ABSTRACT
Terrorism is the “unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence against individuals or property in an attempt to coerce or intimidate governments or societies to achieve political, religious or ideological objectives.” This chapter begins by discussing KFR and its use by a number of high-profile terrorist organisations to fund and sustain their illegal and murderous organisations. It then turns to discussing ransom negotiations and payments, including the different policies countries have towards paying ransoms, some of the ethical and practical issues relating to paying or refusing to pay ransoms to terrorists, and some of the international community's efforts to encourage countries to abide by a universal ransom ban. The overarching goal of terrorist groups is to obtain hostages who will prove “valuable” to the group – hostages who will garner greater ransom payments or for whom governments may be willing to exchange prisoners.
