The world can’t ignore the accusations that China has forcibly harvested organs

Brexit has had many effects – party disunity, family tensions, uncertainty, reputational damage, a weakened Prime Minister and a potential constitutional crisis. But one of its most significant casualties has been the attention of parliament, government and the media to the wider world and the challenges it faces.

Last week, however, there was an exception to that. After hours of Brexit debates and votes, MPs found time to discuss one the most egregious and shocking, yet underreported crimes against humanity of our time: forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China. In her speech, the chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, Fiona Bruce, described the practice as ‘potentially nothing less than a 21^st century genocide.’

For years a handful of researchers have been knocking on the doors of parliamentarians and policy-makers accusing the Chinese regime of the widespread forcible removal of human organs from prisoners of conscience. China is home to a huge and lucrative market in the trade of organs, with transplant tourists travelling to the country from around the world.