The latter stages of the 20th century were characterized by deterritorialization, increased socio-economic, political, and cultural interdependence, an intensified interaction of states, groups, and individuals, and far-reaching, rapid advances within technology, medicine, and science (Scholte 2000). One particular area experiencing the confluence of these processes has been the international organ trade. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, improvements in medical practices and the introduction by pharmaceutical companies of drugs to prevent organ rejection meant that organ transplantation became a viable and effective therapy for end-stage organ failure (Cho, Zhang, and Tansuhaj 2009; Kelly 2013). However, the access of patients to organ transplantation varies according to distinct national situations, costs of healthcare, national technical capacities, and of course, the actual availability of organs (Akoh
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Estimates suggest approximately ten percent of the total transplants performed worldwide involve trafficked organs. Regardless of location, the organ trade encompasses several different activities that share the underlying trait of commercial organ transplantation or “a policy or practice in which an organ is treated as a commodity, including by being bought or sold or used for material gain”. One facet of the organ trade involves the trafficking of organs, tissues, and cells obtained through coercion, financial transaction, fraud, or consent (CoE 2014). Importantly, the notion of consent is staunchly and widely rejected, since the organ trade occurs within the context of crippling inequalities, illiteracy, poverty, and vulnerability. Decades of experience have illustrated that organ sellers “are the poor or the vulnerable, whose actions reflect financial desperation and ignorance, not autonomous agency” or willful
Estimates suggest approximately ten percent of the total transplants performed worldwide involve trafficked organs. Regardless of location, the organ trade encompasses several different activities that share the underlying trait of commercial organ transplantation or “a policy or practice in which an organ is treated as a commodity, including by being bought or sold or used for material gain”. One facet of the organ trade involves the trafficking of organs, tissues, and cells obtained through coercion, financial transaction, fraud, or consent (CoE 2014). Importantly, the notion of consent is staunchly and widely rejected, since the organ trade occurs within the context of crippling inequalities, illiteracy, poverty, and vulnerability. Decades of experience have illustrated that organ sellers “are the poor or the vulnerable, whose actions reflect financial desperation and ignorance, not autonomous agency” or willful