HOW THE STATE OF ISRAEL IS BRUTALLY DEALING WITH AFRICAN REFUGEES Alexander K Opicho (Eldoret, Kenya; aopicho@yahoo) Israel as a state is not good when it comes to dealing with Africans. Especially those African who cross into its borders as refugees. The state of Israel is totally brutal to what it calls illegal African immigrants. It exposes African refugees to all manner of terror before the final death. The fact is that the most unlucky mistake an African man or woman can commit is to be found in Israel as a refugee. In this essay, the writer has collected excerpts of published accounts from the neutral newspapers around the world , that have given different accounts and experiences of how Israel has been and still is deeply engaged in the heartless culture of brutalizing African refugees. Some of the Newspapers used source of this accounts are ; Deutschwelle of Germany, Pravda of Russia, The Conversation of America and the Mercatornet of Australia among others. The accounts are present as for excerpts below; First excerpt Israel is introducing ‘open detention centers to house the growing influx of African refugees who cross the Sinai border region. However the open character of those centers has been called into question. The land is barren and unwelcoming. Looking down from Israel at the Nitzana border crossing into the Sinai, in Egypt, the earth is so dry it glows orange - its unforgiving territory. This is the first sight for many of the 55,000 Africans who have escaped their homes to find freedom when they enter Israel illegally - 90 percent of them originally come from Eritrea and Sudan. An ominous steel fence - project ‘sand timer - was finished in January this year when cameras, radar and motion detectors were added to its arsenal, marking a firm line in the sand. According to government figures for the first half of this year, 34 Africans tried to cross the border into Israel and were detained, compared with 9,570 last year before the fence was started. Of the 34, five tunneled under the new fence and were caught, the rest appealed to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to be allowed to enter. Eritrean refugee Dawit Demoz, 31, arrived through the same border before the fence was built at the end of 2009. Demoz had tried several ways to get out of Eritrea: he went to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Sudan and then tried to get to Europe from Libya. Eventually he paid smugglers $2,500 (1,800 euros) to get him to the Sinai border. In total, it took him 11 months to get to Israel. He was smuggled to the border in an open-back truck with three Sudanese men and one Nigerian man hiding behind a heavy load. Once he reached the border he crossed into Israel on foot and was detained by the IDF in a military camp for two days. Two hours after we crossed another group were seen trying to cross the border and they were shot by the Egyptians and two or three of them died, Demoz told DW. Egyptian soldiers have a shoot-to-kill policy if they see anyone enter the area illegally. Demoz says he is one of the lucky ones to make it from Eritrea He spent three months in Saharonim detention facility, initially in tents before being moved inside the building. He said the detainees ate twice a day, but many were on a hunger strike. Demoz said he was interrogated about why he came to Israel and told he had to say he came to work. I personally told them I came because I couldnt live in Eritrea, because it was very difficult with big human rights violations; so I escaped with the goal of finding freedom. I was told I needed to change my mind and I was made to wait outside for nine hours. When they called me back I said I hadnt changed my mind, do whatever you want and they released me, but its written on my documents that I came to work. Demoz said he narrowly escaped torture in Eritrea and spoke about a man he had heard of who had been killed and whose family had been blackmailed. A man that was in Sinai for three months before us when we came, within three months he did not have any options, no chance to pay $25,000 - he had no phone number for anyone who could help him - he was killed. They had his familys telephone number so they phoned his family while beating a different refugee and they heard that he was being beaten and screaming - they were told to sell their whole home and all their possessions to come up with $30,000 and two weeks they told them he had already died. After three months in Saharonim, Demoz was taken to Beer Shiva and given a bus ticket to Tel Aviv. Sara Robinson, a refugee campaigner from Amnesty International has seen bus loads of people arriving at Levinsky Park, in Tel Aviv. Refugees refer to Levinsky Park is the hotel where they eat and sleep amid the playground equipment. The bus would often be half-full of people coming from detention, the bus driver would either take them to the central bus station or he knew to drop them off in Levinsky Park. She said refugees called Levinsky Park, the hotel. People would get off the bus holding a plastic bag which would have that extra shirt and a yellow piece of paper and they looked to the right and they looked to the left and they asked wheres the UN?, Where do I go? What do I do? Then they saw the sleeping bags and articles of clothing hidden under playground equipment in Levinsky Park and realized this was what was welcoming them. South Tel Aviv, where Levinsky Park sits, is a historically poor area. Tensions in the area have been compounded with the arrival of up to 20,000 homeless refugees. Many of the refugees and migrants turn to crime because they are not legally allowed to work by the Israeli government and have no access to health care or welfare benefits. Tel Aviv police chief Yohanan Danino has called for migrants to be allowed to work to discourage petty crime caused by economic hardship. However, his appeal has so far fallen on deaf ears. Former Interior Minister Eli Yishai has lashed out at refugees and migrants in the media saying, why should we provide them with jobs? ... Jobs would settle them here, they will make babies, and that offer will only result in hundreds of thousands more coming over here. He said all migrants should be jailed until they are deported. In September, Israels Supreme Court overturned a law allowing the government to detain migrants and asylum seekers for up to three years without trial. The court ruled migrants, refugees and asylum seekers detained in the Ktziot and Saharonim prison and detention center should be released within 90 days and those that cross the border illegally can only be detained for one year in the future. The government has responded by passing an amended law to reduce the period of detention to one year and proposed the indefinite detention in open detention centers without judicial review. That law is due to be passed on December 4. Back near the Nitzana border, Sadot, an empty detention facility next to Saharonim, is ready to absorb the 1,700 refugees detained in Saharonim and due to be released in accordance with the courts 90-day deadline on December 15. When DW visited Sadot, the camp was surrounded by large wire fences, topped with barbed wire - its status as an open facility is questionable. Police stopped DW and asked that no photographs be taken from the public road outside the facility, despite journalists having the right to do so. The police officer who stopped DW said there was no way the facility would be open for the detainees to roam, in an area mainly populated by Jewish settlers. He said the open aspect within the facility was a large road on the inside of the fence, but they couldnt leave the fenced area. Second excerpt An Eritrean refugee who calls himself Mulugeta is speaking out for the first time since he arrived in Tel Aviv after surviving a torture camp in Sinai - one of hundreds of refugees who managed to pay his way out. Mulugeta is a quiet man. His voice is low and his eyes are sad, but he is pleasant as he forces a smile under his thin mustache. He works from dawn until dusk as a janitor. He lives in a mens shelter in Petach Tikva, just a short distance from Tel Aviv, and he prays for the safety of his daughters. It had taken nearly two weeks for Mulugeta to come forward but now he is ready. He is one of hundreds of refugees who managed to get out of a Bedouin torture camp in Sinai. The African Refugee Development Center (ARDC) in Tel Aviv reports that tens of thousands of refugees have come to Israel from Eritrea and Sudan. Those coming from torture camps in Sinai are more difficult to calculate. Arriving outside the compound where Mulugeta lives, Wuldu, a translator, leads us to a nearby bench where we can sit and talk. Mulugeta is from Eritrea. In 1987, at the age of 15, he entered the army and would go on to fight for freedom and for his country. Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1991. He is 40-years old now, and last year, in July, when his daughters turned 15 and 17, he decided he wanted to take them out of the country. He hoped for a better life and education for his girls; he had hoped to take them to Europe. Mulugetas wife, Lemlem, stayed behind to care for their six other children. Within days, they reached a North Sudanese camp. Hours later, after their arrival, he stated, soldiers came into the camp and traffickers followed. He was beaten, his legs were sliced and cut, and he, his two daughters and a group of other refugees were taken to Sinai. For 15 days, they crossed the desert, with little to no food or water. When they arrived at the camp, Mulugeta was forced to the ground, his face in the dirt while iron chains were roughly locked around his ankles and wrists. He was beaten over and again. He told me he watched another man next to him die from all the beatings and malnourishment. Many refugees from Eritrea or Sudan have similar stories to tell about their terrible experiences Captives were often left lying in the dirt for days or weeks, he said. The traffickers used stones, chains, or branches from a tree to beat victims on their legs, back and even his head, Mulugeta explained. The pain was excruciating, but after a while, he admitted, he didnt even feel it, his body was numb and it all became a blur. He often went in and out of consciousness. Then I asked him, as tenderly as possible: Were you ever raped? Wuldu struggled translating the question. Mulugeta stared at the city lights for what seemed to be hours, though it was only a couple of minutes. Finally Wuldu turns to me exasperated. How can he talk about these things? What can he say? His concern is not for him. He worries for his daughters. Mulugeta pulls out a tissue and begins to dab his eyes. His upper body bent over, he stumbles when he tries to speak. Wuldu continued waving his hands in the air. What could he do? He doesnt remember much about the beatings. Mulugeta said if wanted to see his daughters, the traffickers would bring the girls to him and rape them in front of him. There was nothing he could do. They cried for him, but he was forced to watch as they screamed and were violated, stripped and beaten. The traffickers demanded $30,000 for each of them. The translator explained that many people in Mulugetas community in Eritrea raised the funds and gave them to his wife. When she sent money, the traffickers told him: If we let one of the girls go, we dont know if she will make it out, she might get taken by someone else, so you go - and send us the money. Your daughters will be safe here. Mulugeta arrived in Tel Aviv in November last year - forced to abandon his daughters. He was released after three months along with four others and brought to Israel where they were left out on the street. He says he is comfortable at the shelter. There are many men there who have gone through similar experiences. Wuldu expresses his admiration for Mulugeta. He often seeks his advice, his comfort and they pray. Mulugeta is grateful to the Israelis for giving him somewhere to say. I want to give thanks, he said. He has many sleepless nights. While his physical scars have healed and he has health care and food, he often remains reserved because his mind is always on his daughters and seeing them again. He has not heard from the traffickers since he left, though he believes his daughters are still alive. Mulugeta believes if he can pay the money, maybe, the traffickers will set his daughters free. But both he and Wuldu acknowledged money often means nothing and people have often been punished after paying their debts. Many times, the traffickers demand more. Mulugeta is in touch with his wife and they are doing everything they can, he said. But Eritreans, Sudanese and Ethiopians are still flooding through Israel. With few other places to go, Israel is a country where they are often stuck. And the government doesnt have enough laws or systems in place to care for the victims or help create a jobs for them. For many refugees from Eritrea and Sudan Levinsky Park in Tel Aviv is their only shelter Many of them live near Tel Avivs Central Bus Station at Levinsky Park. One man said he didnt understand why journalists came because it never really helped their situation. Another told me he is glad to talk to photographers and if they are kind, he doesnt mind helping them. Still another man complained he only ever had a room when he is able to find work, but most nights, he sleeps in the park. To him, Israel is a rich place where people could help, but no one ever does, he says, they dont even stop to talk to him. ARDC Director Yohannes Bayu said they rely heavily on donations from the UNHCR. Those who manage to avoid being detained when they enter the country are usually picked up by non-profit organizations like the ARDC or the Hotline for Migrant Workers. The government has few shelters and its up to the community to help men like Mulugeta find jobs and resources to survive. According to the a Human Rights Watch report in March of this year, 80 percent of Eritrean asylum seekers are granted some form of protection and only since February has Israel begun to register claims. The ARDC itself can only hold around 50 people at any given time. Bayu says most progress to help give Africans refugee status is made through a long, tedious court process and usually only when there is a sympathetic judge. He believes Israel can do better. For now, Mulugeta said he wants to help the world by opening up and sharing his story. He wants to be a voice and maybe others will find freedom and not suffer. It is not easy, but Mulugeta explained, he tries to stay busy, lives on the hope he has for his daughters, and perhaps one day theyll be free. Third excerpt An initiative in Tel Aviv has been caring for refugees from Sudan and Eritrea for one year now. Its commitment is in stark contrast to the governments refugee policy, which is pressuring immigrants to leave the country. Yigal Shtayim recalls very well the moment he decided to stop looking away. It all started when somebody died in Levinsky Park, he said. We didnt know exactly who he was, we just knew he was African and thought he was a refugee. In the end, we discovered he was a homeless guy from Ethiopia. It was a cold winter and although the man was ill, he was sleeping outside. The artist Shtayim, the grandson of German Holocaust survivors from Berlin, was appalled - and ashamed - that no one was taking care of this man. ‘Somebody dies, because no one takes care of him, he said. How can that happen in a prosperous country like Israel? Out of this shame and even more out of his anger towards the ignorance of some politicians and the prejudices of many fellow Israelis, Shtayim depicted the refugee situation on the Internet and asked others for help. Soon, the initiative Levinsky Soup was founded. Initially, it simply provided food for refugees. In the meantime, activists also help supply clothing and support in dealing with authorities. They also want to help build up childcare. Shtayims initiative has caught on. In a short period of time, we reached a great number of helpful people over the Internet, he said. Some helpers are there regularly, some for longer periods, some come just once - each volunteer does what he or she can. Every evening, Shtayim and his fellow campaigners provide refugees with a warm meal: a bowl of soup. The food is donated by two restaurants, he said. There are already some 50 men in line in front of the booth before the plates, cutlery and beverages are set out. At the beginning, we sometimes had over 800 refugees a day standing in line, now its dropped to about 150.Now only a small number of refugees, who are mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, are fed here. According to Israels immigration office, there are some 60,000 refugees in the country. Most of them already entered the country a decade ago and have meanwhile established themselves despite their predominantly illegal status. In the last three years, the number of incoming arrivals has increased to some 2,000 people per month. The government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resolved to take action due to public sentiment for one, which has turned increasingly against the immigrants. But pragmatic reasons also play a role: there is simply not so much space in Israel. Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting last May that the phenomenon of illegal infiltrators from Africa was extremely serious and threatening the security and identity of the Jewish state. If we dont stop their entry, the problem that currently stands at 60,000 could grow to 600,000, and that threatens our existence as a Jewish and democratic state, Netanyahu said. Since the legislation, passed in January 2012, took effect, the number of immigrants has sunk rapidly. According to government figures, while 2,295 people crossed the border illegally in January 2012, only 36 got across in December. There are several reasons for this development. Last year, there were growing numbers of protests in Tel Aviv against illegal immigrants following a rape allegedly committed by a refugee from Eritrea. In May 2012, the tensions turned violent, with demonstrators smashing African shops and property, chanting Blacks out! Parliamentarian Miri Regev from the right-wing Likud Party last year called Sudanese refugees a cancer in our body - though she later said her words had been misconstrued. But the claims that Israel was being flooded by refugees from Eritrea and Sudan came from all sides. There were calls to put an end to it and these sentiments did deter a number of potential refugees. Levinsky Soup celebrates its one-year anniversary One major move on the part of the government was constructing a new fence along the border to Egypt. Many refugees from Sudan had crossed into Israel across this border. In addition, authorities have begun systematically pressuring infiltrators, as they have been officially called, to leave the country. Last summer, the so-called Prevention of Infiltration Law took effect, which punishes asylum seekers for irregularly crossing into Israel. New arrivals and their children can be imprisoned for three years or more while officials determine whether they meet the criteria for refugee status - and this even through Israel is a signatory party to the UN Refugee Convention. It stipulates that no signatory state may expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. In February, advocacy groups made it known that Israel had quietly repatriated hundreds of South Sudanese immigrants in recent months via third-party states, claiming the departures had been voluntary. Israel claimed that South Sudans independence made it safe for the refugees to return, but advocacy groups report that back home, they have to fear for their lives. To add to the problems, the authorities have moved refugees out of detention centers into the Tel Aviv neighborhood Hatikva, where Shtayims Levinsky Soup is active. Once theyve arrived, the immigrants are left to their own devices. They receive no accommodation, no food, no medical aid or money - and are not allowed to work. Applications for asylum are useless. The authorities usually do not even accept them for processing. This is why Shtayim and his fellow campaigners see the need for their initiative. Were just Israeli citizens that care and we dont do this for any sort of personal advantage. Donations are not possible, as the initiative does not have a bank account. Its better to buy a few kilos of rice, he said. Invest 50 Shekel (10 euros) and you can feed quite a number of people. That is wealth. Fourth excerpt Until this week, Israeli media didnt know about Prisoner X, who reportedly committed suicide at a high-security prison in 2010. Now, the media is asking if he was involved in the killing of Hamas Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh. An espionage mystery has engulfed Israel, not a cinema thriller but a very real tale. The whole country is talking about Prisoner X, who was held in Ajalon Prison, near Ramla in central Israel, reportedly from February 2010 until his death in December that year. The prison is reportedly one of the most secure prisons in the country – it was originally built to house the killer of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. But on December 15, 2010, Prisoner X was found dead in his cell. He is said to have committed suicide. The public, however, was not informed until this Tuesday (12.02.2013), and only when the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) broke the story. ABC found that 34-year-old Ben Zygier, who changed his name several times and held both Australian and Israeli passports, was an agent of Israels secret service, Mossad. Some Israeli politicians were furious. A prisoner, who is being hidden, kills himself and no one knows about it. How is that compatible with the rule of law? Zehava Galon, the head of an opposition liberal party, Meretz, asked while addressing the Knesset – Israels national assembly. Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to stop the press from reporting on Prisoner X. The Israeli government managed to cover up the case for two years. And even once media organizations on the other side of the planet - along with social media networks - had begun discussing the prisoners death, nothing appeared in the Israeli press. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called the countrys top editors and asked them to cooperate by withholding publication of information about the case, Israeli left-leaning newspaper Haaretz subsequently reported. ‘We stirred up a weird situation here. The case was being reported abroad, everyone knew about it and yet reporting about it was still banned in Israel, the former head of Mossad, Danny Yatom, told daily paper Maariv. Within a day of the revelation, this strangeness was recognized and the Israeli press were allowed to report on the story, Yatom added. On Wednesday (13.02.2013), Israel confirmed the existence and death of the mysterious prisoner for the first time. He was an Israeli citizen who also had a foreign passport. He had a fake name for security reasons. No further details were provided by the government. It was clear from the ABC report that Zygier emigrated from Australia to Israel at the age of 24. He served in the Israeli military and later married an Israeli citizen, with whom he had two children. Theres no official information on when Ben Zygier was arrested or when he worked for Mossad - the precise nature of his work is shrouded in similar secrecy. Israeli media is speculating that he may have been involved in the killing of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, a senior member of Hamas, in the United Arab Emirates on January 19, 2010. Zygier is believed to have been imprisoned in February 2010, shortly after the Dubai killing. The media has also posited that he could have cooperated with the authorities in Dubai – making him a double agent. The police in Dubai filmed a group of men, who are suspected to be Mossad agents, making their way to Al-Mabhouhs hotel room. A little later, the Hamas leader was found dead inside. The Dubai police later released the real or fake passports with which the suspected Israeli agents entered the country - among them were German, Australian and UK passports. Zygier also had an Australian passport. Does that mean that Mossad primarily recruits people with dual nationality? That is a pretty established secret service practice, Avi Primo, the former Ambassador of Israel to Germany, told DW. It is clear that Zygier was arrested only a week after the events in Dubai and taken to Ajalon, a high-security prison. Meanwhile, Dubai police head Dahi Khalfan denies that Zygier cooperated with his countrys authorities. He doesnt say anything about whether Zygier was involved in the Al-Mabhouh case. No one knows what the truth is. Its all speculation, Avi Primor said. The real reasons for the imprisonment of Ben Zygier in February 2010, the circumstances of the supposed suicide, and the motivation behind withholding his identity all remain unclear. Well-known lawyer Avigdor Feldman met Zygier shortly before his death. They were negotiating an agreement with prosecutors, Feldman told Israel army broadcaster Galei Tzahal. Just a day after Feldman spoke with Zygier, however, the prisoner was found dead. In December 2010, Zygiers body was flown to Melbourne and buried in the Jewish cemetery there, according to ABC. Fifth excerpt Organ trafficking is still a protected crime Economic crises are creating a pool of desperate people who are willing to sell their kidneys for cash. Organ trafficking and illicit transplant surgeries have infiltrated global medical practice. But despite the evidence of widespread criminal networks and several limited prosecutions in countries including India, Kosovo, Turkey, Israel, South Africa and the US, it is still not treated with the seriousness it demands. Since the first report into the matter in 1990, there has been an alarming number of post-operative deaths of “transplant tour” recipients from botched surgeries, mismatched organs and high rates of fatal infections, including HIV and Hepatitis C contracted from sellers organs. Living kidney sellers suffer from post-operative infections, weakness, depression, and some die from suicide, wasting, and kidney failure. Organs watch documented five deaths among 38 kidney sellers recruited from small villages in Moldova. Distressing stories lurk in the murky background of today’s business of commercialised organ transplantation, conducted in a competitive global field that involves some 50 nations. The World Health Organisation estimates 10,000 black market operations happen each year. The trade involves a network of human traffickers including mobile surgeons, brokers, patients, and sellers who meet for clandestine surgeries involving cut-throat deals that are enforced with violence, if needed. Many of the “kidney hunters” are former sellers, recruited by crime bosses into the tight web of transplant trafficking schemes. Sellers include poor nationals, new immigrants, global guest workers, or political and economic refugees recruited from abroad to serve the needs of transplant tourists in countries that tolerate or actively facilitate the illegal transplant trade. Until recently this all went unnoticed. There is considerable resistance among transplant professionals who see trafficking as relatively rare and which only takes place in third world countries. They were loathe to recognise the involvement of transplant trafficking schemes in the US as well as in South African hospitals – not to mention transplant tourism packages. Bioethicists argue endlessly about the “ethics” of what is actually a crime and a medical human rights abuse. In 2008, the climate of denial began to change when The Transplantation Society) and the International Society of Nephrology), held a major summit which acknowledged organ trafficking as a reality. Moral pressure was then put on countries actively involved in organised and disorganised international schemes to recruit paid, living donors. Despite this, criminal networks of brokers and transplant trafficking schemes are still robust, exceedingly mobile, resilient, and generally one step ahead of the game. Meanwhile, one economic or political crisis after another has also supplied the market with countless refugees that fall like ripe fruit into the hands of organ traffickers. The desperate, displaced and dispossessed can be found and recruited to sell a spare kidney in almost any nation. Human trafficking for organs is still generally seen as a victimless crime that benefits some very sick people at the expense of other, more invisible – or at least dispensable – people. And some prosecutors and judges treat it as such. In 2009, New Jersey federal agents arrested kidney trafficker Levy Izhak Rosenbaum as part of a larger police sting of corrupt politicians. Rosenbaum, a self-styled “matchmaker” as he described himself in taped conversations, was caught trying to arrange the private sale of a kidney from a donor in Israel to an undercover FBI agent for $160,000 (£100,000). The hospitals where the Rosenbaum operations were arranged were prestigious and despite it being illegal to trade organs in the US since 1984, many don’t ask enough questions. Indeed, Rosenbaum claimed he was easily able to concoct cover stories. It’s a lucrative business. Federal prosecutors couldn’t believe that the trafficked organ sellers had been deceived or coerced into selling. Two years later Rosenbaum pleaded guilty to just three incidents of brokering kidneys for payment despite admitting to having been in the business for over a decade. At his trial, Rosenbaum had a powerful show of support from transplant patients who arrived to praise the trafficker, and beg for his mercy. Only one victim of kidney selling testified – a young black Israeli, Elahn Quick – who was recruited by traffickers to travel to a hospital in Minnesota to sell his kidney to a 70-year-old man. Quick testified that he agreed to the donation because he had been unemployed, alienated from his community, and hoped a meritorious act would improve his social standing. However, just before he was anaesthetised he asked his “minder” if he could get out of the deal. The operation went ahead. The judge, perhaps moved by Rosenbaum’s supporters, concluded that deep down he was a good man, and that Quick had not been defrauded; he was paid what he was promised. “Everyone”, she said, “got something out of this deal”. Illegal, clandestine kidney transplants depend on criminal networks of human traffickers preying on the bodies of both the desperately sick and poor. Prosecutions of traffickers and their associates — brokers, kidney hunters, and enforcers — is inefficient. Brokers are the most visible players but easily replaceable. Arresting and prosecuting a few of them, as has been the case, won’t deter others from taking their place. While culpable, kidney sellers and transplant tour recipients are also victims of recruitment, deception and varying degrees of coercion. They can provide information, but should be treated as victims unless, as happens in some cases, they go on to also become part of the trade. Legislation and prosecution must instead focus on transplant professionals — the surgeons, hospitals, and insurance companies – that claim immunity by saying either that they can’t police the trade, or that they are not responsible for monitoring what goes on behind the scenes, or that they’ve been deceived. Transplant professionals were implicated in the Netcare scandal in South Africa after the company entered into a plea bargain and accepted a $1.1m fine. The charges were related to 109 kidney transplants carried out between 2001-3. There were false declarations that donors were related and five operations in which the donors were minors, all against the company’s own internal policy. One kidney specialist, Jeffrey Kallmeyer, accepted payments direct to his bank but later struck a plea bargain to avoid extradition from Canada. Organs Watch has many copies of letters that show how organised traffickers can be, how they keep schemes quiet and how they coach kidney sellers and transfer illicit payments. Professional medical sanctions against transplant surgeons who work with criminal organs trafficking networks are non existent but could be very effective. They should lose their license to practice medicine and be prohibited from participating in transplant conferences. Regulation cannot come solely from within the transplant profession. Different laws and different jurisdictions make prosecutions of crimes that span international boundaries very difficult. The UN Global Initiative to Combat Human Trafficking must pay more specific attention to organ trafficking, while other initiatives, such as those in the European Union, are to be applauded if we are to beat this illegal trade once and for all. Alexander k Opicho is a social researcher based in Eldoret, Kenya. He is a researcher with Sanctuary Research Agencies ltd.He also teaches governance and leadership; research perspectives.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 15:15:19 +0000
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