Italy signs international anti-organ trafficking convention
Italy signs international anti-organ trafficking convention
Strasbourg, March 25 – Italy on Wednesday was one of 14 nations to ratify an international convention against organ trafficking.
The Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs – the first ever international treaty to combat this crime – was opened for signature at an international conference organised by the Council of Europe and the Spanish government in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.Trafficking in human organs is a serious threat to public health and is often linked to transnational organised crime, according to the Council of Europe. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that some 10,000 black market transplants are carried out every year.
The other signatories so far are Albania, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Moldavia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the UK.”This is the first binding treaty criminalizing all activities linked to the illegal trade in human organs,” said Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland. Among other things, the convention punishes the trafficking and trade in organs as well as anyone who publicizes organs for sale and hospital staffers who look the other way when examining patients with organ transplants of dubious provenance.
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