China will limit Transplant organs from executed Chinese prisoners.

Picture: Pakistan Organ Trade.

China will limit Transplant organs from executed Chinese prisoners.(HS).High demand for organs in China and a chronic shortage of donations mean that death row inmates have been a key source for years, generating heated controversy. International human rights groups have long accused Chinese authorities of harvesting organs from executed prisoners without their consent or that of their families - allegations the government has denied. 
"Chinese organ transplants will completely end their reliance on donations from executed prisoners within two years," said Huang Jiefu, the vice health minister, according to the state-run China News Service. Beijing has made similar pledges before, but Huang's comments represented the shortest timetable it has offered. It was not clear whether he was referring to ending the practice in its entirety. The country was setting up a voluntary donation system, he said, with more than 1,000 organs collected since the first of 38 centres opened two years ago. China banned trading in human organs in 2007, but demand for transplants far exceeds supply in the country of 1.3 billion people. An estimated 1.5 million patients need transplants every year but only around 10,000 are carried out, according to official statistics, opening the door to forced donations and the illegal sale of organs. China executed around 4,000 prisoners last year, a 50 percent drop since 2007, according to US-based advocacy group the Duihua foundation. Huang's remarks followed an earlier statement by a senior health ministry researcher that China will start phasing out the use of executed prisoners as a source of organs for transplants next year. Under Chinese laws adopted in 2011, criminals convicted of forced organ removal, forced organ donation or organ removal from juveniles could face homicide charges, Xinhua said.Read the full story here.

 Related - 2011: China to launch nationwide crackdown on illegal organ transplants

Europe 'Candidate' Turkey and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 240 years prison sentence asked for seven children.

Europe 'Candidate' Turkey and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 240 years prison sentence asked for seven children.(Firat).240 years prison sentence is asked for seven children in Mersin who are accused of “membership of an illegal organization” and “making propaganda for an illegal organization”. Facebook sharings, mobese (mobile electronic system integration) footages, secret witness statements and joining the May Day are the evidences the prosecutor put forward as accusation against the minors.
Hardly a day passes without detention and arrest of Kurdish children in Mersin as the ruling AKP government holds the record of political arrests against children for crimes in connection with terrorism. Including Pozantı victim children who have been released recently from the Sincan Prison in Ankara, many children are subjected to severe punishments on the grounds of committing a crime linked to a terror organization. The most recent prosecution targeted seven children who were taken into custody in May, accused of “opposing the law on meetings and demonstrations”, “holding explosive substances”, “violation of freedom of labour” and “damaging public property”. Public Prosecutor Ünsal Demirci asked a total of 240 years prison sentence and continuation of detention for seven children who have been tried without any concrete evidences. The accusation by Public Prosecutor Ünsal Demirci was accepted by Mersin 2nd Court for Juveniles which also refused the release demand for children, ruling the first trial of the case to be held on 8 July. Human Rights Association (IHD) Central Executive Board member lawyer Eyüp Sabri Öncel reacted against the severe sentence asked for children and underlined that accused children should be tried without arrest in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.Hmmmm....Are Kurdish children not human, don't they suffer and bleed like our children?Read the full 'story' here.