This is a House of Commons Committee report, with recommendations to government. The Government has two months to respond.
The FCDO’s approach to state level hostage situations
Date Published: 4 April 2023
This is the report summary, read the full report.
State hostage taking, also known as Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations, is not only a humanitarian outrage, but an attempt to undermine the Rules-Based International Order (RBIO). As a country committed to protecting the RBIO and to standing up for the rule of law and the protection of human rights, it is incumbent on the Government to hold other states to their commitments—particularly in respect to UK nationals. Hostage taking represents both a growing threat to UK nationals and a significant challenge to Government in terms of how it coordinates an effective response in individual cases, adequately supports hostages and their families, and works with allies both to resolve individual cases and strengthen deterrence.
We recommend that the Government take bold and prompt steps to clarify criteria for deciding whether a UK national being held by a foreign state is considered arbitrarily detained and at risk of being used in hostage diplomacy. We were concerned to hear directly from the families involved about the way in which the FCDO liaised with them on efforts to secure the release of loved ones. There are lessons to be learnt from previous cases and from the experiences of other countries. We call for the establishment of a position of Director for Arbitrary and Complex Detentions (DACD) in order to deliver consistency, improved partnerships with families, better coordination across Whitehall, and greater authority and flexibility in managing the Government’s approach.
In addition, we recommend a number of detailed measures to improve both engagement with families and Parliament’s ability to scrutinise the Government’s approach to arbitrary detentions.