Sec. 2. Findings

246 words·~1 min read·/bill/114/hr/3694/eh/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Congress finds the following: The World Health Organization

(WHO)estimates that approximately 10 percent of all transplanted kidneys worldwide are illegally obtained, often bought from vulnerable impoverished persons or forcibly harvested from prisoners. In 2004, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution urging its member-states to take measures to protect the poorest as well as vulnerable groups from exploitation by organ traffickers. On February 13, 2008, the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UNGIFT) hosted the Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking , and subsequently reported that a lack of adequate illicit organ trafficking laws has provided opportunity for the illegal trade to grow. On March 21, 2011, the Council of the European Union adopted rules supplementing the definition of criminal offenses and the level of sanctions in order to strengthen the prevention of organ trafficking and the protection of those victims. In 2005, the United States ratified the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, a supplement to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which includes the removal of organs as a form of exploitation under the definition of trafficking in persons . According to a 2013 United Nations report from the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, the economic and social divisions within and among countries is notably reflected in the illicit organ trafficking market, in which the victims are commonly poor, unemployed, and more susceptible to deceit and extortion.