Organ trafficking: modern day slavery
In part, the Human Tissue Act 2004 was introduced to ensure that living organ donors have made an informed and voluntary decision to donate their organ; free from duress, coercion and reward. Organ trafficking and modern day slavery is a concern for all healthcare professionals.
Modern slavery encompasses a broad range of offences including forced labour, domestic servitude and illegal organ removal. If you suspect that a person is a victim of slavery and/or organ trafficking, we urge you to trust and act on your professional instinct and report this to the clinical team.
Measures we have in the UK to prevent trafficking in addition to the Human Tissue Act 2004:
- Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (“the Convention”), which entered into force on 1 April 2009 in the UK. The UK has ratified this Convention.
- Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs. The treaty invites governments to criminalise trafficking in human organs, and to take measures to protect victims. This is the first international legally binding document to address the issue of organ trafficking from a criminal law viewpoint. The UK signed this in March 2015.
- Declaration of Istanbul was signed in 2008. The Declaration is a ‘Bible for transplant ethics’ that has the aim of tackling transplant tourism, trafficking and commercialisation on an international scale.
More information on modern slavery and human trafficking, and its implications to living organ donation and other medical procedures can be found on the Royal College of Nursing website.
Guidance on travelling for organ transplantation
Any person who is resident in England, Wales or Scotland will be committing an offence if they are involved in seeking, offering, or receiving payment or reward for donating organs for transplantation or initiating, negotiating, advertising or being involved in buying or selling human organs for transplantation, anywhere in the world.
The Human Tissue Act 2004 (Supply of Information about Transplants) Regulations 2024 and the Human Tissue (Supply of Information about Transplants) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 make it mandatory for relevant clinicians in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to report:
- a reasonable suspicion that an organ transplantation related offence may have been committed under the Human Tissue Act 2004 or the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 or Modern Slavery legislation
- information about a patient who has received an organ transplant outside the UK.