Vertical Markets

Kidnap map

by Mark Rowe

Asia has the highest concentration of kidnappings incidents, according to risk consultants NYA International’s Global Threat Map 2017.

In Asia, the majority of recorded kidnappings targeted domestic nationals in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines. However foreign nationals remain priority targets for Islamist extremist groups operating in the region, including Abu Sayyaf, who alongside their affiliates espouse an Islamist ideology but are in the main financially motivated to acquire ransom payments to fund their continued conflict with the Philippine government. For similar reasons and despite the lower concentration of incidents, the threat to foreign nationals remains severe in areas of the Middle East including Libya, Syria and Iraq. Islamist extremist groups – most notably Islamic State – continue to target foreign nationals who are perceived as holding high financial and propaganda value.

Such assessments of countries or areas of interest are displayed in the Global Threat Map 2017 in a digestible format, and the map considers threats including crime, kidnapping, extortion, political and civil unrest, ethnic and sectarian violence, terrorism, and insurgency. The map is also combined with data and threat ratings for maritime piracy, which has seen a continued shift in concentration of incidents from East Africa to Southeast Asia and West Africa.

In the Gulf of Guinea, NYA suggests pirate groups are transitioning from targeting tankers for oil theft to targeting a wider variation of vessel types to kidnap crew members for ransom. This is partly a result of depreciated oil prices incidentally suppressing the black market for stolen oil, and has seen more than 100 crew members and passengers kidnapped in 2016.

Both printed and digital versions of the Global Threat Map 2017 are available free to businesses via the NYA International website.

About NYA

NYA International is a risk and crisis management consultancy, and has experience of advising on around 80 to 100 crisis incidents each year. The firm also offers one-day workshops on pre-incident planning and response. Visit nyainternational.com. See dates and locations for Kidnap for Ransom and Extortion, Piracy and Kidnap and Crisis Management workshops.

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