Preventing and Remedying Complicity in Organ Transplant Abuse Abroad
Poster presentation to the World Association for Medical Law Congress 2026, Antwerp, Belgium, August 5th to 7th.
At the World Association for Medical Law Congress 2026 in Antwerp, David Matas reviewed existing and proposed laws from multiple countries designed to prevent and remedy foreign complicity in China’s forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience.
The Development of Chinese Law on Forced Organ Harvesting
Presentation to a Consilium Institute Forum July 21, 2026, Washington DC
At a Consilium Institute Forum in Washington DC, David Matas traced the development of Chinese law on forced organ harvesting, showing how policies have both facilitated the industrial scale killing of prisoners of conscience for their organs and provided cover for the ongoing abuse.
Full panel link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe8DflWASGE
Hospital Ethics and Organ Transplant Abuse Abroad
Presentation given at The Liver Week 2026 in Seoul, South Korea
At The Liver Week 2026 in Seoul, David Matas outlined ways hospitals can avoid becoming complicit in forced organ harvesting without refusing necessary medical care.
Evaluation of Institution Responses to Student Applications from Abroad for Training Which Could Be Used to Abuse Human Rights
Presentation to the International Academic Forum European Conference on Education, London UK, July 12, 2026
At the International Academic Forum European Conference on Education in London, David Matas evaluated how educational institutions should respond to applications from Chinese students seeking transplant training that could enable forced organ harvesting, concluding that such training should be refused as it facilitates and becomes complicity in the ongoing mass killing of prisoners of conscience.
Improving UK legislation on Forced Organ Harvesting
Revised remarks prepared for a Parliamentary Seminar, London, UK, July 8, 2026
At a Parliamentary Seminar in London, David Matas presented recommendations for improving UK legislation against forced organ harvesting, outlining gaps in extraterritorial laws, reporting, immigration, insurance and related measures while citing international precedents to address the industrial scale abuse of prisoners of conscience in China.
Transnational Repression and Me
Written version of remarks presented to the forum “Out of Bounds: CCP’s Unrestricted Warfare in Canada”, Toronto City Hall
6th December 2025
At a forum hosted by Choose Humanity, David Matas joined fellow experts on a panel to explore how the CCP’s unrestricted warfare and foreign interference threaten Canada’s democracy, media, and values.
Fighting Against the Horror of Forced Organ Harvesting
7NEWS The Issue Podcast
29th November 2025
David Matas joins 7NEWS National Security Editor Tim Lester on The Issue podcast to deep dive into the background of forced organ harvesting in China, and what Australia’s response to the practice has been.
The Ethics of Interaction with Chinese Transplant Professionals
Written version of remarks presented to the World Conference on Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Health Law, Ljubljana, Slovenia
24th November 2025
Excerpt of Conclusion:
“In sum, the differences between the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation and The Transplantation Society can be explained by the reality that the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation has looked at the facts and The Transplantation Society has not.”
Legislative Precedents Addressing Cross Border Transplant Abuse
Prepared as a briefing for Parliamentarians follow a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
November 12th to 16th, 2025
Full briefing prepared for Parliamentarians in Kuala Lumpur, exploring a range of international legislative precedents.
Preventing and Remedying Cross Border Transplant Abuse in Australasia
Written version of a presentation to the Australasian College of Legal Medicine 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting, Singapore
8th November 2025
Excerpt of conclusion:
“Australasia has a long way to go to set up a comprehensive network addressing transplant tourism and complicity in cross border organ transplant abuse. … Europe, North America and Israel provide the bulk of the examples of progress in this area. Australasian countries do not need to invent what to do. They have plenty of examples to follow. … Losing the ability to convey that sense of urgency [to prevent and remedy cross border transplant abuse] in Singapore was no small matter.”
Chinese Transnational Repression in Australia and Forced Organ Harvesting
Written version of remarks presented to a Parliamentary roundtable in Canberra, Australia
28th October 2025
Excerpt of conclusion:
“If there is more of an effort in Australia to combat transnational repression and less gullibility about the changes to the Chinese transplant system the authorities claim to have made, then perhaps, in a future conference of the Australian Transplant Nurses Association, another speaker could address the scourge of cross border transplant abuse without being accused of political grandstanding. One can hope that day will come.”
European Laws Against Cross Border Organ Transplant Abuse
Text basis for a poster presentation at the ELPAT (Ethical, Legal and Psychosocial Aspects of Organ Transplantation) conference in Seville, Spain,
9th to 11th October 2025
“The laws in Europe on cross border organ transplant abuse are underdeveloped. One reason is the relative newness of transplant technology. A second is that the abuse has a low visibility and accordingly a low priority.”
Laws Enacted and Proposed Prohibiting and Remedying Transplant Tourism and Complicity in Organ Transplant Abuse Abroad
Presentation to the World Congress on Medical Law 2025, Istanbul, Türkiye
7th August 2025
Excerpt from conclusion:
“A few countries have laws enacted or proposed on cross border organ transplant abuse. Even fewer had enacted laws addressed to the abuse. No country has enacted the full legal slate of possible laws to prevent and remedy the abuse. The overall conclusion here is that, though several positive steps have been taken, much remains to be done to prevent and remedy transplant tourism and complicity in organ transplant abuse abroad.”
Japanese Action Needed on China’s Forced Organ Harvesting (Article)
Article with ghost written version published in the Japanese Magazine “Seiron”
July 2025
The article outlined the background and testimonies relating forced organ harvesting in China, the China Tribunal’s final judgment, and highlighted the expanding international efforts to impose restrictions on China’s organ harvesting practices. It also noted Japan’s current lack of meaningful action surrounding the issue and urged the country to recognise the reality and ethical implications that organs are being taken from prisoners of conscience in China and used for transplantation.
Transnational Repression, China and Falun Gong
Presentation prepared for an event at the House of Lords, London, UK
15th July 2025
In his speech at the UK Parliament, Matas explored the connections between the recent media and legal attacks against Shen Yun and Falun Gong, which was juxtaposed with media silence on the mass killing of Falun Gong practitioners for their organs.
Furthermore, Matas addressed a letter post-seminar to the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Arts Centre in Canada, in light of the National Arts Center’s refusal to allow Shen Yun Performing Arts to perform at its renowned facility in 2026.
New Developments in Organ Transplantation in China
E-Poster at the 30th International Congress of The Transplantation Society
22nd-25th September 2024
The presentation encapsulates current evidence that organ sourcing from prisoners continues in China. In addressing this evidence, the presentation addresses two cognate issues -onus and remedy.
Excerpt from Recommendations:
“The Transplantation Society, in addressing political abuse of organ transplantation in China, should follow the example of what the World Psychiatric Association did to address political abuse of psychiatry in the former Soviet Union.”
Australia, China and Forced Organ Harvesting
Report on a visit to Australia
2nd – 22nd June 2024
Matas visited Australia to meet with Australian MPs and Senators regarding the ongoing forced organ harvesting happening in China and what can and should be done. Mr Matas also urged for the recommendations from the Australian Senator’s ‘Compassion Not Commerce’ report to be urgently implemented and for a Motion to be passed calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
Forced Organ Harvesting in China: The Facts and the Law
Remarks prepared for presentation to two fora at Harvard University, one at the East Asia Library March 7th, 2024 and a second at the Medical School March 8th 2024
Excerpt from Conclusion:
“This Forum is titled Forced Organ Harvesting: A Threat to Humanity. Forced organ harvesting is a threat not just to Falun Gong. Because the mass killing of Falun Gong for their organs was not stopped earlier, it later spread in large numbers to Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang/ East Turkestan from 2017. In Busan Korea, at a symposium in November 2022, The 1st Asian Organ Donation International Symposium in Korea, China and Japan, a couple of speakers endorsed in Asia a replication of the Eurotransplant system, that is to say, a cross border allocation of organ donations. The speakers showed no awareness that such a system would mean the allocation to Japan and Korea of organs sourced from prisoners of conscience in China killed through organ extraction.”
Universal Periodic Review and China
Report by David Matas
27 January 2024
Excerpt from Conclusion:
“The Universal Periodic Review is not the be all and end all for human rights accountability. There are other recourses within the UN human rights system which are more frequent, more accessible and more easily mobilized. The failure of the Universal Periodic Review for China to hold China to account for its human rights abuses, in particular the failure to address the mass killing of prisoners of conscience for their organs, should lead those concerned about Chinese abuses generally and this abuse in particular to invoke the other recourses available.”
Genocide in the Media: Reporting Variations
Remarks prepared for an International Academic Forum conference on arts, media and culture, Kyoto, Japan
October 2023
Excerpt from Conclusion:
“Media reporting of human rights violation play an important role in helping to prevent the continuation of violations and remedy those which have occurred. Setting out the factors which, independently of the gravity of the violations, cause variations in reporting will not in itself end those variations. Yet, if the media and those who interact with them are aware of these factors, that awareness one would hope would lead to efforts to end variations which have nothing to do with the gravity of the violations.”
The Communist Chinese Party’s Weaponizing of Organ Genocide Against the Unwanted
Remarks prepared for a webinar hosted by the Committee for the Present Danger: China
5th January 2023
Excerpt:
“Genocide as a victim group can be committed, as already mentioned, with intent to destroy a group in whole or in part. Intent to destroy the group as a whole is not necessary to commit the crime of genocide. Intent to destroy the group in part is sufficient. The catch and release system, at most, shows only that there is not an intent to destroy every single member of the group. However, because the requisite intent for genocide does not require intent to destroy the group as a whole and allows for intent to destroy the group only in part, the release of some members of the groups without conversion does not undermine the conclusion that the target groups are the victims of genocide.”
Organ Transplant Abuse in China and Legal Responses
Remarks prepared for delivery to the World Congress for Medical Law, Gold Coast, Australia
7th December 2022
Excerpt:
“Since we are here in Australia, I can make a comment about what is happening here. The Subcommittee report to which I referred recommended extra-territorial legislation penalizing organ transplant abuse. The Government in 2021 agreed with that recommendation. The legislation has yet to be introduced.
Getting legislation in democratic countries requires public will. Public will in turn depends on public awareness. One way all of us can help prevent and remedy organ transplant abuse and organ trafficking is spreading the awareness of the need for that sort of legislation.”
Australia, New Zealand and Transplant Abuse in China
Revised remarks prepared for a Parliamentary briefing in Canberra, November 23, 2022, and Adelaide, South Australia November 29, 2022 and a public forum in Auckland, New Zealand, December 1, 2022
Excerpt:
“Though the victims of mass killings of prisoners of conscience for their organs are beyond helping, we can create a legacy from their deaths of prevention and remedy. Australia can do its part. As one can see, there has been already substantial agreement in Australia in principle. Yet, the principle needs to be turned into practice. … Australia and New Zealand can not, on their own, end transplant abuse in China. But they can, on their own, end the complicity of Australians and New Zealanders in that abuse. When should Australia and New Zealand do what they can to end transplant tourism into China? The answer is ideally yesterday. At the very least it should be now.”
Acting Against Transplant Abuse in China
Remarks prepared for a Parliamentary briefing Canberra, Australia
23rd November 2022
Excerpt:
“Australian Parliamentarians, through the many petitions they have presented to Parliament, as well as through the Sub-Committee report, have shown an understanding of the issue of the mass killing in China of prisoners of conscience for their organs. I would suggest that they take the next step that is within their own Sub-Committee.”
Jiang Zemin – Leader of the Mass Killing of Innocents
Commentary originally published in The Epoch Times
30th November 2022
Excerpts:
“The death of Jiang Zemin, former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), reminds us of the instrumental role he played in the mass killing of prisoners of conscience for their organs.
…
[I]t’s too late to bring him to justice for his crimes. But it will never be too late to remember who he was and what he did, the untold misery he inflicted on innocents, the crimes he inflicted against humanity, against us all.”
Innovation and Value: Organ Transplant Abuse in China
Remarks prepared for an International Academic Forum conference on arts, media and culture, Kyoto, Japan
20th October 2022
Excerpts:
“In retrospect it is easy enough to understand how this abuse happened. But it would have been unrealistic to expect the organ transplant innovators to foresee this abuse and forestall their innovations based on this hypothetical foresight.
…
What I would say now is that even the most seemingly beneficial innovation can wreak untold harm. Just look at organ transplantation innovation and its use for the mass killing of prisoners of conscience in China.”
The Killing in China of Prisoners of Conscience for their Organs: Smoking Guns
May 2022
Excerpt from Conclusion:
“We see consequently the spectacle these instances display – the Party/ State denying its own self and sales promotion when that self and sales promotion is turned against them as evidence of mass killings. There are different ways to punch a hole in the Party/ State hot air balloon. Surely one of them is this, showing in grim detail in individual cases, that what they say is not true, presenting them with their own smoking guns, one after the other.”
David Kilgour
April 2022
“All who have known him will miss him. Yet he will not be gone. His example will endure to remind us of the difference between indifference and empathy, between bafflegab and honesty, between giving way and standing firm, between doing well and doing good. He has not disappeared because he has become part of us.”
Ethical Standards and Organ Transplant Abuse
Remarks for a presentation to the United Nations Conference on Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Health Law, Porto, Portugal
9th March 2022
Excerpt:
“I am here addressing professional ethical standards only and not legislation. The parliaments of some countries have legislated ethical standards. While legislation is welcome and, in some aspects, necessary, the prevention of transplant abuse should not be left to parliamentarians.
From various sources, I have drawn forty three existing relevant ethical principles. Some of them should be adopted as is. Others need reformulation.”
Uyghur Genocide: Avenues Toward Accountability
Revised remarks presented to the World Uyghur Assembly, Prague, the Czech Republic
12th November 2021
Matas addresses questions asked by the moderator:
1) What is the scope of international crimes that are being committed by China against the Uyghurs?
2) To what extent do the crimes being committed mirror other cases where crimes against humanity and genocide have been established?
3) How do we find the legal resources to invoke the legal remedies available?
Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience: The Intersection of Medical Advocacy and Medical Ethics
Revised Remarks for a panel October 26th, 2020 hosted by University of North Carolina Center for Bioethics and Division of Abdominal Transplant Surgery
“Medical ethics intersects with medical advocacy in various ways. One is advocacy to develop medical ethics locally. A second is advocacy for medical ethics in international instances. A third is the advocacy for the appropriate reaction to violations of medical ethics. I propose to go through each of these three intersections in turn for forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China.”
Gandhi and Human Rights, the Modern Context
Talk prepared for presentation to The India Centre, University of Winnipeg
October 2020
“Is arousing the world about massive human rights violations possible today when victims disappear and are never heard from again? Is it possible today to command publicity about these violations? Can awareness be spread when the disappearances occur in a country without freedom of expression or assembly? Is it possible today to appeal to outside opinion about these disappearances? Can a struggle for respect for human rights in a repressive country today bring a mass movement into being? Are there Gandhis today in the repressive countries? If there are, can they accomplish anything? Can Gandhi’s method of non-violent resistance be employed today against repressive regimes?”
COVID-19 & Forced Organ Harvesting Parallels – Polish TV Interview
Interview on “Against the Tide TV” from Poland
May 2020
Matas calls for an inquiry into the pandemic, highlighting China’s mishandling of the CCP virus outbreak, its cover-ups, and the parallels with China’s organ transplant abuse.
Organ Transplants & Crimes Against Humanity in China: An Australian Issue
Remarks prepared for a panel on organ transplants and crimes against humanity in China, Sydney, Australia
18th November 2019
Matas addresses three questions on complicity: What is complicity? What are some scenarios where persons in Australia could be found complicit in organ transplant abuse in China? What do people need to do to avoid complicity in organ transplant abuse in China?
Organ Harvesting and Trafficking of Chinese Minorities – Declarations Podcast
21st October 2019
‘Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast’ based out of the University of Cambridge, featured Matas on an episode entitled “Organ Harvesting and Trafficking of Chinese Minorities”.
Mandatory Reporting of Transplant Tourism
Remarks prepared for delivery to the European Society for Organ Transplantation Congress, Copenhagen, Denmark
16th September 2019
Excerpt from Introduction:
“Should the law require reporting by health professionals to health administrators of transplant tourism? What form of reporting is viable?
This is a particularly relevant question for Europe right now. There is a Council of Europe treaty, a Convention on Trafficking on Human Organs, open for signature since 2015, which commits states parties to criminalize complicity in cross border transplant abuse. The treaty has right now nine ratifying states – Albania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, and Moldova – and fifteen more states which have signed, indicating an intention to ratify.”
