It can be improved in the future
Foley Legacy Fund: US efforts to recover hostages held abroad good
Obama adopted the hostage reform in 2015. Archive
James Foley was kidnapped and killed by ISIS in Syria in 2014. Archive
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The United States has improved its coordination of efforts to release American hostages and its communication with their families, but more action is needed, according to a report published yesterday.
The report was prepared by the James W. Foley Legacy Fund, named after the American journalist who was kidnapped and killed by ISIS in Syria in August 2014.
"The goal of this report is to monitor the challenges faced by hostages, unjustly detainees, and their families, and to provide recommendations on how to improve government policies to support these Americans," said Diane Foley, mother of James Foley and founder of the fund.
She considered that the reforms adopted by former President Barack Obama in 2015, and the approval by Congress in 2020 of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Accountability Act, represent significant steps towards this goal.
The law bears the name of Robert Levinson, a former US FBI agent who lost track in Iran in 2007 and is believed to have died.
Researcher Cynthia Lorcher, who prepared the Foley Legacy Fund report, predicts that hostage-taking will continue to be a tactic around the world.
"The unique ability of hostage-taking to put pressure on democratic governments will ensure that it remains a tool used by our adversaries, whether they are experienced competitors before us, non-state actors or somewhere in between," Lucert said.
"Thus, developing effective policies and institutions dedicated to resolving these issues creatively is of paramount importance," she added.
The report said that the US government's communication with the families of Americans held hostage, by terrorist organizations, or unjustly detained, or illegally held by foreign governments, is generally effective.
But he said there was a need for "significant improvements" in several areas, including making hostages a priority and "continued leadership within the US government's hostage recovery project."
Since 2015, the US government has established an interagency hostage recovery cell and a special presidential envoy for the State Department for Hostage Affairs.
The report said that "the expedited lifting of confidentiality and the exchange of information on the hostage issues with the families is necessary to bring the hostages home."
He added that "more support is needed to obtain evidence of the lives of the hostages and detainees, recover their remains, ensure accountability, and prevent any future hostage-taking."
Returning hostages or detainees also requires more "physical and mental health support", as well as help with debts and the inability to pay taxes and other bills while in detention.
The Foley Fund report was based on interviews with 42 people, including former hostages, family members and current or former US government or military officials.
• The US government's communication with families of Americans held hostage, by terrorist organizations, or held unjustly or unlawfully by foreign governments, is generally effective.
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