A/HRC/24/47 annual global income derived from kidnapping for ransom is in excess of $500 million.29 In the Philippines, for example, between 1993 and 1996, $11 million in ransom was paid for the release of more than 600 hostages, generally seized by one of two groups, the New Peoples’ Army or the Moro National Liberation Front. 30 The number of recorded cases of kidnapping for ransom peaked at 113 in 1998, then declined to 50 in 1999 and increased again to 99 in 2001.31 20. Similarly, sources quoting Algerian officials estimate that, in North Africa, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb earned between 50 million and 150 million euros from 2003 to 2011 mostly through payment of ransoms for kidnapped foreigners. 32 In this particular case it was claimed that, in eight separate kidnappings from 2008 to April 2010, more than €18 million ($25 million) was paid in cash to Al-Qaida intermediaries to free citizens from a number of rich countries.33 As a consequence, it was claimed that Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb was being financed almost entirely with ransom money from Western countries, which were ready to pay Al-Qaida up to €5 million ($7 million) to free a single citizen from captivity.34 21. In 2003, the Government of Colombia reported to the United Nations that some 14,068 cases of kidnapping had been recorded in the country since 1996.35 Other figures suggest that, between 1991 and 1999, two Colombian guerrilla groups, namely, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army, earned some $ 1.5 billion through kidnapping for ransom. 36 Overall, it is estimated that kidnapping for ransom in Colombia nets groups an average of $ 220 million a year. 37 Data for 2006 suggest that there were between 200 and 265 kidnappings for ransom, 111 of which were attributable to FARC. 38 In Chechnya, hostage-taking developed into an important component that partly funded the struggle for independence from the Russian Federation.39 It has been documented that some 1,094 civilians were kidnapped between January 1997 and August 1999 and, on average, a ransom of $5,000 to $145,000 per person was paid for their liberation. 40 In Iraq, more than 250 foreigners (or 425, depending on figures) were kidnapped and 40 of them killed between March 2003 and March 2006, while some 5000 Iraqis were kidnapped between December 2003 and 2005. 41 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 8 Everard Phillips, “The Business of Kidnap for Ransom”, in David Canter (ed.), The Faces of Terrorism: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Chichester/Malden, Wiley Blackwell, 2009), p. 193. John Griffiths, Hostage: The History, Facts & Reasoning behind Hostage Taking (London, Carton Publishing Group, 2003), p. 22. E/CN.15/2003/7, para. 13. See Ricardo R. Larémont, “Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: Terrorism and Counterterrorism in the Sahel”, African Security vol. 4, No. 4, 2011, p. 253, and Vivienne Walt, “Terrorist Hostage Situations: Rescue or Ransom?”, Time, 12 October 2010, available from www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2024420,00.html. Walt, ibid. The United States of America and Great Britain are listed as having held to their policy of non-negotiation with terrorists, whereas other States might have either paid or facilitated the payment of ransom. Ibid. E/CN.15/2003/7, para. 23. Phillips, “The Business of Kidnap for Ransom” (see footnote 29), p. 197. Ibid., p.192. Ibid., pp. 191–192. Ibid., p. 201. Irina Mukhina, “Islamic Terrorism and the Question of National Liberation, or Problems of Contemporary Chechen Terrorism”, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, vol. 28, No. 6, 2005, p. 530. Yun, “Implications of Global Terrorist Hostage-taking and Kidnapping” (see footnote 27), p. 141. See also M. Clendenin, “’No Concessions’ With No Teeth: How Kidnap and Ransom Insurers and