Country: Yemen Committee: UNESCO Topic: Commercialization of the Human Body School: Franklin High School Names: Robert Brazicki & Rachel Chavkin Everyone is born the way they are and cannot always have complete control about what happens on the inside of them. A disease like cancer cannot be an option to a person and can sometimes become bad enough where a transplant is needed. The first attempted transplant was around the year 1880, a corneal transplant, but it was unsuccessful (The Transplant Network). For years people have been donating organs such as kidneys or parts of a liver, but now some people only do this because they are in poverty. For example, in 1999, the website eBay held an auction for a human kidney. The bidding started at $25,000 and when the auction was stopped because it was illegal under the US-National Organ Transplants Act, the last bid reached $5,750,100 (Schweda and Schicktanz). There was also a scandal with an Israeli based international body organ harvesting mafia. This mafia had harvesters in India, Africa, and Latin America who usually preyed on children because of their little defense and healthier organs (Rhoden). The Kantian philosophy states that the body is an essential part of a person and should not be put up for sale for another (Schweda and Schicktanz). However the Chinese feel it is fine to use organs from executed prisoners for transplant surgery (Trade and Environment Database). In the United States, organ donation is steadily increasing because the Department of Health and Health Services have encouraged the public to donate organs although most donations come from cadavers (Trade and Environment Database). India has become the largest center for kidney

transplants because of their low costs and almost immediate availability (Trade and Environment Database). Also remember that these kidneys and organs from India and United States are donations and are not given up because of poverty, forcibly removed or illegally taken out as China does. Some organizations that are trying to prevent the illegal sale of organs are the World Medical Association (WMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Each say that the sale of human organs are inhumane and unethical (Trade and Environment Database). One document fighting a part of the problem is the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, but it really only helps against the forcible removal of human body parts or organs (Trade and Environment Database). The illegal commercialization of the human body has affected the nation of Yemen. An international gang associated with selling human body parts had seduced 10 Yemeni children who each involuntary and forcibly had a kidney removed to be transplanted (al-Kibsi). There are also some African tribes that will kill people and take their organs. This isn’t just in those countries where the tribes are, they move to neighboring countries to do this too. These parts are either sold or used for voodoo medicines (Mosley). The nation of Yemen does not support the illegal commercialization of human body parts. Yemen feels that it is wrong to sell organs because of poverty and that is wrong to forcibly remove organs from another human being. It is also unethical and inhumane in the country o Yemen. Yemen has arrested criminals that sell these illegal human body parts. One case included a man who worked at a morgue in Yemen and was arrested on the suspicion for raping and killing women and then selling their body parts (Reuters News Service). Yemen has also

developed a closer relationship with the European Union (EU) to try and create better governance and fight against poverty (European Commission) which can lessen the need of Yemen citizens to sell their organs illegally for profit. The nation of Iran seems to strongly support the selling of human organs or parts. Iran is the only country in the world where it is actually legal to sell an organ for money (Jazeera). The Iranian government for the last 12 years has been actually paying citizens who are willing to donate a kidney. This is all part of Iran’s organ sharing scheme. With it, the ill in need of a transplant can get a kidney within 2 to 3 months (Suhaimi). Other countries are debating whether this is right and in these countries are huge black market organ trades going on (Jazeera). Most countries feel as though it is wrong to sell organs or have the government pay or cheat people out of their own bodies and that it is inhumane and unethical. A solution to the illegal sale of organs around the world in the black market could be extreme fines and punishments as life imprisonment for someone caught in the act of trafficking illegally or forcibly obtained organs. There could also be checks on all organs being sold or transplanted at hospitals. With such harsh punishments, the organ traffickers would be afraid of being caught. The organ donors would also be aware of the punishment and would think twice about the illegal actions, unless the organs were forcibly removed. These checks would assure that the organs were legally donated by a legal donor in a legal manner. Another positive that would come out of these checks would be that the surgeons would know that the organs were checked, cleaned and sanitized, and are the type needed for the operation. The funding for the hospital checkers could either come from the fines against the illegal trafficking criminals or maybe from the World Bank. The UN would not have to supply these hospital workers if there were volunteers or NGOs in each country that would supply the workers. Still, as

commercialization of the human body stands as an issue, all countries will have a different opinion on whether it is right the sell someone your kidney that you may never see or know.

Works Cited: 1. "Body Parts Trade." www1.american.edu. 4/30/96. Trade and Environment Database, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . 2. "Illegal Human Organ Trade from Executed Prisoners in China." www1.american.edu. 1/2001. Trade and Environment Database, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . 3. "India Kidney Trade." www1.american.edu. 1/11/97. Trade and Environment Database, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . 4. "MAN HELD FOR SELLING BODY PARTS AFTER RAPE-MURDERS." www.friends-partners.org. 7/2/00. Reuters News Service, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . 5. "The History of Transplantation." www.thetransplantnetwork.com. The Transplant Network, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . 6. "Yemen." ec.europa.eu. 5/11/09. European Commission, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . 7. al-Kibsi, Mohammed. "Gang seduces ten Yemeni children, sells their body parts." Yemen Observer 4/25/09: 1. Web. 6 Nov 2009. 8. Suhaimi, Nur Dianah. "Organ Selling or Organ Trading?." thegpclassroom.wordpress.com. 7/22/08. the gp classroom, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . 9. Khatib, Ahmad. "Unemployed Jordanians deceived into donating their organs." www.telegraph.co.uk. 10/21/09. telegraph.co.uk, Web. 5 Nov 2009.

. 10. Mosley, Ian. "Severed Body Parts Routinely Used for Voodoo in Africa." us.altermedia.info. 3/8/09. Altermedia News USA, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . 11. Rhoden, Alex. "Body Snatchers stealing body parts from the Poor to sell to the Rich." discuss.tigweb.org. 8/16/09. Web. 6 Nov 2009. . 12. Schweda, Mark, and Silke Schicktanz. "The "spare parts person"? Conceptions of the human body and their implications for public attitudes towards organ donation and organ sale." www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. 2/18/09. BioMed Central, Web. 6 Nov 2009. .