WASHINGTON: The White House announced a major policy change on Wednesday, declaring that families of American hostages seeking to negotiate with or pay ransom to the abductors will not be threatened with criminal prosecution.

The White House will also create an office to work with the families of the hostages. US President Barack Obama ordered a review of the policy following the murder in 2014 of kidnapped US freelance journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

“There has been concern expressed by families of hostages about potential prosecutions of family members under the statute prohibiting the provision of material support to designated foreign terrorist organisations,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest while explaining the new policy.

“The United States Department of Justice does not intend to add to families’ pain in such cases by suggesting that they could face criminal prosecution,” said the official statement.

“Journalists working in high-risk environments are particularly vulnerable to kidnapping, and so they have a direct stake in these discussions,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists while welcoming the decision.

“For too long, American journalists have been doubly victimised-first by the kidnapping itself and then by the poorly coordinated US response to the tragic incidents,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

Over the years there has been a significant shift in hostage-takings by terrorist organisations and criminal groups. Instead of engaging in prolonged negotiations, they have started murdering the hostages. They also release videos of these particularly brutal acts — such as burning a prisoner alive or decapitating him — to bring pressure on the their families and governments.

Other less publicised cases of Ameri­cans held hostage overseas, including several who remain in captivity, are no less tragic and have presented the US government with a similar set of difficult choices.

“The government’s handling of these hostage cases – and in particular its interaction and communication with families whose loved ones have been taken hostage – must improve,” said the White House while explaining the need for a new policy.

The Presidential Policy Directive 29 on US tionals Taken Hostage Abroad and Personnel Recovery Efforts — emphasizes continual collaboration between the government and families in the safe recovery of their loved ones.

It requires the US Government to demonstrate to families with its actions that “the safe recovery of their loved ones is the government’s top priority in these cases”.

To complement these efforts, the US Department of Justice has issued a request for proposals for a grant that would provide initial funding for non-governmental organisations seeking to provide support services specifically tailored to the needs of hostage families.

The new policy recognises that there may be valuable sources of information outside the US government related to a hostage case and affirms that the government may work with private entities to locate and recover American hostages, including entities that may assist in gathering or establishing sources of information.

But the new directive, however, reaffirms the longstanding US policy of making no concessions to individuals or groups holding US nationals hostage.

For the first time, the new policy makes clear that “no concessions” to hostage-takers does not mean “no communication”. Now the US government may itself communicate with hostage-takers, their intermediaries, interested governments, and local communities to attempt to secure the safe recovery of the hostage.

The US government may also assist private efforts to communicate with hostage-takers to secure the safe recovery of a hostage, whether directly or through public or private intermediaries.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2015

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