The Logistics of a Hidden Crime: Socio-Legal Insights from Operation Manoa
Research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council explores the organisation structure and activities of various criminal groups involved in the illicit organ trade.
By analysing case files and investigative reports from Operation Manoa—the first criminal investigation into organ trafficking in the UK—alongside existing transnational data, Dr Seán Columb seeks to develop a set of indicators and a broader typology of organ trading networks, in the UK and overseas.
The research will provide insights on the crime commission process, the business models of key criminal actors, and the profiles of both victims and offenders. Recommendations will be made to assist police and medical authorities in identifying suspicious cases early on. The project will run July 2024 - July 2025.
This research supports the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The project supports SDG 1 by identifying strategies to alleviate poverty; aligns with SDG 3 through its focus on improving health outcomes; and contributes to SDG 8 by promoting sustainable economic growth and decent work. It also advances SDG 10 by addressing inequality; upholds SDG 16 by reinforcing the importance of justice and strong institutions; and fosters SDG 17 by building collaborative partnerships to achieve these goals.
Gatekeeping asylum: The convergence of people smuggling and the illicit organ removal along the Central Mediterranean route
Increasingly organ sale is being presented as a gateway to asylum, which has resulted in a need for further examination, and explanation, of global responses to crime and immigration.
Providing a conceptual reflection on how law generates violence, this research, funded by the Leverhulme Trust (UK), is set to provide much needed further insight into how crime and immigration controls shape the illicit trade developed around migrant populations.
Drawing on the experiences of African migrants in Egypt, Sudan, Italy, and the United Kingdom, Dr Seán Columb will explore how migrant detainability and deportability have stimulated criminal synergies and produced new ways to commodify migrant bodies, including for the purposes of organ removal. The project will run January 2024 – December 2025.
Criminal synergies: People smuggling and the organ trade in North Africa
In response to what was referred to as the ‘refugee crisis’, the European Union provided funding to Egypt and Sudan to prevent irregular migration and people smuggling from North Africa into Europe. This approach to migration management has unfortunately resulted in increased violence against migrant populations who are routinely subjected to random arrests, confinement, and deportation.
Research funded by the British Academy (UK) and the Leverhulme Trust (UK) (2021 - 2024) explored migrant routes into and out of North Africa and its extra-legal service industry in a bid to increase awareness of the structural inequalities and policy decisions that make people vulnerable to exploitation in illicit markets.
It was found that a series of drawn-out conflicts in the region and the ongoing humanitarian crisis had pushed people to the brink. In most cases, people’s precarious status as asylum seekers, refugees, or undocumented migrants made them targets of criminal groups.
At the borders of conflict zones, selling an organ has become a currency of last resort for people seeking refuge. Organ trafficking was found to be an option to raise money and seek help.
However, most were not paid what they were promised, and some were paid nothing. Doubly criminalised, as illegal migrants and organ sellers, they were in no position to negotiate a price, or to ensure they got paid the agreed amount. Because of their precarious legal status, they were also less likely to report abuse to the authorities.
Researcher, Dr Seán Columb, investigated how the trade in organs were organised, and how brokers rationalised what they were doing. Sharing the experiences of organ trafficking from the perspective of the organ brokers and their victims, the findings of this research were published in a harrowing account by The Guardian.
Trading life: Organ trafficking, illicit networks, and exploitation
Drawing on the experiences of African migrants, 'Trading Life: Organ Trafficking, Illicit Networks, and Exploitation' brings together five years of fieldwork (2014 - 2019) which maps the development of the organ trade from an informal economic activity into a structured criminal network operating within and between Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, and Europe. Ground-level analysis provides new insight into the operation of organ trading networks and the impact of current legal and policy measures in response to the organ trade.
This research informed ‘Exposing the Illegal Organ Trade’, a BBC Panorama documentary on which Dr Seán Columb was a Consultant, and articles published by The Guardian - ‘Organ Trafficking in Egypt: They locked me in and took my kidney’ and ‘Selling a kidney to reach Europe’ - which vividly tell the stories of these people that have unfortunately been coerced into selling organs.
For media enquiries, including interviews and insights on these topics, please contact: columb@liverpool.ac.uk.
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