Human Security Centre Human Rights and International Security Research

Early marriage disproportionally affects girls in greater number and with more intensity than boys. UNICEF estimates that in 2013, 730 million girls were married before the age of 18 while only 156 million boys were married before reaching adulthood[ii]. Therefore, this article will mainly focus on female victims of child marriage.

In the past month, two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and one British aid worker, David Haines, were beheaded by the Islamic State (IS), bringing to the public fore the question of kidnapping for ransom (KFR). Terror-related KFR is a worrying, growing and increasingly violent trend that raises a difficult dilemma to governments: should states, businesses and families comply with terrorist groups in order to save the lives of the kidnapped, or should these men be left behind in order to fight against terrorism? What remains certain is that the payment of ransom will continue to help financially and ideologically sustain terror groups.