State Department Warns Americans of High Kidnapping Risk in 35 Countries
Kidnappings have been on the rise in several countries. Reasons for kidnappings usually involve some kind of ransom demand. Just days ago for example, came the release of a California woman who had been held for a week after being kidnapped by gunmen in a national park in Uganda.
So now, for the first time, the U.S. State Department is noting that risk and adding a new indicator, “K,” to denote countries or areas with heightened risk of being kidnapped or held hostage.
The State Department will use a new indicator to flag the risk of kidnapping in high-threat countries in an effort to reduce incidents overseas. The new indicator has been already assigned to 35 countries across the globe with Mexico, Colombia, Ukraine, Phillippines, Turkey and Russia making the list.
Travel advisories are issued for every country around the world, offering standardized levels of advice based on established risk indicators such as crime, terrorism, civil unrest, natural disasters, health, and other potential risks.
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Countries With High Risk of Kidnappings
Here’s all the 35 countries making the initial list:
- Afghanistan
- Mexico
- Phillippines
- Colombia
- Lebanon
- Mali
- Burkina Faso
- Libya
- Haiti
- Central African Republic
- Iraq
- Iran
- Nigeria
- Niger
- Pakistan (Balochistan province and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, including the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)
- Turkey (areas near the Syria and Iraq borders)
- South Sudan
- Democratic Republic of the Congo (North Kivu and Ituri provinces)
- Sudan
- Syria
- Cameroon (North, Far North, Northwest and Southwest regions, and parts of East and Adamawa regions)
- Somalia
- Venezuela
- Papua New Guinea
- Kenya
- Ukraine (eastern parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts)
- Uganda
- Ethiopia (Somali Regional State)
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Bangladesh (Southeast Bangladesh, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts)
- Russia (the north Caucasus, including Chechnya and Mount Elbrus)
- Yemen
- Algeria (areas near the eastern and southern borders and areas in the Sahara Desert)
- Malaysia (eastern area of Sabah State)
- Angola (urban areas)
You can check out an interactive map here.
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What a ridiculous list. The chance of being kidnapped in Venezuela or Afghanistan is about 10x higher than Angola, which in turn is 10x higher than Medico or Columbia.
U.S. didn’t make the list.