To urgently address the growing problems of transplant tourism and organ donor trafficking in the face of the global shortage of organs for transplantation, a Steering Committee convened in Dubai in December 2007 by the Transplant Society and the International Society of Nephrology, took over the preparatory work for the meeting. The draft of the declaration of said committee was released and revised in accordance with the comments made by more than 150 representatives summoned to this meeting. The Istanbul Declaration was carried out from April 30 to May 2, 2008; represents the consensus of the participants, who were selected according to the following considerations: country ties with the Transplant Society, which represents practically all countries with transplant programs, representatives of international societies and the Vatican, people with management positions in nephrology and transplantation, participants in the field of public policy on organ transplantation, ethicists, anthropologists, sociologists and specialists in legal issues, renowned for their publications on the policy and practice of transplantation. Organ trafficking is the obtaining, transport, transfer, concealment or reception of living or deceased persons or their organs through threat, use of force or other forms of coercion, kidnapping, fraud, deception or abuse of power or vulnerable position ; or the delivery or receipt of payments or benefits by a third party to obtain the transfer of control over the potential donor, aimed at exploitation through the extraction of organs for transplantation.