Damián Zaitch

Cross-border quest: the reality and legality of transplant tourism.

Background. Transplant tourism is a phenomenon where patients travel abroad to purchase organs for transplants. This paper presents the results of a fieldwork study by describing the experiences of Dutch transplant professionals confronted by patients who allegedly purchased kidney transplants abroad. Second, it addresses the legal definition and prohibition of transplant tourism under national and international law. The final part addresses the legal implications of transplant tourism for patients and physicians. Methods. The study involved seventeen interviews among transplant physicians, transplant coordinators and policy-experts and a review of national and international legislation that prohibit transplant tourism. Results. All Dutch transplant centers are confronted with patients who undergo transplants abroad. The estimated total number is four per year. Transplant tourism is not explicitly defined under national and international law. While the purchase of organs is almost universally prohibited, transplant tourism is hardly punishable because national laws generally do not apply to crimes committed abroad. Moreover, the purchase of organs (abroad) is almost impossible to prove. Conclusions. Transplant tourism is a legally complex phenomenon that warrants closer research and dialogue. The legal rights and obligations of patients and physicians confronted with transplant tourism should be clarified.

Organized crime and ethnic reputation manipulation

Criminologists often use culture andethnicity to explain crime. In thistradition, organized crime is presentedwith an exotic flavor and the list oftransnational criminal organizations readslike an inventory of ethnic minorities andforeign groups. But the relation betweenethnicity and organized crime isproblematic to say the least. In the courseof our research on several groups active inthe Netherlands (Turkish and Kurdish heroindealers, Yugoslav and Russian-speaking mafiosi, Colombian cocaine dealers andNigerian prostitutes), we have learned toreverse the assumed causal relationship.Ethnic reputation manipulation is essentialto committing crime. This article arguesthat criminal groups and individualsexploit and construct ethnicity in variousways as they engage in criminal activities.Either concealing or emphasizing specificethnic reputations, they are able toaddress any number of audiences (insiders,outsiders, the law).

The Ambiguity of Violence, Secrecy, and Trust among Colombian Drug Entrepreneurs

Drug entrepreneurs are frequently portrayed as being violent, secretive, and only willing to work with trusted “equals.” However, these images often contrast with the social reality of drug dealing and dealers, which is more mundane, consensual, and public than imagined. Moreover, Colombian drug traffickers are either pushed to perform in accordance with such perceptions or simply to exploit their violent or secretive reputations. In addition to the actual use of violence, secrecy, and trust, drug entrepreneurs often use these resources strategically as a form of manipulation to either defend themselves, to gain power, or to construct their social or ethnic identities. While these resources serve as essential tools for business performance, they also constitute obstacles for success. The time is past for guns and killings and massacres. We have to be cunning like the business people, theres more money in it and its better for our children and grandchildren. Mario Puzo, The Godfather

From Cali to Rotterdam: Perceptions of Colombian cocaine traffickers on the Dutch port

This article explores thesubjective perceptions of Colombiantraffickers on the port of Rotterdam. Iidentify those factors that, from theirperspective, make Rotterdam (and theNetherlands) a low-risk area for cocaineimport into Europe. It is argued here thatwhile economic factors and human resourceshave a central impact on their keydecisions, law enforcement risks tend to besecondary or to vary very much regardingactor and type of intervention. The articleis based on my recently completedethnographic (PhD) research on Colombiansinvolved in the cocaine business in theNetherlands, and on my current research oncocaine smuggling through the port ofRotterdam.

The battle for human organs: organ trafficking and transplant tourism in a global context

While the trade in human organs remains largely in the darkness as it is hardly reported, detected or scientifically researched, a range of key institutional stakeholders, professionals, policy-makers and scholars involved in this field show remarkable high levels of moral condemnation and share a rather unanimous prohibitionist line. Some have equated this phenomenon to genocide or talk about ‘neo-cannibalism’, others present it as dominated by mafias and rogue traders. However, organ trafficking takes very different shapes, each one with their own ethical dilemmas. Simplistic formulaic responses purely based in more criminalisation should be critically evaluated. Based on a qualitative study conducted on the demand for kidneys (transplant tourism) in and from the Netherlands, we present in this article some of the main empirical results and discuss their implications. But before doing that, this contribution briefly describes the global patterns of contemporary organ trade and the way the problem has been framed and constructed by international policy bodies, professional (transplant) organisations and some scholars.

The Flesh is Weak, the Spirit Even Weaker Clients and Trafficked Women in the Netherlands

Almost all existing studies and knowledge in the Netherlands on women trafficking for prostitution focus on the nature and extent of the “supply” side (criminal organizations and networks, transnational routes, recruitment techniques, exploitation forms, etc.), centre upon the life and situation of the women (regarded as victims, migrants, prostitutes or criminals) or are concerned with policy issues and interventions on women trade and prostitution.

Recent Trends in Cocaine Trafficking in the Netherlands and Spain

For the last 15 years, the small country of the Netherlands has played a major role as an entry point of South American cocaine destined for the European Union; in this respect it is only surpassed by Spain. There are obvious reasons for this: the Netherlands has huge transit seaports (Rotterdam and Amsterdam) and a major airport (Schiphol) bringing goods and people from South and Central America, excolonies in the vicinity of production regions, an excellent infrastructure efficiently connecting it to other EU countries, large migration enclaves from both production and destination countries, and the tacit agreement from local law enforcement agencies that the ‘business’ should only be disturbed if it produces visible crime, violence, conspicuous consumption, or if it damages the interests of legal enterprises. In short, this type of illegal business is well embedded in the legal flow of goods, services and people (Zaitch 2002a, 2002b). Although the business has shown a remarkable stability over the years, it has also reacted to law enforcement developments (especially in Latin America) and to some geographical displacement and reorganisation of both supply and demand of cocaine.