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Combating The Kidney Commerce: Civil Society against Organ Trafficking in Pakistan and Israel

NCJ Number
244982
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 53 Issue: 5 Dated: September 2013 Pages: 764-783
Author(s)
Asif Efrat
Date Published
September 2013
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This article discusses organ trafficking.
Abstract
Can civil society bring governments to curb transnational crime? The article answers this question by analyzing a most-likely case for civil-society influence: organ trafficking. Physicians' efforts to eliminate this practice are examined in Pakistan and Israel: two major participants in the global organ trade. In both countries, the physicians' pressure resulted in the enactment of organ-trade prohibitions. These, however, were not fully enforced. The analysis suggests that, even under favorable conditions, civil society's impact on transnational-crime policies is limited, yet not inconsequential: Pakistan's involvement in organ trafficking, and even more so Israel's, has declined. Beyond its contribution to understanding civil society's role in the criminalization process, the article sheds light on the hitherto little-studied politics of the organ trade. (Published Abstract)