wrongful detention

A wrongfully detained person is someone held by a government or state actor, often on questionable legal grounds, without the clear intention of using them as leverage to force another party to act.{{cite web |author= |date= |title=HOSTAGE & WRONGFUL DETAINEE CRITERIA |url=https://jamesfoleyfoundation.org/hostage-advocacy/hostage-wrongful-detainee-criteria/#gsc.tab=0 |publisher=James W. Foley Legacy Foundation |access-date=}} A hostage is typically someone seized and held against their will to pressure a third party into taking specific actions.{{Cite book |title=Black's Law Dictionary |publisher=West Group |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-314-61300-4 |edition=10th Deluxe}}{{cite web |author= |date=2022-01-01 |title=The Conversation of Wrongful Detainment |url=https://hostageus.org/hostage-us-article-the-conversation-of-wrongful-detainment/#:~:text=Within%20the%20world%20of%20kidnapping,and%20a%20sensitivity%20to%20diplomacy. |publisher=Hostage US |access-date=2025-02-02}}

False imprisonment refers to a situation where someone is held by a government authority without legal justification, often in a government controlled setting like a police station or prison.{{cite web|title=False Imprisonment |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/false_imprisonment |website=Wex |publisher=Cornell Law School|access-date=6 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107004420/https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/false_imprisonment|archive-date=2017-11-07|url-status=live}} Wrongful detention is a broader legal term encompassing any unlawful restraint of a person's movement where the detainer is a government entity acting without proper authority.

Arbitrarily depriving an individual of their liberty is prohibited under international human rights law. Article 9 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights decrees that "no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile",{{cite web |title=Universal Declaration of Human Rights |publisher=United Nations | url =https://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html |date=1998-12-01 | access-date =2007-09-30| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070929113731/http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html| archive-date= 29 September 2007 | url-status= dead }} that is, no individual, regardless of circumstances, is to be deprived of their liberty without having first committed an actual criminal offense against a legal statute, and a government cannot deprive an individual of their liberty without proper due process of law. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights specifies the protection from arbitrary detention by the Article 9.International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 9

In 2024, a senate inquiry and report into the wrongful detention of Australian citizens overseas was tabled in parliament.{{cite web |author= |date=2024-11-28 |title=Report on the wrongful detention of Australian citizens overseas |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/WrongfulDetention47/Report |website=Parliament of Australia |access-date=2025-02-02}} The report recommended the adoption of a clear definition of wrongful detention, the passage of legislation to enable the government to respond to wrongful detentions, and the establishment of a Special Envoy for Wrongfully Detained Australians.{{cite news |last=Doherty |first=Ben |date=2024-11-30 |title=Australians abroad at growing risk of being detained and ‘used as pawns’ by rogue nations, inquiry warns |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/30/australians-abroad-at-growing-risk-of-being-detained-and-used-as-pawns-by-rogue-nations-inquiry-warns |publisher=Guardian News & Media |access-date=2025-02-02}}{{Cite web |title=A complex balancing act: Australia’s response to wrongful detention |url=https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/a-complex-balancing-act-australias-response-to-wrongful-detention/ |last=Coyne |first=John |date=2024-10-15 |last2=Bassi |first2=Justin |publisher=Australian Strategic Policy Institute}}

In November 2023, the designation of Senior Official for Hostage Affairs (SOHA) was established in order to lead Global Affairs Canada’s response to incidents of hostage-taking and wrongful detention of Canadian citizens abroad.{{cite web |date=2024-05-16 |title=Amplifying the Voice of Canadian Hostages and their Families |url=https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/stories-histoires/2024/canadian_hostages_familie-otages_canadiens_familles.aspx |website=Global Affairs Canada |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=2025-02-02}} The SOHA designation enables Canada to be more actively involved with officials with similar mandates in other governments.{{Cite AV media |title=Hostage Diplomacy as an International Security Threat: Strengthening our Collective Action, Deterrence and Response |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/hostage-diplomacy-international-security-threat-strengthening-our-collective-action |date=2024-02-13 |type=Video |publisher=The Wilson Center for Scholars |place=Washington D.C.}}

{{see also|List of Americans wrongfully imprisoned or detained abroad}}

American NGOs and nonprofit groups advocate for US citizens and other persons who are wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, including the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation,{{cite web |author= |date= |title=About the Foley Foundation |url=https://jamesfoleyfoundation.org/about-us/ |publisher=James W Foley Legacy Foundation |access-date=2025-02-02}} Bring Our Families Home, and Hostage US.

In response to the disappearance of Robert Levinson, in 2014 president Barack Obama ordered a review of the US policy on hostage taking.{{cite news |last1=Dwyer |first1=Devin |last2=Martinez |first2=Luis |date=2014-11-18 |title=President Obama Orders Full Review of Hostage Negotiation Policy |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-orders-full-review-hostage-negotiation-policy/story?id=26982455 |publisher=ABC News |access-date=2025-02-02}} Following the conclusion of this review in 2015, he issued Executive Order 13698 (EO 13698){{cite act |title = Executive Order 13698 Hostage Recovery Activities |type = Executive Order |date = 2015-06-24 |institution= President of the United States of America |url = https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/06/29/2015-16122/hostage-recovery-activities |access-date = 2025-02-02

}} and Presidential Policy Directive 30 (PPD-30).{{cite act | title = Presidential Policy Directive/PPD30 Hostage Recovery Activities | type = Presidential Policy Directive | date = 2015-06-24 |institution= President of the United States | url = https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/06/24/presidential-policy-directive-hostage-recovery-activities | access-date = 2025-02-02}} These actions established the SPEHA, HRFC, and the Hostage Response Group (HRG). These groups were tasked with coordinating the secure release of US nationals who are being wrongfully detained or held hostage, support victim's families, and promote US national security interests.

The Levinson Act was then introduced in 2019, and passed into law in 2020 as 22 U.S.C. § 1741.{{cite act | title = 22 U.S. Code § 1741 - Assistance for United States nationals unlawfully or wrongfully detained abroad | type = U.S. Code | date = 2020-12-27 |institution= United States Congress | at = Washington D.C. | url = https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/1741 | access-date = 2025-02-02}} The Act establishes a framework for determining what constitutes being “unlawfully or wrongfully detained”, codifies the establishment of the SPEHA, HRFC and the HRG, and creates the possibility of targeted sanctions for persons or foreign governments which have been found to wrongfully detain U.S. citizens or participate in hostage-taking.

File:US Hostages Wrongful Detainee Flag.jpg

U.S. Hostages and Wrongful Detainees Day is a federal holiday created in 2023 with the passage of the US Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day Act.{{cite act |title=S.769 - U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day Act of 2023 |type=Law |date=2023-03-09 |institution=United States Congress |location=Washington DC |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/769 |access-date=2025-02-02}}{{cite web |author=Joseph R. Biden |date=2024-03-08 |title=Proclamation 10709 U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day, 2024 |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/03/13/2024-05441/us-hostage-and-wrongful-detainee-day-2024#:~:text=I%20will%20not%20stop%20these,Hostage%20and%20Wrongful%20Detainee%20Day.” |website=Federal Register |publisher=Executive Office of the President |access-date=2025-02-02}} The holiday is observed on March 9th of every year. In addition to the designation of the federal holiday, the Act also designates and makes official the federally recognized flag of US Hostages and Wrongful Detainees.{{cite act |title=36 U.S.C. § 904. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag |date=2023 | type = United States Code |institution=United States Congress |location=Washington DC |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title36/pdf/USCODE-2023-title36-subtitleI-partA-chap9-sec902.pdf |access-date=2025-02-02}} The flag was originally designed for the Bring Our Families Home campaign by University of Oregon professor David Ewald, in collaboration with family members of US hostages and wrongful detainees in the early 2020's.{{cite web |last=Fowler |first=Sophie |date=2024-03-18 |title=Ad students learn the power of advocacy advertising |url=https://journalism.uoregon.edu/news/hostage-flag-advocacy-advertising |website=School of Journalism and Communication |publisher=University of Oregon |access-date=2025-02-02}} The first US Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day was held on March 9, 2024 and marked with a flag raising ceremony on March 8, 2024 on the steps of the State Department headquarters in Washington D.C.{{cite news |last=Hansler |first=Jennifer |date=2024-03-09 |title=Families remember their loved ones on first ever Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/09/politics/hostage-and-wrongful-detainee-day/index.html |location=Washington DC |publisher=CNN |access-date=2025-02-02}}

{{Portal|Politics|Law}}

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• Hostage diplomacy
• False imprisonment
• Travel ban
• Arbitrary arrest
• Detention (confinement)
• Migration diplomacy
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Fourth Geneva Convention

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