By Leonie Friedrich
Yesterday, the WHO officially started with 45 delegates the debates of EuroMUN 2018. All delegates already prepared themselves to discuss the topics Organ Trafficking and Anti-biotics Resistance in the next few days. After long discussions and votings regarding the order and the importance of the to be tackled topics, Organ Trafficking was finally decided to be first.
During the conference, all delegates of the WHO will keep the main target of the organization in mind: The highest possible level of health worldwide!
Before the actual negotiations and discussions can start, the first general speaker’s list was opened by the chairs and every delegate had the chance to introduce the position of his or her country. Obviously, no one in the room is pro Organ Trafficking, however, there are different opinions and various focuses of the issue at hand. While some countries stressed more the consequences and the dealing with Organ Trafficking, other focused rather on the reasoning behind the problem. Since the lack of safety and an adequate aftercare for donators concerns many countries, they call for the establishment of specialty hospitals. Furthermore, it was reminded that the donation of organs should be only on a voluntary basis rather than motivated by poverty. In certain countries, poverty is such a great problem that some people feel obliged to sell their bodies as they don’t see any other way to feed their families. Other positions underlined different religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds which are linked to various perceptions on how to treat human bodies. The possibility to transfer organs is the major achievement in human history, yet, it brought immense problems at the same time: Black markets are forcing more and more people to commit crime.
It is now the responsibility of the WHO to establish common standards and a suitable control system which is feasible for every country. Human bodies don’t have price tags and your background mustn’t decide your fate. Taken to its extreme, there is a much higher demand than supply, also due to an aging population. It is urgent to raise more awareness of the issue!
Since the different countries already presented their different views on the issue, interesting debates and negotiations with different main focuses are to expect. The WHO is already on the right way to find a suitable framework to tackle the problem of Organ Trafficking.
