The world is dangerous. The U.S. State Department has travel warnings for 38 countries, and the worst of the worst go far beyond lost baggage fears. With fears about everything from pirates to turf wars to keep tourists from traveling, here are the three most dangerous countries in the world.
1. Honduras
Honduras doesn't need
a war to claim the terrible title of most dangerous country in the world. It
has the highest homicide rate of any country.
As a Honduran, you
have nearly a one-in-1,000 chance of being murdered. With a population roughly
equal to Virginia's, 36 Hondurans were kidnapped, 7,104 became homicide
victims, and 24,808 were robbed in 2011 (most recent data). With only 3,645
assaults for the same period, you're more likely to be killed than hurt.
Honduras' horrible
situation stems from the coca plant. The Latin American country serves as a key
staging ground for cocaine shipments to the U.S, and drug gangs will do
anything to defend their turf. Eighty percent of the "white
snow" that Americans smoke, snort, or shoot up heads through Honduras.
With money, guns, and
power, drug gangs thrive on civil unrest and political inertia. In November,
gunmen even attempted to kidnap the daughter of the country's former president.
One Honduran woman's brief statement to The
Telegraph perhaps says it best: "The gangs are watching us all
the time and we know that after the military police leave, they will still be
here."
2. Syria
Syria is in turmoil.
While Somalia is in a semi-permanent state of unrest, Syria has been catapulted
into catastrophe for the last three years as rebel fighters have attempted to
overthrow the oppressive President Bashar al-Assad.
Foreign nations have
taken sides, making one of the world's most dangerous countries a potential
catalyst for an entirely more dangerous world, in general. With the United
States and its allies loosely rooting for rebellion while China and Russia back
Bashar, violence in Syria has taken on international significance.
So far, 120,000
people have been killed since the rebellion began, and not even multilateral
organizations are safe. Twelve United Nations staffers have been killed in the
violence, and five Doctors Without Borders staffers were pulled from their
house two weeks ago, "allegedly for questioning," according to
spokesman Michael Goldfarb, as quoted by media.
3. Somalia
If Somalia were
stable enough to keep statistics, they would be shocking. The United Kingdom
Department for International Development calls it "the most fragile state
in the world." Understandably, considering it hasn't had a functioning
government for more than 20 years.
Most infamously known
for its oil tanker-taking pirates, there's plenty of trouble brewing back at
port. The country serves as a terrorist training ground for Al-Shabaab, a group
that killed 74 people in Uganda as spectators watched the 2010 World Cup Final,
and recently slaughtered 67 people in a Nairobi shopping mall.
Al-Shabaab banned
smartphones in its operation areas earlier this year to make drone strikes more
difficult, and last week the group demanded that all telecom companies cut off
Internet in the country in the next 15 days, or face serious consequences.
It ties for most
corrupt country on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index,
and just managed to squeak past Afghanistan's last place spot on the Global
Peace Index from Vision of Humanity.
The Future of the
World's Most Dangerous Countries
Somalia, Syria, and Honduras have felt their fair share of defeat. But the actions of their own citizens, international organizations, and foreign governments show that danger doesn't go ignored. Traveling to these countries is a risk today, but with a universal refusal to allow these atrocities to continue, they may one day be top tourist destinations.
Yahoo
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