A bipartisan group of Commissioners from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) has issued a letter urging the State Department to employ existing rewards programs in order to gather information that will "deter and disrupt the market for illegally procured organs…and hold accountable those responsible for the gruesome practice" of forced organ harvesting in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). CECC Chair Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ) was joined by CECC Ranking Member Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Representatives Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), Michelle Steel (R-CA), Zach Nunn (R-IA) and Ryan Zinke (R-MT).

The State Department's rewards programs, which seek actionable information on atrocities and transnational crime, could be used to obtain details on individuals involved in "crimes against humanity" and "severe forms of human trafficking in persons." The Independent People’s Tribunal into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China has concluded that the estimated $1 billion organ trafficking industry in the PRC "harvests organs from executed prisoners and political prisoners at an industrial scale," actions that constitute "crimes against humanity."

In their letter, the Commissioners argue that expanded efforts to disrupt forced organ harvesting networks "will be critical in ending this horrific practice [in China] and promoting, long term, the establishment of a truly voluntary organ donation system. With effective enforcement mechanisms, we can work towards ensuring organs are procured safely and ethically."

This initiative arose from a recent CECC hearing titled “Stopping the Crime of Organ Harvesting—What More Must be Done,” during which Commissioners heard testimony regarding illegal organ procurement in the PRC, U.S. corporations' complicity in transplant abuse, as well as how medical associations, journals, and U.S. state legislatures are grappling with legal, ethical, and human rights issues associated with organ harvesting.