As has been the case for several years, the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) was the world’s piracy hotspot in the first quarter of 2020, despite a slight decrease in incidents compared to the same period in 2019.
The rising insurgency in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Province highlights the threat to oil and gas personnel in the region. Darren Davids writes that militants in the region are likely to target expatriate workers in the oil and gas industry, underscoring the importance of a resilient crisis management plan that effectively addresses country evacuation…
The Covid-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on people, politics and business around the world. Many governments have introduced lockdowns of varying degrees to contain the pandemic. These measures, enforced by the police and sometimes the military, have brought down crime rates even in some of the most violent countries around the world.…
S-RM asked John White, Head of Crisis Preparation, to give his insights into how businesses should be preparing themselves for the wide variety of threats climate change poses, whether these relate to the resource scarcity, adverse weather conditions, or physical security.
Resource scarcity has historically contributed to – and prolonged – various conflicts, both between states, as well as between communities or groups within states.
S-RM spoke to David Lawson, Deputy Head of Crisis Response, about some of the recent global trends in kidnapping and extortion, and to hear about some of the key considerations for S-RM’s Crisis Response team when they are working on a live case.
Wrongful detention, kidnapping and targeted attacks will likely remain the primary threats to NGO personnel in the coming year.
Piracy, terrorism and geopolitical tensions have presented persistent threats to commercial shipping in 2019. Despite states’ increased focus on securing shipping routes, the overall number of maritime incidents continues to fluctuate, and has declined only marginally over the past year.
Globally, indigenous populations have been severely affected by environmental degradation and pollution, often caused by companies which operate commercial extraction projects on land historically claimed by these communities.
In 2019, there were an average of more than 9,700 aircrafts in the air – transporting over 1.2 million people – at any given moment. As international travel often brings passengers to new destinations, they may face unfamiliar security dynamics. In fact, in 2019, 68 percent of tourists ranked security threats as their primary concern – above geopolitical…
The extractive industry – including mining, oil and gas exploration, dredging and quarrying – is one of the most vulnerable to kidnapping and extortion. Looking ahead to 2020, these industries’ often remote operating locations with limited rule of law, and the perception of industry actors as lucrative targets, are likely to persist as key factors contributing…
In May 2018, South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known locally as the ‘Hawks’, claimed that at least 20 businesspeople had been kidnapped over the preceding 18 months. At the time, the statistic seemed overwhelming. Up until that point, traditional kidnap for ransom cases were uncommon. Most abduction cases involved children…