Political Influence of local and International NGOs in Domestic
Policymaking Processes: Kidnapping Prevention in Colombia
Sugit S. Arjon (10889906) Supervisor: Eva van Roekel
Second Reader: dr. Robert Jan van der Veen 26th June 2015
Acknowledgment
I would like to thank Eva van Roekel, my supervisor, for her full support, assistance, encouragement, and understanding throughout research and thesis writing period. Besides my supervisor, I would like to express deepest appreciation to my research assistant, Dewi Sekar Sariningrum Heru who helped me in data collection. Deepest gratitude for my participants, representatives of NGOs, without their time, the empirical information presented in this thesis would not have been possible. Last but not least, I believe I would not have been able to complete my thesis without the love and support from my parents. I am also very grateful for friends that I made during my wonderful stay in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam, June 2015 Sugit S. Arjon
List of abbreviations and acronyms
BACRIM BEnd Criminales Emergentes ( The Emerging Criminal Gangs)
CGSB Coordinadora Guerrillera Simon Bolivar (Simón Bolívar Guerrilla Coordinating Board)
CINEP Centro de Investigación Popular (Centre of Research and Popular Education) CNP Foundation Consejo Nacional de Paz (National Peace Council)
COSOC Consejo Comunal de Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil
ELN Ejército de Liberación Nacional (The National Liberation Army) EPL Ejército Popular de Liberación (The Popular Liberation Army)
EU European Union
FARC Fuerzas Aramadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)
GAULA Grupos de Acción Unificada por la Libertad Personal (Unified Action Groups for Personal Liberty)
ICC International Criminal Court ICJ International Court of Justice
ICTJ International Center for Transnational Justice INGOs International Non-Governmental Organisations ISO International Organization for Standardization M19 Movimiento 19 de Abril (19th of April Movement)
MAQL Movimiento Armado Quintin Lame (Quintin Lame Armed Movement)
MOVICE Movimiento Nacional de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado (National Movement of Victims against State Crime)
NPC Consejo Nacional de Paz (National Peace Council) OAS Organization of American States
OEA Organización de los Estados Americanos (Organization of American States) PRT Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores de Colombia (Workers
Revolutionary Party of Colombia)
REDEPAZ Red Nacional de Iniciativas Ciudadanas por la Paz y contra la Guerra (National Network of Peace Initiatives)
RUV Registro Único de Víctimas (Unique Registry of Victims)
UN United Nations
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees USA United States of America
List of figures, tables, and map
Figure 1: Illustration of government and NGOs relations ……….21
Figure 2: Number of kidnappings ……..………....29
Table 1: Number of kidnappings in Colombia from 1990-2002 ………...29
Table 2: Differences between grassroots and advocacy NGOs ………36
Table 3: Categories of NGOs based on their activities ……….38-39 Table 4: Aim, goal, and execution of grassroots and advocacy NGOs ……….39-40 Table 5: NGOs role with samples and techniques ………43
Table 6: List of peace talks between the Colombian Government and guerrilla groups... 52-53 Map 1: Political map of Colombia ……… 60
Table of Contents
Acknowledgment ... 2
List of abbreviations and acronyms ... 3
List of figures, tables, and map ... 5
1. Introduction ... 7
2. Methodology ... 10
2.1. Content analysis ... 10
2.2. Semi-structured interview ... 11
2.3. Criteria for participants ... 13
2.4. Ethical considerations ... 13
2.5. Reflection on data collection... 14
3. Theoretical framework ... 15
3.1. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as catalyst for change ... 16
3.2. The idea of democracy is to participate ... 18
4. Colombia: kidnap capital? ... 26
5. NGOs ability to influence the Government ... 31
6. NGOs’ involvement in Colombian Government strategies to combat kidnapping... 47
6.1. Legal framework ... 47 6.2. Institutions... 49 6.3. Peace talk ... 50 7. Conclusion ... 54 8. Bibliography ... 57 9. Appendices ... 64
9.1. Appendix 1: Presidential remarks ... 64
“The people of Colombia, in the exercise of their sovereign power, represented by their delegates to the National Constituent Assembly, invoking the protection of God, and in order
to strengthen the unity of the nation and ensure to its members life, PEACEFUL
COEXISTENCE, work, JUSTICE, EQUALITY, understanding, FREEDOM, and PEACE
within a legal, DEMOCRATIC, and participatory framework that may guarantee a just political, economic, and social order and committed to promote the integration of the Latin
American community, decree, authorize, and promulgate the following.” (Constitution of Colombia, 1991)
1. Introduction
The preamble of Colombia’s Constitution of 1991 says that the Colombian Government will ensure a peaceful coexistence, justice, equality, freedom, and peace within a democratic structure for the Colombian people. This is a promise from the Colombian Government to its people to protect them from struggles. However, evidence shows that these promises are not being kept. Colombia faces numerous organised crimes today, such as drug trafficking, arms dealing, money laundering, human trafficking, and kidnapping. All of these crimes threaten Colombia’s people, who need the Colombian Government to combat all of the crimes above with appropriate and applicable policies. According to UNHCR in 2008, Colombia is considered a developing nation and a lower middle-income country. This status from UNHCR has triggered and force kidnapping into an industry within the Colombian people. Kidnapping became an industry because the practices growing profits, the revenues earned because majority of the kidnapping cases in Colombia require ransom as they way to make money (PAX Christi, 2001). Why the phenomena kidnapping as an industry happens? One of the main reason is because the expanding activities of guerrilla groups and common criminals. PAX Christi (2001) argue that majority, the victims of kidnapping suffer from psychological trauma and the ransom payment often leads to the bankruptcy. Moreover, McGee (2010) argues that the economic gap between the rich and the poor in Colombia is widening, causing inequality and never-ending civil conflict; this is all started because of human rights crisis with the highest number of kidnappings in the world, which is not an ideal situation for a developing country.
Moreover, the Colombian Government must fight those criminals who make Colombian people insecure in their own country. In a globalised world, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play an important role in combatting and preventing those crimes by delivering
policy recommendations to the Colombian Government. Numerous NGOs in Colombia, both locally and internationally, use public engagement as an approach to facilitate public participation in political decisions, their participations have been essential. The NGOs raised their concerns, arguably because public concern about human rights issues is likely to increase, due to fears of guerrilla attacks. An important question is that of whether or not the involvement and the participation of NGOs were effective in terms of their influence on policymaking. Did the NGOs have an actual impact on the policy outcome in Colombia? If they did then, how did they do it? This thesis aims to answer the research question below:
“How the local and international NGOs exercise their influences on domestic policymaking processes to the Colombian Government to prevent kidnapping?” An analysis and assessment of NGOs’ influences on policymaking is very challenging from an academic point of view because the answer to the question above is genuinely diverse. Therefore, this thesis focusses on the specific case of kidnapping. Kidnapping practices lead into bigger human rights crisis, for example, kidnappings as the new ways of financing the war with guerrilla groups. Thus, it is arguably correct that kidnappings are able to unravel the human right crisis in Colombia. Furthermore, for the analysis of the Colombian Government’s relations with NGOs, this thesis focuses on NGOs that are interested in the policymaking processes of human rights in Colombia, especially the kidnapping issue.
The number, diversity, and political influence of NGOs in Colombia present an opportunity to study public participation. This thesis aims to fill in the gap in the study of NGOs’ political influence. This gap exists because of the fact that there is a limited number of expert scholars who study the political influence of Colombia’s civil society and NGOs on the Colombian Government (Newcomer, et al., 2013), (Molleda & Suárez, 2005), (Guáqueta, 2007), and (Margarita, 2003). From a theoretical approach, this thesis aims to determine the extent to which the political transition from a military regime to democratic system determined the ability of NGOs in Colombia to exercise their influence on the Colombian Government’s policymaking processes. While many NGOs working in Latin America tended to overestimate the role that democracy assistance played in fostering positive change (Mendelson & Glenn, 2002) in a transitional period in many Latin America countries, external actors outside of the government, such as lawyers, judges, transgovernmental networks, and NGOs, played a large and important role. The role of these actors mainly included helping the locals with transitional justice and truth commission (Roht-Arriaza,
2005). However, the discussion about the way Colombian NGOs exercise their lobbying and pressuring action on the Colombian Government in a democratic regime is limited. Thus, this thesis aims to fill the gap in the social science literature regarding the discussion of how local NGOs in Colombia influence government policymaking processes in a democratic system. Moreover, a better understanding of the policymaking processes in Colombia through active participation from its citizens could improve the quality of the Colombian democratic system
This thesis aims to look closely at how NGOs in Colombia actually function and work on their influence on Colombian Government policies. Mendelson & Glenn (2002) describe how Thomas Carothers observes NGOs as advocacy-oriented groups, which are crucial for democracy because “they seek to influence governmental policy on specific issues, which serve citizens’ interests’ vis-á-vis the state” (Mendelson & Glenn, 2002, p. 6). Moreover, this thesis explores the role of NGOs by examining how their strategies have worked to prevent kidnapping in Colombia. It also aims to obtain an understanding of how local NGOs affect Colombian Government policies.
The assessment of political influence and power is important for analysing domestic politics; it is a sensitive and difficult issue at the same time. Political influence and power are important because they involve the interests and even the lives of many people in a country. Assessing the influence of actors who are involved in policymaking processes is important for many social science Is because the NGOs’ influence can be the foundation for an analysis of participation in a democratic system. Moreover, the analysis of participation in a democratic system can be linked to the quality of democracy because the political influence and power are able to balance the relations between the public and private sectors. Private sectors in this case are the NGOs. These balanced relations mean that through political influence, the NGOs are able to provide important feedback and advise the government from existing policies that the government has created. The political influence and power between the state and the NGOs intends to deliver better results to the citizens; thus, the outcome of this political influence and power is crucial. Cooperation between the state and NGOs in many Latin American countries, including Colombia, demonstrates that the concept of participatory democracy has been accepted. Even though scholars often argue that the participation of NGOs comes at a price, it increasingly reduces the role of the state. Moreover, my data shows result which opposite from existing debate on democratisation in Latin America. The existing debates on democratisation in Latin America are mostly from the pessimistic point of view, while my arguments are more positive and optimistic. My
arguments based on comparing the current practices of democratisation in Colombia with the practices for the past few decades, where the military regime was in power.
Following this introduction there is a chapter about the methodology that I used in this study: content analysis and semi-structured interviews. The next chapter provides theoretical insight into what other scholars think about democracy, political influence, and NGOs. The first analysis chapter presents a discussion about how Colombia is considered a kidnapping capital; it discusses how this happened, why it happened, and what can be done about it. The second analysis chapter presents a discussion about the political influence of NGOs on the Colombian Government; its analysis aims to show the reader what strategies, techniques, and approaches NGOs use to influence the Colombian Government’s policymaking processes. This chapter also presents a short analysis of how the challenges that NGOs face while exercising their influence on the government, could influence the amount of pressure that they can put on the government. The third analysis chapter will present a discussion about the NGOs’ involvement in the government’s strategies for preventing kidnapping. These strategies include: a legal framework, institutions, peace talks, and international pressure. The last chapter of this thesis will conclude with the answer to the research question. A bibliography and appendices are provided at the end of this master thesis.
2. Methodology
2.1. Content analysis
This study aims to answer the research question about how NGOs exercise their influence on the Colombian Government’s policymaking processes; hence, it is important to analyse systematically the content from these government policies. “Content analysis is a social scientific methodology for making sense of recorded human communication including news media, policy documents, letters, even video or novels – particularly written texts” (Baxter, 2009, p. 275). Content analysis is a method that involves breaking up paragraphs and then interpreting them in your own words. The ability to analyse content is needed; the content analysis method requires a researcher who is able to identify changes in the structure, sentences, and the use of policies.
This thesis analyses the content of Colombian Constitution of 1991, Law No. 387 of 1997, Law No. 809 of 2004, and Law No. 975 of 20051. These four different laws are important for gaining an understanding of how a democratic system works in Colombia, how the NGOs are able to participate in policymaking, and how the state reacts towards kidnapping issues in Colombia. In this thesis, I will also analyses urgent letters from an NGO to the Colombian Government. These letters are used when certain NGOs want to push and pressure the government. The letters have world-wide coverage, so that everyone can participate in writing these letters that are addressed to the Colombian President and ministries.
I am fully aware that using content analysis as a method has its disadvantages. For example, when I analyses the Colombian laws, I cannot follow up on, clarify, or discuss the documents with the authorities (Conley & Tosti-Kharas, 2014). Moreover, critical thinking is needed in content analysis, as it is important that the researcher looks beyond words. The researcher must focus on “manifest or latent content” (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004, p. 106). This thesis will focus on both, while analysing the texts that are described, I will also look at ongoing circumstances. For example, I will investigate why there is an article about impunity in Law No. 975, but not in the previous two laws; law 387 of 1997 and Law No. 809 of 2004. The Colombian Government must have their own considerations and judgments about this article, which I analyse that it related to the ongoing peace talks between the Colombian Government and the guerrilla groups. Moreover, scholars claim that content analysis is a flexible method for analysing text data because the researchers are able to compare and verify one text with another (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005).
2.2. Semi-structured interview
To obtain the information necessary to answer the research question about how the NGOs exercise their influence on the Colombian Government in policymaking processes, semi-structured interviews were conducted in this study. Kidnapping is a sensitive issue in Colombia because the majority of people who have experienced it, with at least one of their family members. Hence, semi-structured interviews are needed to “understand the experiences, opinions, and complex behaviour” (Longhurst, 2009, p. 582).
1These laws are mostly written in Spanish, I was fortunate that there are online version of these laws available in English, thus, there is a possibility that some translations from Spanish to English in the laws might not express the original meaning.
In total, five different interviews were conducted; each interview lasted between 45 minutes and a maximum of one hour. Some participants provided permissions to ask further questions through email if there were still things that remained unclear. Some participants in this study also provided extra information, such as newsletters, reports, an urgent letters, and other documents from their organisation. Semi-structured interview provides the opportunity to re-evaluate participants’ answers with another documents and information, especially useful when discussing sensitive issues (Barriball & While, 1994).
Due to several circumstances, some interviews in this study were conducted by a research assistant2. In total, I conducted five interviews in this study. Three interviews were conducted in Colombia with the help of a research assistant and I conducted the other two interviews in which English language was used. I also prepared the questions for these semi-structured interviews.
Moreover, there was no language barrier between the research assistant and the participants; which is important because interviewers need to put participants at ease (Longhurst, 2009). Using a language that can be understood by both the interviewer and the participants is helpful for guiding participants and making them comfortable. Using the same language will help the participants express themselves freely. It is also urged that the interviewer needs to begin the interview with easy questions about the participants. Longhurst (2009, p.581) agrees that the participants should be asked questions that they feel comfortable answering in the beginning, then the interviewer can move into more “difficult, sensitive, and thought-provoking questions” once the participants feel comfortable. Moreover, a good interviewer requires interpersonal skills and the ability to read a situation. Furthermore, in an interview, it is important to maintain the flow of questions so that participants do not feel bored or like the interviewer is pushing them. In short, semi-structure interviewing is a method that involves talking to and digging up information from people. Thus, interpersonal communication is needed in this method.
2The research assistant is a 22 year old, student; she is an Indonesian and fluent in Spanish, English, and Indonesian. She has been living in Bogotá for almost 20 years. Spanish language was used during interviews with local NGOs in Colombia. The research assistant also helps me to translate the
2.3. Criteria for participants
Semi-structured interviewing in qualitative research is the opposite of semi-structured interviewing in quantitative research because according to Longhurst (2009), he argues that for quantitative methods a random or representative sample is selected, while those who use qualitative methods aim to gain an understanding of how people experience some phenomenon. Having said that, participants in this study were selected because of their knowledge base and experience related to the research topic. Most of the participants are high ranking officials at their NGOs. They had thorough understanding both their NGOs and the research topic at the same time. Longhurst (2009) explains that there are three methods for recruiting participants for an interview, they are: by questionnaire, by advertising on paper, and through snowball sampling. The latter is a method of asking the participants if they know others who can help in the research study. In this study I used snowball sampling to recruit participants, two of the participants were recommended by another participant. The other participants were from a short study on the Internet about the NGOs’ activities. One of the disadvantages of semi-structured interviews is that they are time consuming. The research assistant and I had to find times that were suitable for participants. Sometimes, the participants cancelled or wanted to change the time of interview due to their activities with the NGOs. With regard to the criteria of the participants in this study, the participants must have represented an NGO. This means that those who participated in this study were people who were working for an NGO, so that their opinions could be based on what the NGO had done. The participants in this study consisted of five people and they all came from different NGOs and had different responsibilities in their organisations.
2.4. Ethical considerations
As mentioned earlier, kidnapping is a sensitive issue in Colombia because it happens to almost every family. Moreover, for some NGOs the practice of their influence on policymaking processes is considered confidential, including their strategies for approaches to pressuring the government. Thus, confidentiality and anonymity were very important and will be protected in this study, only some personal background information will be included, and the identity of each participant will be changed. This thesis will refer to participants as A, B, C, D, and E. Moreover, the name of the NGOs who were interviewed will also be protected and will remain anonymous. The NGOs will be referred to as Paus, Impunity, Peace, End, and Viva. At the beginning of each interview, participants were informed that the
interview would be recorded; the participants were also able to not answer the questions. All of the participants in this study were fully aware that their identities would remain anonymous; I also welcomed the participants if they want to know the result of the interview later.
2.5. Reflection on data collection
After the interviews were completed, I realised that there are some aspects of the interviews that influenced the data collection and would therefore influence the analysis of this study. Thus, it is important for a researcher to be fully aware of and honest about the things that could have influenced the data collection in this study such as biases, and objectivities (Tracy, 2010). The location of an interview can reflect and influence participants’ answers. Thus, the interviews in this study were mostly conducted in the NGOs’ offices so that the participants could feel comfortable in their surroundings. However, I am fully aware that the offices of the NGOs could have also been a disadvantage because the participants might not have felt free to express their opinions in their offices. Moreover, one interview was conducted through Skype because the participant was abroad and suggested that we conduct it online instead of waiting for him coming back.
Three interviews were conducted in Spanish in order to make the participants feel comfortable answering the questions. Thus, some translations from Spanish to English in the interview transcripts might not express the original answers. There are also three video recordings and two audio recordings of the interviews in this study. Longhurst (2009) argues that video or audio recordings can be a disadvantage for a researcher because, once the participants realise they are being taped, it might affect the way that they answer the questions. However, I did ask about the willingness of each participant to be recorded during the interview to which, they all agreed. Moreover, I realised that the presence during the interviews is important, for capturing body language, reactions, gestures, facial expressions, and the surroundings. Although the research assistant was helpful during data collection, I also realised that accepting help from a research assistant with data collection is complicated. There were moments when the research assistant and I were not on the same page and some misunderstandings occurred.
In short, the combination of content analysis and semi-structured interviews shaped my end results. I analyse the structure, words, and contents of laws with the interviews that I had.
During the interviews, some participants had mentioned specific laws in regards to kidnapping, hence, it is important for a researcher to review the laws that have been mentioned. I sometimes review the articles on specific laws that participants stated during the interview. The combination of two methods shaped up the end results in this thesis and the combination of two methods also demonstrates, and indicates the democratisation processes in Colombia is growing. Moreover, the theoretical framework about the democratisation processes in this thesis will be discussed in the next chapter.
3. Theoretical framework
The current existing literature provides limited discussion on how democracy is linked to NGOs and the state; Mendelson & Glenn (2002), Boulding (2014), Zhou (2012), Silliman & Noble (1998), and Suleiman (2013). Much of the literature available on Colombia provides information and analyses of American policies and drugs; Bagley (1988), Livingstone (2003), Thoumi (1995), Holmes, et al. (2008), and Bruce, et al. (2010). Hence, this thesis aims to fill a gap in the literature on democracy and political influence in contemporary Colombia. Much of the existing literature; Chikurunhe (2011), Sidaway (2011), and Escobar (1992) provide a discussion on how post-colonialism and post-development theories are the most suitable theories to support the analysis of the relationship between the state and NGOs. However, there is limited existing literature available about how a democratic system is backing the political influence of NGOs on the state.
Furthermore, post-colonialism theory offers a discussion about how historical experiences contribute to the current platform of political influence and how they affect the influence of the state on the NGOs as external actors. Moreover the discussion of post-development theory influences the practice and development of NGOs roles in a society. Chikurunhe (2011) argues that the decision for bottom up development raises various questions on how political dynamics including political influences are “being mediated through changing discourses and practices of development” (Chikurunhe, 2011). This chapter aims to bridge the gap in the literature, regarding how the democratic system plays a critical role in the political influence of NGOs on the state.
This chapter investigates how participation of NGOs in democracies shapes the influence of NGOs on policy outcomes. The aim of this chapter is to provide a discussion about the relationships between the state and the non-governmental organisations. A theoretical
framework is needed in order to see these relationships from the point of view of established theories, from which the research question was created. How NGOs exercise their influences and participate in domestic policy making processes, the factors that contribute to the influence of NGOs, and the factors that weaken their influence were explored. The first section of this chapter provides a discussion of NGOs in relations to its power in policymaking processes and in relations to its roles in the society as catalyst for change. The second section provides an analysis of democracy theory and describes how democracy influences NGOs’ activities in policy making processes. The third section provides a literature analysis of how democratisation in Colombia is growing large enough to allow NGOs and external actors to influence and play an important role in domestic policy making processes related to kidnapping issues in Colombia.
3.1. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as catalyst for change
“NGOs also are potentially vehicles of democratisation... NGOs have long been active within the peace movement, and they played a pivotal role during the decades after World
War II in bringing into being the international human rights regime. From at least the 1970s NGOs have been central to the international environmental movement” (Silliman
& Noble, 1998, p. 7).
In the 19th century, civil society was often linked to church movements, youth movements, clubs, and associations. The concept of civil society was extremely broad with each of categorization for their actions. Moreover, since the end of the Cold War the concept of political actors has consisted of two central players: state and non-state actors. The rising number of NGOs in the world has redefined their roles and purpose, along with their approaches to achieve their missions (Arts, 1998). For example, the rising number of NGOs allows them to form a larger coalition, with the consequence of NGOs having increased power to pressure the government. The definition of NGOs is broad. There is no exact definition of NGOs because there are many different explanations for NGOs and scholars have not reached full agreement; Arts (1998), Berg (2001), and Silliman & Noble (1998). Most scholars define NGOs as “groups and institutions that are entirely or largely independent of government and are characterized primarily by humanitarian or cooperative, rather than commercial, objectives” (Eerd, 2003, p. 17). Even though full agreement on the definition of NGOs has not been reached, scholars mostly agree on two of their criteria: independent and non-profit.
Furthermore, to be defined as an NGO, an organization must be privately set up and structured outside of the government, they should not make any profits, and should support development based on public interests (Kane, 1990). Moreover, Kane (1990) identifies some principles that NGOs should have. The first principle is autonomy of thought and action, which aims to survive and make progress in its work. Second is autonomy of action which aims for NGOs to have an independent view of their own needs and autonomy over the actions that are necessary for their work, including freedom of operation. Third is flexibility; NGOs need to have flexibility in their strategies, because every problem has its own complexity. Fourth is an on-going dialogue; NGOs need to expand their network with international organisations, state governments, and also with other NGOs by maintaining constant open communication with them (Kane, 1990, pp. 10-11).
Generally, NGOs play certain roles in a community such as to provide service and empower public. Eerd (2003) defines NGOs’ role in three parts. The first part is NGOs as enablers; they play a role in the community as developers, organisers and community-based organisations. The second role is that of NGOs as mediators between the citizens and authorities. Third is NGOs as advisers, means that NGOs play their role as a watchdog organisation in order to control and comment on policy changes (Eerd, 2003). All three of the roles mentioned previously, involve all activities with the community and the government. Thus, NGOs participate actively in the political arena. Moreover, NGOs mainly have their political goals and aim to achieve them collectively (Berg, 2001).
What are the goals of NGOs? Why do NGOs exist? Schuurman & Heer (1992) argue that the existence of NGOs is caused by the absence of political parties in a country. “The absence of political party denies social actors in political platform to be able to communicate to the state, thus NGOs took over this representative role” (Schuurman & Heer, 1992, p. 50). Moreover, Schuurman and Heer (1992) explain that NGOs do not aim to exchange roles with actors in politics; rather they aim to support them. Moreover, a direct effect of NGOs on democracy is inevitable because the majority of NGOs are directly related to the government’s work. According to Kamat (2004), the rise in the number of NGOs led to a transformation in political actor merely because NGOs offer a new bottom up model where people recognise them as a “primary catalysts of change rather than experts from large bureaucratic institutions (including the state)” (Kamat, 2004, p. 155).
Furthermore because of the claim that NGOs are the primary catalysts of change, Kamat (2004) sees NGOs as “de facto agents of democracy” (Kamat, 2004, p. 156) and considers them an emerging civil society that can further engage with the state. NGOs’ roles as
watchdog organisations and their ability to give recommendations to the state are two examples of how NGOs, as an emerging civil society, can further engage with the state. Moreover, NGOs have obtained legal status to participate in certain matters in a country, they may observe, give recommendations to, contribute to critiques, and deliver ideas. By having to work closely with the government, NGOs are able to lobby the government in meetings, negotiations, or through recommendations. This formal access to the government in a democratic system shows us that NGOs can influence the government in policymaking processes.
The above paragraphs have mentioned political influence many times, but what is political influence? And how does it affect the policy in a country? I define political influence as the influence that an individual/a group has towards the policymakers/running government in a country. NGOs’ frequent interactions with citizens and the government are considered interactions in a political arena, which leads to an argument that every strategy, decision, and practice that NGOs use to the government can be explained as the political participation of NGOs in a country. Moreover, in order to achieve their goals, NGOs often use their influence in political participation processes. The political influence of NGOs on local politics takes many forms, and pressure in policy making processes is an example. “The concept of NGOs as pressure groups can be defined as organised groups of people who seek to influence political decisions. They have capacity and desire to influence the course of domestic and international politics… the approach in policymaking refers to efforts of NGOs inside political arenas to directly affect policy and decision making, whereas the protests cover indirect strategies of NGOs outside formal arenas to change policies” (Arts, 1998, p. 49). Approaches that NGOs use in a political arena are essential for strong-democracy forces. From my point of view, Arts’ definition of NGOs is limited; it covers the advocacy NGOs that work to influence the government. Arts’ definition of NGOs is not applicable for grassroots NGOs that work directly with citizens because grassroots NGOs often offer assistance instead of seek to influence political decision. Moreover, NGOs’ participation in a political arena is important for the emergence of NGOs in a democratic regime.
3.2.
The idea of democracy is to participate
“Democracy is not an alternative to other principles of associated life. It is the idea of community life itself. Strong democracy is a distinctively modern form of participatory
democracy. It rests on the idea of self-governing community of citizens” (Barber, 2003, p. 117)
“My democratic creed is based on the principle that there is not and cannot be a universal formula for democracy applicable to all countries and peoples. Democracy should
ripen internally in the depth of society itself, and correspond to the historical practice and experience of a country. It should organically integrate into conscience of people and only in
this way will it take firm root in the public conscience” (Askar Akayev-Kyrgyz President at Harvard University speech, 2004) quoted from (Petric & Blundo, 2012).
There exists a famous expression about democracy, which states that democracy is the government of the people, by the people. Who belongs to democracy? How should democracy be practiced? Who can participate in democracy? These questions keep coming up in the discussion of democracy and its system, and they could lead to a discussion about how democracy should be organised. As what Akayev (2004) stated above, there is no universal formula for democracy which applicable for all countries and peoples. The practice of democracy is different in each country and struggles and transformations in democracy are a never ending process. I believe that to achieve a mature democracy, a country needs two principles: communicative strategies in delivering political agendas and active citizenship. To measure the strength of a democratic system, we can examine the extent to which politics happen by, and not to, the citizens (Barber, 2003). In his book ‘Polyarchy’, Dahl (1971) analyses three transformations of democracy. First transformation is that the transformation of hegemonies and competitive oligarchies into near-polyarchies. Second transformation is that the transformation of near-polyarchies into full polyarchies, and third transformation is full polyarchy (Dahl, 1971, p. 10).
Moreover, many countries in Latin America, including Colombia, have successfully passed the first transformation; it ends during the fall of the military regime and it is arguable that many countries in Latin America are now facing the second transformation: near-polyarchies. This means that the state is legally independent within a growing/emerging/developing democratic system. However, the building of democratic legitimacy has not necessarily been followed by parallel democratic performances (Peruzzotti & Selee, 2009). I argue that democratic legitimacy is defined as written and established law, within a country where democratic performances more on the implementation of established
law into actions. Participant B and C (2015) both agree and argue that when it comes to kidnapping in Colombia, it was not the law but instead, there are big problem in practice.
The growing dissatisfaction of constituents with their leaders has opened a new political phenomenon. It is shifting the public’s trust towards political actors, which aimed for institutional betterment. Dahl (1971) argues that democracy needs continuous responsiveness of the government to the preferences of its citizens. At the same time, he proposes that quality of democracy is also marked by its responsiveness to all of the citizens. This discussion is linked to the research question in this thesis because it aims to investigate how the influence of NGOs can actually weigh in on the government’s policies in the democratic system. The shift in the political approach of the democratic system, from a top-down approach to bottom-up approach, triggered citizens’ responsiveness to and participation with the government. NGOs’ participation in the political arena often focuses on delivering public interests, while at the same time assisting the public with participation in politics (Peruzzotti & Selee, 2009). Dual functions of NGOs play important roles, once an NGO plays a role as an advocacy group; it is able to maintain its relationships with the government. On the other hand, while NGOs play a role as grass-roots organisations, “they are often regarded as representing the interests of the people, to the greatest extent possible” (Kamat, 2004, p. 159).
Furthermore, I understand that democracy is a two ways process that requires active citizens and a responsive government. “Increasing decentralization and expanding citizen participation are the keys to ensuring democratic stability or deepening democracy, while for others they represent dangers to democratic stability or even the end of democracy” (Goldfrank, 2011, p. 11). The debates about NGOs’ participation in a democratic system are about whether or not the growing role of NGOs could lead to insecurity of the state, because the NGOs will replace the state as representatives of democracy. Moreover, it is arguably correct that the insecurity of the state is likely to increase when the NGOs carry interests from other states. Moreover, NGOs will not replace the state as the main actor in world politics or replace the state as representatives of democracy. However, the participation of NGOs in democratic system is reinforcing the democratisation itself.
Moreover, the second critique is that the participation of NGOs on democracy had begun to erode the national sovereignties; the comparison is obviously to the values on traditional democracies where state has supreme and absolute authority in policymaking. I observe that the participation of NGOs in political arena brings balance to power. Thus, democracy as a
two ways process raises the following question: Does the opportunity from the democratic state that provides political space for participation of NGOs essentially helps consolidate to better democracy?
Figure 1:
The figure above is a short explanation of how participation in democracy works. A two way process, in which the main responsible of the government is to provide services to its citizens. At the same time, instead of being passive, the public must utilise the political space that the state has provided them to participate. I argue that in an immature, emerging, and growing democracy, the citizens are passively to participate in the given space of the government. However, democratisation in Colombia is not heading south. The NGOs in Colombia have contest and challenge the government and exercise their influence several times.
Moreover, participation in democracy requires citizens to take action in as many ways as possible, such as acting as a watchdog, involvement in policymaking processes, and casting a vote. In short, democracy is a two way process. The government is actively involved in providing services to its people, while at the same time; citizens should actively do their parts. Democracy requires an active civil society because it is through public pressure, discussion, recommendation, and involvement in politics that public goals are defined.
The third critique of participation in democracy is the lack of responsible elites’ with political power. Thus, people who engage in the policymaking processes are the ones who share collective responsibility (Whaites, 1996). Moreover, a critique about participation in democracy also comes from Kramer (1972). He argues that public involvement and participation in democracy creates a self-governing citizen. In addition, he argues that public participation in democracy must be restricted in electoral participation. Further involvement/participation of the public creates a more direct democracy, where everyone is legally responsible for the framing of policies for a group or community (Kramer, 1972).
An analysis of participatory democracy is needed to disentangle from the definition of active citizens. Active citizens are people who participate in a range of policies or
Participation Government
Representative
institutional settings (Head, 2007). I interpret citizen participation in policymaking processes as group or organisational participation, instead of individual participation. NGOs role as representative institutions for the public, in general have proven more satisfaction because of their transparency. Thus, organisational participations may be required to represent citizens in a participatory democracy (Goldfrank, 2011). Goldfrank (2011) and Head (2007) suggest a new approach of citizen engagement through active relationships between the state and the citizens and he argues that active relationships between these two parties occur through organisations and institutional forums (such as critical relationships between NGOs and the state), not individual relations to each person.
Moreover, Head (2007) states that at a national level, the participation of citizens has been linked to a growing awareness of the need to share the responsibilities of resolving complicated issues, such as human rights and the environment. Many countries in Latin America, including Colombia, are considered emerging democratic nations. Thus, the participation of individuals and groups toward government policies is needed. The discussion of participatory democracy in Latin America begins with an analysis of how democratisation in Latin America should not merely rely on good terms and functioning governance as a political institution, but also on how NGOs are able to influence the state (Leubolt, et al., 2012).
“Previously, Colombia has gone through three different regimes: sectarian regimes in the late nineteenth century through to 1953, consociational democracy from 1958 to 1974, and democracy from 1974 to the present” (Kline, 1988, p. 17). Moreover, the fall of a military regime and a progressive change into a democratic regime is a stepping stone for the rise of NGOs in many Latin American countries. In the process of democratisation, citizens are allowed to express their disapproval and dissatisfaction with the performance of the government. This dissatisfaction resulted in new methods of political movement, which aim for betterment. One of these methods is the introduction of organisations in political participation, including participation in policymaking processes. Moreover, Peruzzotti & Selee (2009) argue that the participation of public in democracy will encourage citizens to give input and suggestion to the government. The participation of institutions can be considered a process for developing democratic process in a country. Moreover, “it aims to reduce the emergence of a growing gap between citizens and political system via institutions such as NGOs” (Peruzzotti & Selee, 2009, p. 2). Moreover, Peruzzotti & Selee (2009) argue
that to participate in an active political movement, NGOs should develop positive and productive forms of interaction with government officials.
One of the channels used to communicate citizens’ voices is NGOs participation in the process of policymaking in domestic issues. After the fall of the military regime in Colombia, Colombian citizens began to acknowledge the contribution of NGOs, which introduced nonviolent responses towards sensitive matters, such as kidnapping. The fall of the military regimes in many Latin American countries became an opportunity for nonviolence as a tool for social change. Despite the rise in numbers of NGOs in the society, there is little understanding of nonviolence approach in social change (Zunes, et al., 1999). Non-violent confrontation is adopted to express the ideology of NGOs in delivering their practices. Thus, a nonviolent approach has become a more compelling instrument for social change in Latin America. The role of NGOs is growing; Lehmann (1990) analyses that NGOs can currently be considered fundamental intermediaries between the state and citizens. The nonviolent approach in Latin America has been developed. The development is indicated by the ability of NGOs to work closely and directly with the people in civil society through grassroots organisations (Eerd, 2003). For Latin America in general, many nonviolent approaches, developed by NGOs, played an important role in forcing a political shift from military dictatorship to democracy, such as in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay (Zunes, et al., 1999). Since their success in forcing a political shift, many NGOs have started campaigning in different sectors in Latin America, such as human rights and transnational justice. “When citizens realised that their participation yielded concrete results in a more responsive government, they accentuated their participation, joining or forming an organisation in order to gain greater influence” (Goldfrank, 2011, pp. 219-220).
Lehmann (1990) argues that, with the relationships between the state and NGOs, an improvement or stagnation is inevitable. “A working relation needs to be built up between NGOs and the state, even though the relationship is inevitably tense due to ideological differences and differences in style, but it is nonetheless necessary” (Lehmann, 1990, p. 200). Tense relationships between the state and NGOs are inevitable, because the participation of NGOs in policy making processes can be considered an effort to take over state functions. Pressure and improvement toward government’s policy require NGOs participation, thus the discussion of public participation is important in this matter.
Numerous scholars; Head (2007), Goldfrank (2011), Lehmann (1990), and Peruzzotti & Selee (2009), highlight the role of NGOs in influencing democracy in developing nations. Banks et al. (2014) for instance, they argue that NGOs programs in developing nations promote democracy through increasing community interactions, promoting social capital, and influencing voting behaviours. Robert Dahl (1971) in his book Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition, identifies that in general, participatory democracy consists of two main actions by citizens: the decision to participate and the choice of elected representatives (Dahl, 1971). He argues that at the least, the decision to participate consists of casting a ballot, but there are many other approaches through which citizens can participate in the democratic system – involvement in policy making processes, for example. The involvement of citizens in participatory democracy “places an enormous number of demands on its citizens” (Sinclair, 2012, p. 13), hence, it is arguably correct that NGOs gather social identities and social demands in form of an organisation. In a perfect democracy, each individual has equal opportunity to express what they want, sometimes individual’s influences each other to achieve collective agreements. Thus, I argue that NGOs crafting social identities that apply as an instrument in the creation of collective agreements, in form of policies. The participation of NGOs in policy making processes can be considered a growing democratisation processes in Colombia. As a result of the rise of quality institutions, “more democracy means not ever more elections or elected bodies, but more open and more transparent avenues for channelling pressure from society” (Lehmann, 1990, p. 206).
In an era of democratisation, no single actor can possess dominance over power and freedom is guaranteed among different groups. The ideology and principle of participatory democracy is to ensure that everyone is formally represented at every level – local, regional, and national (Benello & Roussopoulos, 1971). “In a participatory democracy, decision-making is the process whereby people propose, discuss, decide, plan, and implement those decisions that affect their lives. The decision-making process requires continuity, effectivity, and socially significant” (Benello & Roussopoulos, 1971, p. 5). An analysis of participatory democracy in a globalised era can lead us to a new model of participation that aims to reintroduce the concept of democracy from top down to the bottom up, which means democratic process will take a different approach to involving organisations in society, public, and private sectors that is initiated by NGOs.
Due to the rise of NGOs in the modern world, their influence on state policy is considered as one of the most important political issues in the world today (Hirata, 2002).
Moreover, the rise of NGOs in the modern world is important because it reflects the “decentralization and fragmentation of power once dominated by state actor” (Hirata, 2002, p. 1). In short, NGOs can be considered one of the sources of citizens’ power in the process of democratisation. The NGOs growth in Colombia surely has important implications for domestic politics, especially in the process of democratisation in Colombia and its implication in policy making processes. The rise of NGOs in Colombia may lead to rejections from the state authority, because it seems that the NGOs challenge state authority in policymaking processes. However, NGOs relations in Colombia have evolved from confrontation to cooperation, demonstrated by the number of collaborations between two parties, including the policy implementation by the Colombian Government from the pressure that NGOs put on them.
Moreover, Hirata (2002) argues that NGOs role in participatory democracy is increasing due to “political, economic, and cultural crises taking place domestically and state authority has crumbled” (Hirata, 2002, p. 3). In addition, Hirata (2002) explains that when the political, economic, and cultural crises have worsened, these situations make the society challenging state authority. The argument is coherent to the case study in Colombia, because as mentioned earlier, Colombia faces numerous organised crimes domestically; thus, the confidence of the citizens in state authority has collapsed. Furthermore, NGOs play their role by representing the interests of the people. Hence, NGOs gain their trust from the people while the trust toward the state authority declines.
Furthermore, since mainly Latin America countries had military regimes and an impression of agitation with democratisation, the way in which relationships between the Colombian Government and NGOs develop has major implications for the shape and quality of democracy as it evolves (Kirby & Cannon, 2012). It is arguably correct that globalisation contributed to changing relations between the state and the NGOs. The phenomenon of globalisation has influenced Colombian decision making processes. Globalisation has made the world flat; in a globalised era, people are interconnected. Thus, in a globalised world, where everyone is connected, it is more likely that NGOs have been influenced from international communities. Moreover, globalised world allows the NGOs to develop their organisational and political skills (Hirata, 2002).
The fundamental question in this thesis is that of whether or not the participation and involvement of NGOs in policymaking processes to prevent kidnapping promote democracy
practice in Colombia. Is the involvement in policymaking processes understood as political freedom to the NGOs and is it essential for democracy in Colombia? Hirata (2002) argues that public involvement in the policymaking processes is important for democratic process; as “democracy requires an active civil society and NGOs, because it is through public discussion and involvement in politics that societal goals are defined” (Hirata, 2002, p. 47). However, it value quality over quantity, meaning that quality of discussion is essential and should be taken into account. For example in Colombia, numerous discussions and collaborations between the Colombian Government and NGOs should have not overshadowed the impact and the quality of the policy implications for the Colombian people. In the end, the goals of many discussions and collaborations are created for Colombian people. The impact shall more be more powerful than the sum of its discussions.
Hirata (2002) explains that the function of NGOs is important for consolidating and maintaining democracy, NGOs are considered to bring balance to the power. Thus, NGOs are able to control the government when the abuse of power happens. This critical role may influence the result of kidnapping prevention because by being critical NGOs are able to offer institutional and policy reforms. Participating in political activities does not make NGOs a threat for political actors and NGOs are not in the same category as political parties. Although, they both have the intention to gain public support, they are different in their approach. The other difference is that NGOs need to maintain their independence from state and private sector interventions while political parties mainly involves with state and private sector projects and activities. Moreover, participatory democracy aims to develop a democratic concept with a bottom up approach, which means focusing to develop a democratic system with society and the public as the main actors (Benello & Roussopoulos, 1971).
4. Colombia: kidnap capital?
“’Enforced disappearance of persons’ means the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on
the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time” (ICC, 1998).
Kidnapping is a serious crime that is recognised as a crime against humanity. This is indicated in Article 7 of the Rome Statute above, which Colombia signed on 1998. Even
though Colombia has ratified the Rome Statute, which condemns any kidnapping practices, the number of people who get kidnapped in Colombia is still very high. Colombia is considered one of the places in the world that people will likely to get kidnapped. Why do they kidnap people? What do they want? And where does the kidnapping leads us? What has been done by the Colombian Government to prevent kidnapping to happen? What can be done to prevent kidnapping practices? This chapter analyses the aforementioned questions and kidnapping in Colombia in general. Moreover, this chapter analyses how the kidnapping practices itself illustrates policy in Colombia. This chapter will be looking at how kidnapping in Colombia provides practical insight about policymaking and illustrate the relationship between the state and the NGOs.
The definition, motives, and actors who commit kidnapping in Colombia are changing over time. Two decades ago, Colombia was well-known because of certain hurtful reputations such as their endless internal conflict between the paramilitaries groups, guerrilla groups and the government. Moreover, Colombia was and still is familiar with drug trafficking activities. Pablo Escobar was the one who took control of the drug trafficking from the mid-1970s, until early 1990s. Pablo was also responsible for kidnapping activities in Colombia at that time, including the founder of Paus, Francisco Santos Calderón. He was also the Vice President of Colombia from 2002-2010. Kidnapping was one of the reasons why the Paus was founded (A, 2015). Are the kidnapping practices still the same? I argue that Pablo’s kidnapping is different from those that are currently conducted, because Pablo kidnapped many people to put pressure on the public and the government over the amendment of the Colombian constitution in 1991 (A, 2015). Pablo and his group kidnapped Francisco and many journalists because they wanted the new constitution to prohibit the extradition of suspects in drug crimes (Graham, 1988). Participant A (2015) explains that during Pablo’s era, there was little economic interest involved in kidnappings because majority of kidnappings conducted by Escobar were for political interests. It is arguably correct that the growth in the number of kidnappings has been due to the expansion of paramilitary groups, because kidnapping is the second most important income for FARC, after drug trade (Sánchez G., 2001).
Table below consists of statistical data gathered by Gallón (2007). This table shows kidnapping cases by number; the numbers below are from hostage takings and kidnapping that were perpetrated by guerrilla groups, paramilitary groups, and common delinquents from 1990 to 2002. Why does this happen? Why do the majority of kidnappers come from these
groups? It is arguably because that these groups are competing for political, economic, and military control, where the state’s control and power is profoundly weak. Moreover, this competition has resulted on massive displacements, disappearances, and kidnappings (Summers, 2012).
The shift in the Colombian Constitution in 1991 did not help to reduce the number of kidnapping. It was expected to reduce the kidnapping because many articles in the constitution ensure the rights of Colombian people. The constitution clearly declares war on drugs trafficking and human rights violations. The Colombian Government guarantees the fundamental rights of its people, such as freedom. I argue that the shift in the constitution can create new hope for many Colombians, as their government guarantees the rights of its people. Moreover, the rise number of kidnapping below requires the Colombian Government to do something. The shift in its constitution is a great start for Colombia to produce effective policies for many years to come.
The new constitution in 1991 opens a new political system that allows representation of new groups in political hierarchy in Colombia. However, despite changes in the democratic regime with the new constitution in 1991, the democracy in Colombia is far from satisfactory. Moreover, after the shift in the constitution in 1991, the government issued Law No. 387 in 1997, which managed the prevention of forced displacement and offered assistance, protection, socioeconomic consolidation, and stabilization for persons internally displaced by violence in Colombia. The majority of NGOs claimed that this was a positive approach by the government, until the government amendment Law No. 387 of 1997 into Law No. 975 of 2005. Law No. 975 is known to many people as the Peace and Justice Law. The Peace and Justice Law is controversial. According to the NGOs Paus (2015) and Impunity (2015), this new law does not support the war against human rights violations, including kidnapping, and instead this law could leads to impunity for the human rights violators.
From my point of view, the Colombian Government has implemented this impunity article as a peace offering to the guerrilla groups such as FARC and ELN. I consider this impunity offer as a starting point for on-going peace talks between the Colombian Government and the guerrilla groups. The possibility of receiving impunity meant that the Colombian Government had something to offer to the guerrilla groups. Finally in 2012, FARC stopped the practice of kidnapping for ransom. Paus argues that in the last few years the number of kidnappings conducted by guerrilla groups, such as FARC and ELN, have
been reduced, but kidnapping by common delinquency has increased (A, 2015). This empirical insight into the Peace and Justice Law demonstrates how policymaking is closely related to the figures of kidnapping in Colombia.
Years Number of Kidnappings
1990 1282 1991 1717 1992 1320 1993 1014 1994 1293 1995 1158 1996 1608 1997 1986 1998 1609 1999 1991 2000 3706 2001 3041 2002 2963
Table 1. Hostage takings and kidnappings perpetrated by guerrilla groups, paramilitary
groups, and common delinquents, 1990-2002, source: National Police, Criminology Investigation Office, quoted from (Gallón, 2007, p. 361).
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Hostage-takings and kidnappings by guerilla
groups, paramilitary groups, and common
delinquents, 1990-2003
Hostage-takings and kidnappings by guerilla groups, paramilitary groups, and common delinquents, 1990-2003
Figure 2 prepared using data from table 1
The table and figure above demonstrate that Colombia has a very high rating for kidnapping. In 2000, approximately 3700 people were kidnapped, an average of nine people missing each day. Moreover, these facts show that almost half of the kidnappings were conducted by guerrilla groups. However, participant A (2015) explains that, two decades ago, Colombian guerrilla groups, such as FARC and ELN, did not kidnap people as a form of negotiation, but they kidnapped people for economic interests. The death of Escobar has arguably changed the crime actors in Colombia. During the Escobar period, it is arguably correct that he and his group The Medellin Cartel were responsible for the majority of criminal and illegal activities in Colombia. After the death of Escobar, the criminal perpetrators became diverse. “After the death of Pablo Escobar that groups outside the law like FARC, ELN and EPL, especially FARC, and also small groups started to kidnap people as a political weapon with the objective of pressure government and negotiate with the parties to get money in return” (A, 2015).
The category and description of kidnapping in Colombia these days is also emerging. I analyse two types of kidnapping in Colombia: simple kidnapping and extortion kidnapping (A, 2015). In simple kidnapping, most of the kidnappers are looking for money and ransom. This type of kidnapping is normally accomplished by small gangs, and the money from the kidnapping is used to finance their activities. Participant A (2015) explains that sometimes these gangs work together with taxi drivers or workers in a company and household, and even sometimes with victims’ relatives. “There are families of kidnapped victims too that take part of this when they hire someone who is involved with this kind of delinquency to kidnap a member of the family or to get economic benefits” (A, 2015). The fight for child custody is also a good example of how the definition of kidnapping is evolving. I argue that a shift in Colombian law led to the transformation of kidnapping definition. As an example, “there was a law that established that simple kidnapping was related also to a particular situation in which one of the parents fight for the custody of his/her children” (A, 2015). Participant A from the NGO Paus explained that if a parent took his or her children without the authorization of the other parent, this used to be considered a simple kidnapping; that is not the case anymore. It is in fact a fight for the custody of children and not a simple kidnapping, which generated confusion when defining the term “simple kidnapping”.
