Transplant Tourism: An International and National Law Model to Prohibit Travelling Abroad for Illegal Organ Transplants

• Author / Creator

  Adido, Terry, O

• Transplant tourism, a term used to describe travelling for transplantation if it involves practices such as organ commercialization, organ trafficking and the neglect of the transplant needs of individuals in the destination/transplant State, is currently a global concern. Accounting for about 10% of all transplants globally, the negative effects of transplant tourism as evidenced in the lives of persons and societies all over the world have been well documented. Surprisingly, transplant tourism is currently not directly prohibited by international law and prohibited in only 5 States. Most of the international law instruments which presently have transplant tourism as their sole focus are unenforceable soft law instruments such as resolutions of the World Health Assembly and the Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism. In an effort to address the harm brought about by transplant tourism and the dearth of laws for the prohibition of the practices in international and national legal systems, this dissertation, by carrying out extensive and inter-disciplinary research, explores the role that international and national laws must play in the prohibition and eradication of transplant tourism and proposes a legal model for the prohibition of transplant tourism. Through the examination of international law norms, principles and instruments; laws and policies from several legal systems; and legal frameworks and models which currently prohibit a number of national, transnational and international offences, this dissertation has developed a three-stage legal model which can be used to prohibit transplant tourism practices. They are: (1) the development of a comprehensive soft law instrument on transplant tourism which would influence future binding national and international law instruments for the prohibition of transplant tourism; (2) the creation of a treaty on transplant tourism under the auspices of the United Nations, preferably, as an additional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and (3) the creation of unified national transplant tourism laws with extraterritorial application in accordance with the principles and spirit of the international law instruments. This dissertation also explores the important roles that Transnational Advocacy Networks and the current epistemic community focusing on transplant tourism play in the move towards the global prohibition of transplant tourism.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Transplant Tourism
  • Organ Trafficking
  • Organ Transplant

• Graduation date

  Fall 2017

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3NC5SV5K

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.