Holding businesses to ransom

Tess Baker, NYA International

Kidnapping flourishes in environments where there is widespread poverty and polar disparity of wealth, active criminal and/or terrorist groups, high levels of corruption and ineffective law enforcement. On the list of highest-risk locations are Afghanistan, Iraq, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Venezuela. Others in the high-risk category include Algeria, the Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Guatemala, the Philippines and Yemen, although this is by no means an exhaustive list.