PETALING JAYA, June 1 — Claims by the president of the Malaysian Council for Child Welfare, Datuk Dr Raj Karim, of alleged organ harvesting in migrant camps were supported only by survivor testimonies and lacked concrete facts, according to several NGOs.
President of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organisations (MAPIM) Azmi Abdul Hamid said his members heard of such incidents only from the testimony of three rescued migrants.
“We cannot find concrete evidence that such things are going on. It is only hearsay, without actual proof,” he said.
Mapim has several relief groups stationed where the migrants are housed, providing food and medical assistance for almost 3,000 of them.
“The migrants said some were slaughtered to remove their organs,” Azmi said.
“One of the migrants said he witnessed his own brother being killed for his organs.”
Tenaganita director Aegile Fernandez heard of such allegations one-and-a-half years ago from Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants.
According to her, the traffickers would point to a body and signal which organ was to be removed.
“We spoke to a few villagers living near the border and obtained information on organ harvesting,” she said.
Aegile said those who knew were hesitant to come forward for fear of the authorities.
She believed some of the trafficking victims were held exclusively for this purpose.
“Our team spent some days at the sites near Wang Kelian. Even though there were no clear signs of apparent organ harvesting, I suspect it is going on,” she said.
“It is not something that should be written off.”
Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) commissioner James Deva Nayagam said he would need factual evidence in to pass judgment.
“I have not personally come across such incidents and would need facts to comment further,” he said.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representatives were not available for comment.
