Hostage Taking with Rachel Briggs OBE

Money is not the only reason somebody can be taken hostage. It's important to know the other motives for how and why targets are selected. Today's guest is Rachel Briggs. Rachel has spent the last two decades as a writer, analyst, and strategist working with corporations, governments, and international NGOs developing security. She was the first director of Hostage International and the founding executive director of Hostage US. Rachel co-chairs the European commission's group that is working on tackling online extremism. The report she wrote, "The Business of Resilience," has become the blueprint for corporate security management. Show Notes:

• [1:03] - Rachel shares her background and how a personal experience of a family member being taken hostage impacted her future.
• [2:50] - One type of hostage situation is political hostage taking.
• [3:49] - Economical hostage cases are what happens most often.
• [4:30] - Hostage diplomacy is a third type that creates negotiation pressure.
• [5:19] - Latin America is more of a hotspot for kidnapping and Rachel points out Colombia and Mexico as predominant locations.
• [6:26] - Political kidnapping is most common in Middle Eastern and African countries.
• [7:24] - Common targets are those who are the ones who run towards danger such as journalists.
• [8:50] - Rachel describes another type of target that applied to her family member who was taken in the 90s.
• [11:27] - People on vacation being picked up as a hostage are not as common, but it isn't unheard of.
• [13:01] - The experience of being held against your will is never a pleasant experience, but the way you are treated varies.
• [15:00] - Hostage takers operate as a business in some situations.
• [18:07] - The statistics of hostage taking are very underreported.
• [20:33] - These crimes prey on the desperation to get a person home.
• [22:21] - Stopping the payment of ransoms is not the answer to stopping kidnappings.
• [24:05] - There are many different ways to make an exchange of money for ransom.
• [25:33] - It is rare and dangerous, but sometimes a hostage escapes their situation or is rescued by military operations.
• [27:21] - There are resources that list dangerous locations.
• [28:45] - Insurance for kidnapping and hostage is available.
• [30:59] - After the events in Syria in 2014, groups have been created to provide this insurance to freelance journalists.
• [32:33] - Every situation is different, but Rachel describes the commonalities in how families cope.
• [35:37] - There are issues that families experience that we don't think about being a problem.
• [37:42] - There are now strategies being implemented in large corporations.
• [39:18] - What is virtual kidnapping?
• [42:27] - The psychological impact can be long lasting and significant.
• [43:22] - While underreported, kidnapping and hostage taking are more common than we think.

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