When Military Coup and Civil War Make Livelihood Difficult
Posting Organ Sale Ads on SNS
Recently, organ trafficking through social networking services (SNS) has been rampant in Myanmar. It has been identified that impoverished people, struggling to make a living amid the ongoing military coup and civil war, are selling their own organs.
On the 31st of last month (local time), the US-based CNN reported, "In recent years, online posts offering to sell organs have increased in Myanmar." During a year-long investigation, CNN discovered three Facebook groups where people involved in buying and selling organs gathered. They also contacted more than 20 individuals involved in illegal organ trafficking, including sellers, buyers, and brokers.
"26 years old, blood type O. Please DM me."
April (a pseudonym), 26 years old this year, posted an 'advertisement' on Facebook in February offering to sell her kidney. She had moved to Yangon, a major city in Myanmar, at the age of 18 and worked in a garment factory. When a family member was diagnosed with cancer, she could not afford the accumulating medical expenses. One day, she happened to find a Facebook group where people were selling kidneys. April immediately posted, "I want to donate a kidney. I am 26 years old and my blood type is O. I don't drink alcohol. I need money for my aunt who has cancer. Please DM me."
Mawng Mawng (a pseudonym), a delivery worker living in Mandalay, also posted on Facebook that he was selling his kidney. In 2022, he was detained and tortured for several weeks by the military regime on suspicion of delivering goods for rebel forces. After being released, he lost his job and ended up penniless and in debt. In desperate circumstances, Mawng finally decided to sell his kidney. Mawng told CNN, "The moment I posted about selling my organ, I felt life was too harsh."
People selling organs in Myanmar usually travel to India to undergo organ transplant surgery once a deal is made through brokers. According to Indian law, organ donation is only allowed between relatives, except for a few exceptions; all other cases are illegal. Because of this, brokers forge family-related documents with the help of lawyers and notaries, disguising organ sellers as relatives such as spouses, sons-in-law, or daughters-in-law of the transplant recipients. Mawng, who sold his kidney to a wealthy Chinese-Myanmar individual, took fake family photos with the recipient’s family to forge documents.
In Mawng’s case, a Chinese-Myanmar businessman offered to buy his kidney for 10 million kyats (approximately 4.12 million KRW), and through a broker, Mawng was disguised as the businessman’s fake son-in-law. In August last year, his kidney was removed at a hospital in New Delhi, India. He said, "I expect to live only 15 to 20 more years at most," but added, "If I hadn’t done that (organ trafficking), my life would have fallen into chaos. Before the surgery, my wife and daughter had nothing to eat. Our family would probably have died or gone insane." He said he does not regret his decision.
Meanwhile, since the military coup, Myanmar’s per capita income is $1,200 (about 1.6 million KRW), ranking among the lowest in the world. According to the 'Myanmar Economic Monitor Report' published by the World Bank in June, Myanmar’s poverty rate exceeded 32% as of early this year, meaning one in three citizens lives in poverty. The World Bank stated, "Myanmar’s economy continues to face severe challenges, and due to conflict, macroeconomic instability, and turmoil, production is limited, so growth is expected to remain minimal." Mariam Sherman, the World Bank’s country director for Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, said, "The economic outlook remains very bleak, and there will be little recovery for Myanmar households in the short and medium term."
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