Supervisors info:
Εμμανουήλ Βελονάκης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Νοσηλευτικής, ΕΚΠΑ
Αθηνά Καλοκαιρινού, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Νοσηλευτικής, ΕΚΠΑ
Θεόδωρος Κατσούλας, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Νοσηλευτικής, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Introduction: What is terrorism? A political act designed to make a point through fear, that may take place during peace, war and conflicts alike. A mode of communication that is an ancient tactic, it is actually violence of a specific type, as we are confronted with asymmetrical warfare. A hostage incident is a terrorist act, and the hostage finds himself in custody, against his will, blind concerning the will of his captors, as well as the progress of the hostage incident. Dark situations, which must be solved with no loss of life from the hostage group, in a short period of time. During that time, the special units that are responsible for the situation, must collect information, negotiate with the terrorists, understand motives and psychological ups and downs. They must take difficult decisions, resort to dangerous operations, in order to safely free the captives and arrest the perpetrators. Hostage taking means threat to human life and deprivation of freedom of the individual. Core values that are protected by national law and international organizations. This is the main reason why they constitute the best tool in the hands of terrorists towards the attainment of their goals.
Aim: Aim of the thesis is the examination of hostage incident management. Hostage incidents that are perpetrated by terrorists in order to attain their aims and make their cause known to the general public. The aforementioned examination will lead to the analysis of the cases, and the evaluation of the crisis management methods used. Their common characteristics maybe valuable, their differences are lessons to be learned.
Material and methods: Reference material was researched in electronic libraries such as that of the Hellenic National Defence College, the University of Plymouth, the Naval Postgraduate School of Monterey, the Joint Special Operations University in Florida, USA. Google Scholar was also used, as well as data bases and platforms of national and international organisations and agencies, such as FBI, CIA, INTERPOL, the European Counter Terrorism Centre. The web search was completed between May 5th and November 15th 2020. The number of articles that came up amounted to 381, out of which 101 were used in the present thesis.
Results: The research conducted for the dissertation led to the realisation that what is needed foremost is the creation of a central agency in charge of crises management, under the auspices of the Prime Minister, incorporated in the National Security Council of the country. The agency will be made up of services and forces from all departments that need to collaborate towards the effective management of crises, such as those perpetrated by terrorist organisations that involve hostage taking. The institutionalization of such an agency, must take into account the separate and clear roles of all parties.
Conclusions: A hostage taking incident constitutes an extremely difficult crisis. The management of such a crisis requires perfect organisation, rich experience and deep knowledge. Prevention though of such incidents, is the best choice. The state has the major role in combating terrorism, especially when it comes to managing hostage incidents. Political will is the foundation upon which the peaceful confrontation of such an event will be build, with negotiations and gentle approach. Political will though, is of extreme necessity when the development of the incident is adverse, and there is only one way out which is a dynamic intervention with the use of force. The conduct of an antiterrorist operation by forces specially trained for hostage incidents is the most appropriate mode of action, when the terrorists do not show any signs of cooperation and the hostage incident is being driven towards a dead end.
Keywords:
Hostage, Hostage incident, Terrorism, Terrorist act, Negotiation, Crisis management
