(New Tactics is a program of the Center for Victims of Torture)

The International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse: A Conversation with Susie Hughes

January 27th, 2025: On a new episode of Human Rights Chat podcast by New Tactics, ETAC cofounder and Executive Director Susie Hughes and host Melissa McNeilly discussed ETAC’s background and mission, the organ transplant system in China, the China Tribunal and its findings and the current evolving strategies and new tactics undertaken to combat forced organ harvesting in China at an international level.

Click HERE to listen to the podcast

Excerpts from the podcast below:

(Melissa) During this interview, I found myself confronting a chilling reality … The Center for Victims of Torture advocates on a lot of issues … What do all of these issues have in common? Victims are survivors. But with forced organ harvesting, there are none.

…

(Susie) [The China Tribunal] found that the Falun Gong practitioners—the Buddhist Qigong practice of Falun Gong—they were the main victims, that now there is significant evidence coming forward that the Uyghur population are being caught into this. … And the China Tribunal has been cited in many, many different government reports … It’s shaped our advocacy efforts in regards to partnering with other NGOs as well. So being an organization with … focus specifically on forced organ harvesting in China—we broaden that a little bit to organ trafficking, in regards to some of the legislation, because you can capture both.

…

So in regards to what needs to be done … we need to be doing it from the outside. The main thing that we need to do is to disengage [from collaborations with China]. … [The] Chinese government are in a situation where they’re boasting about their new organ donation system. They’re speaking at different conferences internationally. They’re involved in key groups with the WHO. They’re involved in key positions with main organizations that are looking at ethics of organ donation globally and being on advisory panels….  I’m sure many people can feel how ridiculous that is …

[One] area is business and human rights … Governments need to be enacting legislation to make sure that transplant tourism is tracked and also criminalized. There’s a number of different areas with legislation of what could be done. Sanctions need to be issued on certain perpetrators. … there aren’t sanctions in place yet in regards to this specific issue. So sanctions need to be issued on some transplant surgeons from China, where there’s clear evidence that they’ve been involved in this. You know, the UN needs to take further action. There’s just so much that needs to be done.

…

[Corporations[ need to be responsible in regards to where they’re getting their supplies from. So whether there’s any forced labor in their supply chain, and then there’s something called the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and corporations and businesses need to do their due diligence and check out what’s going on and not engage with any suppliers who do have child labor or forced labor, etc.

…

[It’s] far easier to gain traction… when you can educate [professionals] about the whole business and human rights area, the field of expertise, what due diligence is, what policies they need to put in place. …  It’s a way of using business and human rights more broadly, to be able to apply business and human rights to a situation that is addressing crimes against humanity and genocide. Because ultimately, we all have to be responsible ourselves. We, you know, we have to step back and we have to say, well, we’re not going to interact. And that in itself puts pressure on China.