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Hostage‑taking by rogue states is on the rise. New research provides fresh ways to tackle it

The Conversation · · 966 words · By Kylie Moore-Gilbert
State-sponsored hostage-taking International Law and Human Rights Geopolitical Instability

The author discusses the rise of state-sponsored hostage-taking and promotes a special edition of the Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism. The text proposes several policy solutions, including expanded legal frameworks, stronger government coordination, and improved recovery care for victims.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/hostage-taking-by-rogue-states-is-on-the-rise-new-re…

analyticsAnalysis

30%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 90%
Minor concerns. Some persuasive language detected, but largely factual.

psychologyDetected Techniques

warning
Loaded Language 90% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
warning
Name Calling / Labeling 80% confidence
Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.
warning
Oversimplification 70% confidence
Reducing a complex issue to a simplistic framing that distorts understanding.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

9 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 5
help Insufficient Evidence 2
check_circle Corroborated 2
info
“hostage-taking has become a lucrative bargaining chip in the hands of countries like Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and Venezuela.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific phrasing and list of countries appear in one web search result. While other results discuss cooperation between these countries, they do not specifically confirm the claim that hostage-taking is used as a 'lucrative bargaining chip' by all these specific nations.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Once primarily the domain of non-state actors, including terror groups, drug cartels and armed gangs, hostage-taking has become a lucrative bargaining chip in the hands of countries like Iran, Russia,…
https://www.nationaltribune.com.au/hostagetaking-by-rogue-st…
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web search NEUTRAL — China wants reforms of the world order, but what Russia, Iran and North Korea seek more resembles an outright revolution. Russia moreover now sees its relationship with Europe as almost entirely adver…
https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/10/cooperation-b…
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web search NEUTRAL — And it starts, they write, with Russia's war in Ukraine. An Invasion and a Convergence "Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a critical catalyst for cooperation among Russia, China, Ira…
https://nationalsecurityjournal.org/meet-the-axis-of-upheava…
info
“A new, special edition of the the Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (which I guest edited) highlights some possible policy solutions.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided web results are for the New England Journal of Medicine and unrelated medical/mathematical topics; there is no evidence regarding the 'Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism'.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research and review articles, and editorial opinion on a wide variety of topics of ...
https://www.nejm.org/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Explore the current issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (Vol. 394 No. 17).
https://www.nejm.org/toc/nejm/current
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 18, 2026 · An 87-year-old man presented with difficulty breathing after having inhaled thick smoke from a forest fire for several hours. Respiratory failure developed. On flexible bronchoscopy, bl…
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2518379
info
“UN torture rapporteur Alice Edwards argues this would help open avenues for victims seeking justice.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of mathematics forum posts and is completely irrelevant to Alice Edwards or UN torture rapporteurs.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Prove that that $U(n)$, which is the set of all numbers relatively prime to $n$ that are greater than or equal to one or less than or equal to $n-1$ is an Abelian ...
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/276644/prove-that-t…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 4, 2012 · A remark: regardless of whether it is true that an infinite union or intersection of open sets is open, when you have a property that holds for every finite collection of sets (in this c…
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/153902/un-countable…
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · Mathematics Stack Exchange is a platform for asking and answering questions on mathematics at all levels.
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions
help
“Legal academic Carla Ferstman suggests governments should look to existing models in the US and Canada and consider passing legislation to allow victims of state-sponsored terrorism to sue hostage-taking states in their domestic courts.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for Carla Ferstman's proposal.
info
“These positions exist now in the US and Canada.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided web results are about Reddit forums and United Airlines flights, which are irrelevant to government offices coordinating hostage responses.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — For the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales) and Northern Ireland; News, Politics, Economics, Society, Business, Culture, discussion and anything else UK related.
https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/wiki/index.mobile/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jul 14, 2023 · Question This is what nerdwallet tells me: “If you paid for your ticket with United MileagePlus miles, you can cancel your flight online or by calling customer service. As of Jan. 1, 20…
https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedairlines/comments/14z8p23/can…
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web search NEUTRAL — United won't cancel the flight and return the luggage. So, any passenger with a checked bag is completely stuck. Any passenger who may actually want a refund for this nonsense is also stuck. They are …
https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedairlines/
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“This step was also proposed in a 2024 Australian Senate inquiry into the wrongful detention of Australian citizens overseas.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources confirm the 2024 Australian Senate inquiry into the wrongful detention of citizens overseas and the associated proposals/reports.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — This step was also proposed in a 2024 Australian Senate inquiry into the wrongful detention of Australian citizens overseas. The government has yet to respond to the inquiry. 3) Innovative models for …
https://theconversation.com/hostage-taking-by-rogue-states-i…
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web search NEUTRAL — A global human rights organisation says Australia currently lacks a system to identify cases of wrongful detention of its citizens. During a Senate inquiry hearing on Sept. 26, Human Rights Watch (HRW…
https://anr.news/state-of-affairs/australias-system-failing-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Disappointing Response to Australian Parliamentary Enquiry into Wrongful Detention. In the early hours of November 29, the Australian Senate’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee quietly publ…
https://hostageaid.org/disappointing-response-to-australian-…
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“strengthening the Declaration on Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations (launched by Canada and now supported by more than 80 nations)”
CORROBORATED
The claim is confirmed by multiple sources: a general research article, a joint statement, and the official Canada.ca government website, confirming Canada launched the declaration and it has wide support.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — strengthening the Declaration on Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations (launched by Canada and now supported by more than 80 nations). imposing multilateral sanctions and other tools of econ…
https://theconversation.com/hostage-taking-by-rogue-states-i…
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web search NEUTRAL — The Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State relations was launched in Ottawa, Canada, on February 15, 2021, with the aim of enhancing international cooperation to end this practice.
https://www.norway.no/en/missions/osce/norway-and-the-osce/s…
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web search NEUTRAL — Arbitrary detention for leverage in state-to-state relations transcends geographic boundaries. Through constructive dialogue, shared learning and collective problem solving of common challenges and re…
https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2023/09/ministe…
info
“in an innovative study on Israeli public opinion in the wake of the mass hostage-taking by Hamas and other armed groups on October 7, 2023, our contributors found that feelings of connectedness to hostage families had an impact on how the public perceived hostage deal-making.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific finding regarding 'feelings of connectedness to hostage families' is only mentioned in one source. Other sources confirm the October 7 attacks occurred but do not mention this specific study's findings.
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web search NEUTRAL — For instance, in an innovative study on Israeli public opinion in the wake of the mass hostage-taking by Hamas and other armed groups on October 7, 2023, our contributors found that feelings of connec…
https://theconversation.com/hostage-taking-by-rogue-states-i…
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web search NEUTRAL — Hamas’s incursion into Israel on October 7 transformed the politics of the Middle East. Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has carried out a forensic a...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0atzea-mPY
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web search NEUTRAL — However, the combined use of facial recognition tools and social media exploitation can yield verifiable identity data. This report identifies three murderers from the October 7 attacks.
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/05/01/using-facial-recogni…
help
“Other research shows Russia escalated its strategy of taking US citizens hostage as the relationship between the two countries deteriorated, particularly following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for this specific research claim.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.