The inner workings of hostage diplomacy and prisoner swaps

Guest: Jonathan Franks, crisis management consultant and president of Lucid Strategies

Hostage diplomacy is on the rise and some experts believe that more civilians are in the crosshairs of governments using this tactic for their own purposes. Canadians are familiar with the case of “The Two Michaels,” who were imprisoned in China and only freed after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was released from Canadian custody. Many are now watching the case of WNBA star Brittney Griner and Canadian-born Paul Whelan as they are being held in Russia. While there are rumours of a deal that may be able to free them, there are no easy paths or outcomes when human lives are being used as pawns in international diplomacy.

This episode was produced by Paulo Marques and Raju Mudhar