A bill to ban organ transplant tourism in China has been approved by the Senate human rights committee, says Blacklock’s Reporter..Those who break the ban face 14 years in prison, the Senate said, after hearing China targets political dissidents and detainees who are murdered for their organs..“We know this and we think the evidence is overwhelming,” testified former Conservative MP David Kilgour (Edmonton Southeast), an organizer with the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China..“If people know this is what’s happening, that someone is being murdered on demand so you can have a kidney or liver, people will stop going.”.The bill would forbid any person from seeking an organ transplant for cash or without “informed consent” of a donor..Similar legislation has been adopted in Taiwan, Israel, Spain, Italy and Norway, the committee was told..“In China every so-called ‘donor’ is killed and donors – we are certain it is virtually all of them – are never asked if they want to donate a kidney or liver because they take all their organs,” said Kilgour..“They don’t just take one kidney. They take heart, liver, lungs, everything they can take, and of course the donor dies in the process. That is a very important thing to understand about the difference between China and every other country in the world.”.Sen. Salma Ataullahjan (Ont.), the sponsor of the bill, noted three earlier attempts to ban organ tourism have lapsed in previous parliaments..“We know Canadians are traveling abroad,” said Ataullahjan..“We know. We all hear of stories. You know, there are no statistics even available. There is such little information available on this organ tourism that is going on. We need to have something in place. We need to get an idea of how often it is happening.”.A Commons subcommittee on foreign affairs at hearings last July 21 was told by former inmates of Uyghur concentration camps in China that organ murders were commonplace..“They would put black coats over their heads and they were taken away,” testified Omerbek Ali, a Uyghur human rights activist..“There is no doubt about what is happening. Organ harvesting is happening right now. People have been transported to the interior of China for organ harvesting and many people see this. It’s even happening with three-year-old children who are taken away to camps..“I witnessed in one week several people being taken away from our cells and they were gone. Because there is no video evidence or hard proof, the international community was not paying attention to our claims and it was not given the much-needed attention we were asking for.”.The bill will return to the Senate for Third Reading. It passed Second Reading on March 16 with unanimous support..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
