Title: 'When Organs Fail: Migration, Trafficking and the Organ Trade in Egypt'

Abstract: Due to their precarious status, migrants have become a major source of organ supplies. The link between migrant populations and organ sales is exacerbated by the current political climate across the Middle-East and North Africa. Meanwhile, growing inequality between health systems has led to an increase in patients travelling overseas to purchase organs. The prevailing law enforcement response does not capture or respond to this empirical reality. Conversely, crime and immigration controls have produced an anomic environment fostering a subculture of organ sales amongst migrant populations in particular. A narrow emphasis on criminality overlooks important intersections of agency, culture, identity and politics, diverting critical attention away from the environments and circumstances that predispose people towards organ sale. Moreover, criminal measures do nothing to offset demand for illegal transplants. Drawing on the experience(s) of undocumented migrants in Cairo, my research into the organ trade brings together over four years of fieldwork in Egypt (2014-2018) charting the development of the organ trade from an informal economic activity into a more structured criminal network. The key contribution and aim(s) of this study is to identify the factors (social, legal, cultural, economic, and political) that compel individuals to consider and/or arrange the sale of organs; to map the different networks that constitute and overlap with the organ trade; and to assess the implications of current legal and policy measures.