What should I include in the last entry for 2008? In a previous posting, I summarised some of the trends of the year and thus don’t need to re-hash the major developments. You likely know them already. So let me end the year on a heart-warming note. One year ago today, the Colombian government revealed that it had found a little boy who appeared to match the description of a child born in captivity to hostage Clara Rojas. A few days later, DNA tests proved them correct. Within a few weeks, gorgeous little Emmanuel was reunited with his mother, and in 2008, ex-hostage Clara Rojas spent her first Mother’s Day in freedom. You can catch a glimpse of the occasion in the video below. Here’s to a 2009 filled with other happy reunions.
A four-year-old girl kidnapped by suspected Abu Sayyaf Group members on Sunday was freed today following alleged pressure put on the group by government troops. December has been a busy month for hostage activity in the Philippines, with four suspected kidnappers killed in a shoot-out with police last week, while a student held hostage for two months was released just before Christmas.
In a thought-provoking piece for the Philippines Human Rights Reporting website – a project of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting –Alan Davis argues that the government must take humane action to end kidnapping crises and, moreover, to stop being the perpetrator of such acts.
Rally for the disappeared in Davao/Photo from Philippines Human Rights Reporting project
The Helsinki Group was quoted in Al-Jazeera last week as saying that the security situation in the Caucasian province of Ingushetia has improved over the past year. Complaints about kidnappings and killings registered with the group numbered 42 in 2007, but dropped to six in 2008, according to the head of the human rights watchdog.
However, this rosy view may not be entirely accurate. Another article states that a new human rights council set up in Ingushetia this month has already received 150 complaints in its first few days of operation. The majority of the petitions were about hostage-taking and killings.
And in other news from the North Caucasus, the Russian human rights group Memorial reports that hostage-taking continues unabated in the region. In Memorial’s recent publication documenting human rights abuses and counter-terrorism, the group states that there has been a rise in abductions in Chechnya and Dagestan since May 2008. States the report: “In Dagestan cases of abductions and torture of local residents were mainly linked to the work of the Department for Combat of Organized Crime and the Department for Combat of Extremism and Criminal Terrorism of the Dagestan Ministry of Interior. In private conversations the officers of the above-mentioned agencies do not even attempt to conceal that they are resolved to continue ‘fighting terrorism’ using illegal methods and violence as their means.”
Around the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, the loved ones of those held hostage are praying for their safe release. For those who belong to the Christian faith, the season is a difficult period.
The friends and families of five British men kidnapped 18 months ago in Iraq, for example, are appealing to their captors to let them come home for the holidays. The wife of a Scottish captive had this poignant plea: “My son is three so he has not seen his dad since just before his second birthday. He is now three-and-a-half and he has told people his daddy is coming home for Christmas, so that is quite sad.”
Ex-hostage Ingrid Betancourt, who will spend her first Christmas (and birthday) with her family in seven years tomorrow, also sent a holiday message to hostage-takers in her homeland via the radio programme Las Voces del Secuestro. “Seek freedom, make a humanitarian gesture, make this be the last Christmas they spend in captivity,” she said.
In this season of songs regaling peace on earth, let us pray for the swift and safe end to all hostage crises.
The United Nations Security Council yesterday backed a military offensive by Uganda, Sudan and the Congo against Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony. For decades the LRA has kidnapped children and forced them to become child soldiers; Kony has refused to sign a peace accord unless senior LRA rebels are guaranteed amnesty from prosecution for crimes against humanity.
UNHCR reports that the LRA is a fearsome presence in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where the agency is delivering humanitarian relief. In good news, however, UNHCR managed to find five children who escaped abduction by the LRA and reunite them with their families.
FARC rebels have promised to release six more hostages in the coming days, comprised of police, soldiers, former governor Alan Jara and legislator Sigifredo Lopez Tobon. The hostages allegedly will be freed in part because of the work of opposition senator Piedad Córdoba anda group of Colombian intellectuals who have engaged the rebel group in dialog. However, not all is good news – 10 farmers were kidnapped by suspected FARC members Sunday evening in Meta, the region where Jara was formerly governor.
In the past few days, I’ve added a number of new links to the blogroll. Several are non-profits in Colombia that provide assistance to families of hostages in that country. I’ve also added a handy reference guide to the Geneva Conventions, which includes a database searchable by key terms. The blogroll remains a varied collection of resources, with links ranging from tips for handling hostage situations (targeted at journalists and aid workers), to international conventions that proscribe hostage-taking, to organisations that assist victims.
Though I’ve not added them to the blogroll, I want to highlight two other resources I’ve found whilst trolling the web in recent weeks. The citizen editors of Wikipedia have compiled a rather long list of major hostage crises over the past three decades. Over at change.org the Humanitarian Relief blog covers the world of humanitarian aid, and includes frequent references to attacks against aid workers, including kidnapping.
And finally, I’ve taken the last leap and acquired an e-mail account for this blog. You can find me on Google mail (aka gmail) as radiocaptivity. Feel free to drop me a line!
Following mediation with the tribal group holding them hostage, a German woman and her parents who were kidnapped earlier in the week, were freed yesterday.
Meanwhile, Russia plans to send more warships to the Somali coast, and will use force to assist in the release of those ships currently held hostage by pirates in the region. The Russian commandoes will include hostage experts from Spetsgruppa Vympel, formed two decades ago and trained to perform wartime assassinations. In an interesting article in Strategy Page, author Jim Dunnigan predicts the Russian methods may just be the best method for putting an end to piracy in the region.
Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt will appear on a BBC World special this weekend, being interviewed by none other than the BBC reporter/ex-hostage Alan Johnston. The show will begin airing this Saturday, 20 December. Check here for a listing of times.
Felix Batista, a Cuban-American anti-kidnapping expert, was taken hostage in Mexico when he exited a restaurant to make a phone call on Tuesday. Call it terrible irony, or call it yet another tragedy in the unravelling human rights spectrum of the United States’ southern neighbour.
It is said that two people a day are taken hostage in Mexico, and that the country has the highest kidnapping rate per capita of any country on earth. This is likely something Señor Batista knew well, having assisted with the negotiations for the release of more than 100 hostages during his two+ decade career.
But if one of the world’s experts, skilled in how kidnap gangs work, becomes a victim, is there any safety for ordinary citizens?
Posted by radiocaptivity 
Posted by radiocaptivity 
Posted by radiocaptivity 
