The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime
and Babson College present

The Price of Life: Responding to the Global Black Market in Illicit Organs

Date: Wednesday, 17th June  2015

Transplant lists grow longer year on year, and the percentage of successful matches made is in the single digits in most countries. While the purchase of organs is illegal almost everywhere in the world, organs are still procured through the growing black market. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that traffickers illegally obtain 7,000 kidneys each year globally.[2]

Criminal groups target the most vulnerable in society (the poor, the homeless, refugees and children); harvest their organs at a fraction of the cost of sale; and provide minimal subsequent care. Organ trafficking can also occur in addition to sex and/or labour trafficking as part of a multi-level equation of exploitation. As always, with the market forces at play and the demand being motivated by a life or death calculation, the question of how to manage the illicit trade is a major public health consideration. What is being done to address the trafficking of organs, and how can the private sector work in tandem with government, academia, and NGOs to combat this serious form of illicit trade?

This webinar is the sixth and final in a series entitled “Understanding Illicit Trade: Impact of Human Trafficking and Smuggling on the Private Sector”, looking at emerging issues surrounding human trafficking and promising anti-trafficking initiatives from the private sector. This series is hosted by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime and Babson College’s Initiative on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery and through sponsorship by Dentons.  Also supported by TraCCC, the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center at George Mason University.

The webinar features a panel of experts from the private sector, academia, public policy, and the NGO community:

We will be live-tweeting the meeting via the @GI_TOC account, with the hashtag: #GITrafficking.

For more information:

Livia Wagner of the Global Initiative Secretariat:

livia.wagner@globalinitiative.net.

[1] Documentary Tales from the Organ Trade: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2014/03/03/3953589.htm

[2] WHO : http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/85/12/06-039370/en/