Human organ trafficking in Egypt, as of 2014, mainly practiced in Cairo and the Sinai Peninsula, includes organ harvesting with induced consent, coercion, and outright theft. Egypt has become the largest hub of organ transplant in North Africa as one of the few countries that prohibited organ donation from deceased donors until 2010, with over 500 kidney transplant operations a year and the majority of these organs come from living donors. Sources in the organ trafficking process mainly come from vulnerable populations including domestic rural migrants, undocumented asylum seekers and informal labor. The emergence of cultural and religious increase in organ trade and transplant tourism contribute to the rocketing demand for organ trafficking market in Egypt. Human organ trafficking poses both physical and mental health consequences for victims. Although Egypt has been gradually updating legal frameworks to combat organ trafficking, the regulation has failed in reality protecting survivors and governing transplant professionals.
Supply
Domestic rural-urban migrants The process of urbanization in Cairo has expanded resource pressure to the poor labor forces entering the city, upon whom with little access to justice system and local communities organ brokers prey. They migrate for reasons including agricultural deregulation, civil war, and failing local food production market. The rural labor can not find jobs requiring special techniques or good education. A more accessible option is to work in the informal economy with much lower standards than recognized as a new source of family income. These people become more vulnerable to the organ business due to the exploitative working environment.
Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers
As of 2011, it has been known that organ trafficking is part of the trafficking of Sudanese-Eritrean asylum seekers in Egypt, primarily on the Sinai Peninsula. The Sudanese government started to deport Eritrean refugees back to Eritrea in 2016. Those who can not afford the bribe choose to proceed with a new smuggling route to Egypt or Libya, hoping to follow trajectories leading to Israel or Europe. During this process, asylum seekers are held as hostages by the smugglers who are also organ traffickers trapping the asylum seekers with debt-bonded ransoms. Ransoms are generated as a price for vulnerability. Traffickers will offer generous help for asylum seekers, and later ask for financial payback. For those who cannot afford the ransom, the option is to sell their organs. Eritreans are more profitable for the traffickers than victims of other ethnicities. The Sudanese who successfully arrive in Cairo still face legal marginalization, increasing their vulnerability to organ trafficking. The distinction between asylum and employment seekers is blurred in that all Sudanese are labelled as asylum seekers, since in practice the push forces of forced and voluntary migration are interconnected. These labelled migrants are supposed to register with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in order to secure permanent residency in Cairo, but this process takes several months to years. Along with people rejected registration, these illegal present "asylum seekers" linger in Egypt with limited access to services, no substantive rights to housing or employment, turning into perfect prey for exploitative organ markets.
Dual exploitation Dual exploitation often exists in organ trafficking rings in Egypt. For example, women who are trafficked for sex are also forced to sell their organs. Sex is also often offered as a 'sweetener' for transplant surgeons after the removal. The dual exploitation of victims is not clear-cut and often underreported by social service providers.
Demand Egypt is ranked highest for prevalence of hepatitis C because of backward techniques of sterilization during medical therapies. The country is also highest in its rate of liver failures worldwide. Rates of chronic and end-stage renal disease are also at top. These conditions fuel Egyptians' rocketing demand for organs. The Egyptian culture and religion, moreover, add to the demand of organs from living donors, creating a black market that suits organ trafficking. Internationally, as of January 2019, in the United States alone, there are more than 113,000 patients on the transplant waiting list. On average, 3,000 new patients are added to the list every month. These foreign patients form the demand for organs in Egypt through transplant tourism.
Cultural and religious reasons Due to the Egyptian culture dated back to the Pharaohs and mummification, patients in need of organs tend to resist accepting organs from the deceased. Many patients hesitate to ask for organs from a close friend or family for the fear of disruption of family ties and living with guilt. They are more open to accepting organs from a stranger who would take money in return. The dichotomy between religious and medical perspectives is another push factor for buying organs from living vendors. The moment the soul leaves the body generates disagreement, whether it leaves the body when the patient is considered brain-dead or biologically dead. Egypt is among the few Muslim countries that has not agreed upon the concept of brain-death as the diagnosis of death and thus it is defined as the failure of all organs, leading to the increasing demand for organs procured from living donors. Additionally, the misinformation in the media led by prominent figures has exacerbated the discourse in societal beliefs about organ donation. Muslim jurist and celebrity Muhammad Metwalli al-Sha’rawi has been persistent in his belief that Muslims do not have the right to intervene with God's will. He says, “Our bodies belong to God only, so it’s not yours to give.” This is a simplified representation of Islamic religious scriptures and has generated rapid popularity amongst traditional Muslim communities.
Transplant tourism Because of the demand for organs worldwide, transplant tourism plays a role in increasing the demand in Egypt. Transplant tourism refers to the process in which the recipient travels to another country for the purpose of organ transplantation. Egypt is increasingly a hotspot for exporting organs due to the lack of governance and the more "available" population to be exploited. According to a report from WHO, for only Saudi Arabia, there are about 600 people traveling to buy organs from countries like Egypt.
Health consequences
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
