Organ harvesting of trafficked J’cans ‘very possible’ – children’s advocate

Children's Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison said that it is "very possible" that Jamaicans who have been trafficked abroad may have become victims of organ harvesting.

Gordon Harrison was responding to a question during the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica's lunchtime series, Human Trafficking of Children, where she was the guest presenter.

The children's advocate, who is the national rapporteur on human trafficking, was asked whether there is evidence of organ harvesting taking place in Jamaica, or if it is possible that persons who have been lured overseas may have fallen victim of the dark practice.

"Locally, we have not identified any home-grown cases of organ harvesting," she said. "It is very possible, however, because we do have Jamaicans who are trafficked outside of Jamaica, and end up in all sorts of countries, that once they get to those locations, depending on the demands in those markets, that they could, in fact, find themselves in that situation."

Organ harvesting, also known as organ trafficking, is a form of human trafficking in which a person's organs are removed from their body without their consent for the sole purpose of selling those organs for transplantation. Major organs like kidneys and livers are body parts that are commonly the subject of these forms of theft.

Persons have long been speculating that people who have gone missing without a trace may have been victims of human trafficking. There is also speculation that some of them may have been killed and their organs harvested. Gordon Harrison yesterday said that there is no evidence that the practice is taking place locally.

"We have no identifiable case that I can speak of that we have seen organ harvesting manifesting in Jamaica," she said.