Amid hostage diplomacy spike, British look to Canada’s ‘two Michaels’ case for lessons

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The United Kingdom should learn from Canada’s experience with the “two Michaels” and work with the families of citizens detained overseas to bring international pressure to bear in cases of hostage diplomacy, British lawmakers said this week.

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained by China in December, 2018, after the arrest at Vancouver airport of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States. The two Canadians were finally freed in September, 2021, after U.S. prosecutors reached an agreement with Ms. Meng, allowing her to go home to China.

In a new report published this week, the British Parliament’s foreign affairs committee praised Ottawa’s “radical approach” of appointing China expert Dominic Barton as ambassador to Beijing with the overriding task of negotiating the release of the two Michaels.

“Barton was a specialist on China and understood the ‘opaque system’ of relationships and the importance of making sure the correct people were communicated with,” the report said. “Reporting directly to the Prime Minister allowed him to progress a plan, at times, against the advice of other parts of the government.”

Lawmakers compared Mr. Barton’s role to that of Roger Carstens, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs – particularly how both men worked closely with the families of detained citizens to push their cases forward and involve them in decision-making.

In Mr. Barton’s case, this involved co-ordinating with Mr. Kovrig’s wife, Vina Nadjibulla, herself a China expert. The report compared this unfavourably with how the families of British hostages have been treated, with many saying there was a “significant trust deficit between them and the government, primarily brought about through poor communication and lack of transparency.”

“Families should never be left to feel that the only way the government will prioritize their case is by acting against advice and, in some cases, their better judgment, by going to the media and to Parliament,” the committee said in a statement.

Dr. Nadjibulla told lawmakers that while Canada’s approach in the two Michaels case was a positive one, she believed it was largely due to the intense public pressure Ottawa was facing and doubted the Canadian government would act so forcefully in other cases.

Indeed, the families of other Canadians detained in China have complained about not receiving anywhere near the attention and support from Ottawa. Families of U.S. hostages, while almost universally appreciative of Mr. Carstens’ work, have also expressed frustration at how Washington does not always raise the cases of U.S. citizens deemed “unlawfully detained” during bilateral meetings or use all the levers it can to free them.

One thing that can be effective, the report said, is internationalizing a case, both through intelligence sharing with partners who may be able to help behind the scenes and expressions of diplomatic solidarity. A multilateral approach “may not only increase the chances of resolution, but also act as a deterrent for those who may consider using hostage diplomacy,” the lawmakers said, pointing to the Canadian-led Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations, to which 69 countries and the European Union are signatories.

In February, as that declaration marked its second anniversary, a cross-party group of European parliamentarians called on the EU to adopt a concerted “strategy to counter hostage diplomacy, including a specialized task force that can effectively deal with EU citizens being held hostage.”

The British committee also said London should establish a new high-level role of “Director for Arbitrary and Complex Detentions (DACD)” with a “direct line to the Prime Minister.”

The report comes days after Russia charged Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen and reporter for The Wall Street Journal, with espionage, a charge hotly denied by Washington and his employer. Mr. Gershkovich’s detention follows a prisoner swap involving another U.S. citizen, WNBA player Brittney Griner, for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, and many have speculated that Moscow may seek to trade Mr. Gershkovich for other Russians detained overseas.

“State hostage taking is a part of a wider erosion of the rules-based international order,” said Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP and chair of the foreign affairs committee. “One in which abductor states adopt the tactics of terrorists to achieve their aims and castrate other governments from taking action against their most egregious acts. The U.K. has strong diplomatic networks and is in a prime position to lead the international community in combatting state hostage taking.”