When States Take Hostages: Responding to Iran and Other Perpetrators

October 24, 2024 • 12:00 – 4:00 pm EDT
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Hostage taking is not a new phenomenon. For more than 70 years, violent kidnapping and holding civilians for ransom has been a paradigmatic tactic of non-state actors like Al Qaeda. But the problem is rapidly changing. In the place of terrorist groups, states—particularly adversary states like Iran, Russia, China, Syria, and Venezuela—are now responsible for 90 percent of new American hostage taking cases. The problem is also getting worse. The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation estimates a 175 percent increase in the number of Americans taken hostage by foreign governments over the past decade. Increasingly, hostage taking is emerging as an asymmetric tactic of interstate conflict, but existing structures of international law make it hard for democratic countries to deter the practice. And the fundamental vicious cycle endures: engaging with adversaries and making deals to bring citizens home incentivizes further hostage taking.  On Thursday, October 24, Stanford’s Program in International and Comparative Law, Stanford’s Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies, and CSIS hosted "When States Take Hostages: Responding to Iran and Other Perpetrators," which investigated the legal and policy challenges associated with the rise of state hostage taking.


Panel 1: State Perspectives on Iranian Hostage Taking

Iran has historically used hostage taking as a strategic tool and as a source of revenue. This approach presents significant challenges for Western states, as payments or the return of frozen assets can incentivize further hostage taking and potentially fund harmful activities. For example, despite U.S. assurances that funds from a 2023 prisoner swap cannot support terrorism, Iranian leaders have implied they will use such resources as needed. This panel delves into the policy implications of hostage taking, comparing U.S., European, and Iranian perspectives while exploring legal innovations to influence political and policy calculations.

 

Panelists:

 

  • Jon B. Alterman, Center for Strategic and International Studies
  • Dani Gilbert, Northwestern University
  • Tara Denham, Global Affairs Canada
  • Abbas Milani, Stanford University
  • Abram Paley, U.S. Department of State

Panel 2: Hostage Taking and International Law: New Thinking

This panel examines the international law dimensions of hostage taking and discusses challenges to holding states legally accountable. The discussion will explore novel strategies to overcome the accountability gap, including through litigation in U.S. federal courts (and potentially the domestic courts of other states) and through international institutions. Both offer a unique set of advantages, drawbacks, and challenges, and each are rapidly changing as legal scholars and practitioners push their respective boundaries. Legal innovation may provide new opportunities to establish meaningful deterrence against Iran and other would-be state hostage takers, with substantial implications for foreign policy dynamics.

 

Panelists:

 

  • Daniel Sharp, Stanford Law School; CSIS
  • David Bowker, WilmerHale
  • John Bellinger III, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, LLP
  • Chimène Keitner, University of California Davis School of Law

This event is made possible through general support to CSIS.

Contact Information

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Jon Alterman
Senior Vice President, Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy, and Director, Middle East Program
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Daniel Sharp
Adjunct Fellow (Non-resident), Middle East Program

Dani Gilbert

Commissioner, CSIS Commission on Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention