Hostage diplomacy is a term used to describe the practice of detention of foreign citizens by States for diplomatic end. It often involves arbitrary arrest, torture, and ill treatment of those held hostage. In this episode of The REDRESS Podcast we discuss how States use hostage diplomacy for political leverage and its growing prevalence of use by authoritarian regimes in international negotiations, as well as why States should be obliged to use consular protection to shield their nationals from torture abroad. We also hear from Richard Ratcliffe, husband of British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, on why he believes that Nazanin's current arbitrary detention by the Iranian government is attributable to hostage diplomacy. As well as Richard we are joined by Yonah Diamond, Legal Counsel at the Montréal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, and Chris Esdaile, Legal Advisor at REDRESS.
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REDRESS is grateful to Sarah Khan, who presented and produced this podcast.