Report Dissemination and Advocacy on Kidney Trafficking at District Level

On December 14, 2015 half day program was organized in Kathmandu to disseminate the findings of the research on Kidney Trafficking conducted by PPR Nepal with the support from USAID/TAF. The program was participated by 24 individuals representing various government, non government, civil society organizations, journalists and representative from TAF.

At the beginning of the program Mr. Bhim Gautam, journalist from Rajdhani Dainik shared his experience while collecting news of kidney trafficking. Sharing his experience he said that before 3 years no one knew about kidney trafficking but now many are aware of it. Victims/Survivors of kidney trafficking do not want to be public as they are tagged as "kidney seller" or family of kidney seller he added. Mr. Gautam shared an incident in which the network of kidney trafficking brokers compelled a school teacher to leave the place for his involvement in anti kidney trafficking activities. As kidney trafficking is widespread and has its root from local to national and to international level it is not possible to control within a fraction of seconds but with continued awareness primarily at the grassroots and district level as well as national level will help eradicate this organized crime said Mr. Gautam.

In the next session the findings of the research on Kidney Trafficking was presented by Mr. Rajendra Ghimre, Chairperson of PPR Nepal. As in some countries donating kidney is legal and completely depend on the wish of the donors trafficking of kidney was totally a different issue and of less interest. But as Nepali laws consider illegal extraction of kidney as a crime, convincing the donor to conduct such research on Kidney Trafficking was a challenge shared Mr. Ghimire.  He then discussed briefly about the objectives and methods of the research; reasons, impact and key findings of the research. Recommendations for future action were also discussed in the presentation. Expressing their views one of the participants said that in the lack of Organ Bank in Nepal extracting kidney illegally has been on rise and due to lack of awareness and poverty people easily fall prey to kidney traffickers. The participant also suggested that to encourage people the state should provide incentives to the people willing to donate body organs after their death. Similarly, lack of awareness among government officials/police and frequent transfers to different departments within the institution makes it more complex to deal with particular cases such of human/kidney trafficking.