”
Liu Weiguo, Chinese human rights lawyer: “Organ donation is acceptable if it is a free man with full capacity, and the procedure is according to law. However, for a prisoner, who’s restricted physically and mentally, it is hard to say there is no coercion or punishment. I do not endorse this type of ‘volunteering’.”
Huang Jiefu also stressed that the authorities are committed to promoting organ donation. The number of donated organs in China has been far beyond that of executed prisoners. In this regard, Professor Chen Yanling has her doubts.
Professor Chen Yanling: “In Taiwan, organ donation has been encouraged and promoted since 1987. For 20 years, there was only an increase of less than
100. It is not so easy to change a traditional concept. Chinese culture still believes in keeping the body intact after death. Chinese people also believe humans have a soul, so giving out organ is very unlikely. Asking the relatives to agree to donation of the organs while they are grieving is very difficult.”
Huang Jiefu also said the CCP had issued regulations to organ procurement and allocation through the China Organ Transplant Response System (COTRS). This system, established in August 2013, functions to facilitate openness, fairness and transparency.
On September 16, Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting has issued a statement
to refute claims about this system. The statement said that the COTRS lacks transparency. The process of matching and information about donors are not open to the public, or an independent third party. The announced developments also do not address the body of evidence indicating organs are harvested from prisoners of conscience. The majority of prisoners of conscience who are thought to have been targeted are Falun Gong practitioners.
According to data released by China Medical Organ Transplant Association, there were around 18,500 organ transplants from 1994 to 1999. There were 60,000 cases of organ transplantation from 2000 to 2005. What are the sources for the surging 41,500 organ transplants? The CCP claimed these organs came from executed prisoners. However, according to information from Amnesty International, the annual average number of executions in China between 2000 and 2005 was only 1,616.
With growing intensity of questions from the international community, the CCP changed its formal stance of denial regarding organs from death row prisoners.
In January 2007, the CCP Ministry of Health spokesman Mao Qun'an spoke to the BBC. He said that that the majority of organs came from executed prisoners.
In August 2009, the CCP issued a message globally through its English version of the China Daily. It stated that two-thirds of organ donors in China are executed prisoners.
Chen Yanling: “They were forced to face the issue after the Epoch Times exposed live organ harvesting in China. The statements cannot hide their crimes of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners.”
The conducting of live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners has been investigated by international human rights lawyer David Matas, and Hon. David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific. Together, they have gathered and provided considerable evidence of these crimes.