hostage
From: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
|
Date: 2008
hostage person held by another as a guarantee that certain actions or promises will or will not be carried out. During periods of internal turmoil, insurgents often seize hostages; recent examples include seizures of Americans and other foreigners by militants in Iran (1979-81) and Lebanon (1980s). Military forces often take hostages among civilians in an occupied country, in order to ensure the delivery of requisitions, to discourage hostile acts, or to take reprisals for hostile acts committed by unknown persons. In World War II, thousands of hostages were executed throughout Europe by the German authorities in an attempt to crush resistance movements. The Geneva Convention of 1949 forbade entirely the taking of civilian hostages. Criminals, especially when confronted by police, sometimes take hostages as "human shields" or as bargaining assets. In 1998 it was revealed that Israel was holding Lebanese hostages solely for use in prisoner exchanges or other deals with Lebanese guerrillas; their detainment was condoned by Israel's supreme court.
Ancient military custom regulated the behavior and treatment of hostages; originally a hostage was a person who had been delivered by one authority to another as a token of good faith, and was generally treated as an honored guest. However, he might be imprisoned or even executed if the agreement guaranteed by his person was broken. The code of honor was often very strictly observed in feudal times; thus, during the Hundred Years War, when the hostages sent to England in exchange for the release of John II of France escaped, King John felt bound to return to captivity in England. Until the 18th cent., hostages were often exchanged when treaties were concluded.
Author not available, HOSTAGE.,
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press
For permission to reuse this article, contact Copyright Clearance Center.
Related articles from HighBeam Research:
|
Developing an action plan to resolve hostage situations.
Corrections Today; 8/1/1993; Smith, Albert G.; 3333 words;
... noted in the first variation. 4. Multiple hostages/multiple hostage-takers. This variation is clearly the most dangerous for the hostages. Hostages are expendable without giving up bargaining ... bickering and different agendas among the hostage-takers can cause problems for the ...
|
|
An FBI Hostage Negotiator Tells His Story
NPR Talk of the Nation; 9/7/2006; NEAL CONAN; 4495 words;
... just have a few seconds left - but the first hostage negotiating situation you had was in Rochester ... situation where a man and his son and two hostages. And in the course of all of this, the hostages - the hostage-takers got distracted, the hostages walked away. In fact one of the ...
|
|
Hostage deaths blamed on gas
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; 10/28/2002; SUSAN B. GLASSER AND PETER BAKER; 1032 words;
... authorities would not let them see the freed hostages. Several of the former captives reported ... that none of the 75 foreigners among the hostages had been killed, embassies on Sunday revealed ... manager at the musical who was among the hostages, said the gas made many people vomit and ... t consider it the ...
|
|
Hopes Grow for Hostages as Briton Is Freed; Remaining Captives Reportedly Healthy
The Washington Post; 8/9/1991; Stuart Auerbach 2; 1620 words;
British hostage John McCarthy, released early today in Beirut ... Westerners still known to be in captivity. In a news conference in Damascus, Syria, where he was ... he saw two of the six remaining American hostages - Terry Anderson and Thomas Sutherland - as well as British hostage Terry Waite and they ...
|
|
Hostage death toll increases as gas appears to be culprit
Daily Breeze; 10/28/2002; Michael Wines; 662 words;
Hostage death toll increases as gas appears to be culprit MOSCOW -- The number of hostages who died during a raid on a Moscow theater ... mounting number of dead, from among more than 750 hostages, cast a shadow over a pre-dawn raid that authorities ... almost completely unprepared to treat the hostages ...
|
|
"I Had Left One America and Come Home to Another One": First-Person Accounts of Captivity During the Iranian Hostage Crisis
The Journal of American Culture; 3/1/2004; Scott, Catherine; 11406 words;
... retrospective on the Iranian hostage crisis, reporter John Kifner ... child is kidnapped" (101). As the hostage crisis progressed, both the press ... portrayed the United States as held hostage. Writers for Newsweek explained that the hostages were received as heroes upon ... prominent than in the ...
|
|
DISARMING PEOPLE WITH WORDS: STRATEGIES OF INTERACTIONAL COMMUNICATION THAT CRISIS (HOSTAGE) NEGOTIATORS SHARE WITH SYSTEMIC CLINICIANS
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy; 1/1/2007; Charlés, Laurie L; 9451 words;
... other people in the hostage taker's life in the hostage negotiation interaction. This strategy is equivalent ... middle of the negotiation, Paul reassures the hostage taker that no one is there to shoot him. Then, in a nonsequitur, Paul asks the hostage taker: "Who is Nathan?" It is the first ...
|
&type=1 "Pretoria News (South Africa)")
|
Inside the mind of a hostage taker.(News)
Pretoria News (South Africa); 4/28/2007; 494 words;
... gain and he demands a ransom. In expressive hostage taking, the offender generally feels that ... drastic action and gaining media attention, hostage takers believed they could become important ... political or personal, she said. She said hostage takers were dangerous because their behaviour ... factors, she ...
|
|
America's self-image was held hostage, too
Chicago Sun-Times; 12/5/1991; Paul Taylor; 730 words;
Modern hostage-taking didn't begin when an Iranian mob seized ... come to terms with its first military defeat; hostage-taking was a natural symbol of national impotence ... disintegration of its major geopolitical adversary; the hostage releases serve as a symbol of renewed preeminence ... what mischief unfolded ...
|
|
|
Ex-Hostage Rests, Awaits U.N. Chief; Britain, Praising U.N. Actions, Calls In Israeli Ambassador for Talks
The Washington Post; 8/10/1991; Stuart Auerbach; 1033 words;
... on the way to seeing the solution of the hostage problem - the release of all hostages," the official said. The kidnapping Thursday ... relief worker, brings the number of Western hostages held in Lebanon back to 12. For a brief ... after McCarthy was freed, the number of hostages was reduced to 11 - ...
|
|
|
Focus on victims: helping hostages and their families through critical incident response. (In Complete Control: Correctional Security)
Corrections Today; 7/1/1994; Fagan, Thomas J.; 2599 words;
Much has been written about managing prison hostage situations, covering issues such as how to ... particularly the staff and inmates who are taken hostage and their family members. This article offers ... have to deal with the victims of a prison hostage situation or develop institutional policy ... families ...
|
|
|
Irish Hostage Released By Lebanese Captors;Teacher Handed Over to Syrian Officials
The Washington Post; 8/25/1990; Rodeina Kenaan; 683 words;
... Nahar. "We have decided to release Irish hostage Brian Keenan," it said. "This was done at ... Islamic Dawn was just the second it has made on hostages. On April 30, it said it was freeing U.S. hostage Frank Reed. The Malden, Mass.-born educator was released that day. Hostage Robert Polhill of New ...
|
&type=2 "The Economist (US)")
|
The hostage bazaar is open. (negotiating for hostages) (editorial)
The Economist (US); 8/12/1989; 730 words;
The hostage bazaar is open Western governments do ... Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid for the western hostages and Israeli prisoners held in Lebanon ... proposition was much admired when the hostage question was in abeyance. It has become ...
|
|
Chirac's hostage dilemma. (Jacques Chirac, French hostages in Lebanon)
The Nation; 11/29/1986; Timmerman, Kenneth R.; 2727 words;
Chirac's Hostage Dilemma We Don't negotiate with kidnappers ... over the recent release of two French hostages in Lebanon to the cowardly relief the ... and we will continue until all our hostages have been released. Are the French negotiating ...
|
|
Saying hello to a new era? The 'decade of the hostage' may be ending as Mideast political arrangements begin to shift. (includes related information on other hostages, and on various terrorist organizations)
U.S. News & World Report; 8/19/1991; Budiansky, Stephen Lief, Louise; 2278 words;
... Secretary of State James Baker raised the hostage issue with Assad on at least two occasions ... can claim some credit for springing the hostages, it could help his bargaining position when ... sides could lead to the release of more hostages in drabs over the coming months. Grand deals ... about to negotiate ...
|
See all results from premium newspaper and magazine articles, images, maps and more at HighBeam Research.
Related articles from newspapers, magazines and other sources:
|
|