One has to wonder if China truly protects its prisoners

Stanford's Visiting Scholar Xinying Huang wrote that "contrary to what one might think, Chinese prisons are safe," "prisoner's rights are protected to a high standard," and there are "no abnormal death[s]." He adds that the "Chinese government pays much attention to human rights protections in prison." In one of his books on China, the prominent human rights investigator Ethan Gutman penned a comprehensive and painstakingly sourced narrative in 2014, entitled "The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ harvesting, and China's Secret Solution to its Dissident Problem." As he describes it: "Live-organ harvesting of prisoners is, in fact, routine" (p.228). A 2004 "Chinese report found that only 1.5% of transplanted kidneys were donated by relatives" (p.232). Gutman cites another author's observation that 1994 "signaled the beginning of harvesting Tibetan prisoners of conscience - three years ahead of the confirmed harvesting of Uyghur political prisoners" (p. 243). Gutman is not alone in his dismay. Israel, for example, has "banned organ tourism to China," predicated upon human rights concerns for Chinese prisoners (p.254).

In 2012, China claimed that it would ban organ harvesting in three to five years. Gutman nevertheless countered that "the [PRC] cannot stop organ harvesting" (314). In 2022, a McMaster University health report stated that "China is the only country in the world to have an industrial-scale organ trafficking practice that harvests organs from executed prisoners of conscience. This practice is known as forced organ harvesting." Ali Iqbal & Aliya Kahn, Analysis: "Killing prisoners for transplants: Forced organ harvesting in China" (Brighter World, July 29, 2022). Also in 2022, House of Representatives Tom Lantos reported: "The PRC is widely alleged to be a major harvester and trafficker of forcibly acquired organs." House Committee on Foreign Affairs Human Rights Commission, "Forced Organ Harvesting in China: Examining the Evidence" (May 12, 2022).

One thus wonders whether the PRC in fact protects its prisoners, as stated in Mr. Huang's AI op-ed. If Mr. Huang responds, one hopes that he will provide the actual wording and specific source for the claim that China no longer harvests prisoner organs. Until such details are established, the PRC's contemporary historical record on protecting its prisoners is not "contrary to what one might think."

-- William Slomanson Distinguished Professor Emeritus Thomas Jefferson School of Law