A hostage situation is one in which a person(s) takes control over another person(s), is demanding some type of action and not allowing the person(s) being held to leave. The hostage taker is not actively killing or injuring people. The hostage taker is holding people against their will..
Is hostage-taking an act of war?
According to Article 22(2)(a) of the 1991 ILC Draft Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind, “acts of … taking of hostages” are considered as an exceptionally serious war crime and as a serious violation of the principles and rules of international law applicable in armed conflict..
What are the motives behind hostage-taking?
Hostage-taking is still often politically motivated or intended to raise a ransom or to enforce an exchange against other hostages or even condemned convicts. However, in some countries hostage-taking for profit has become an "industry", ransom often being the only demand..
What is the act of being held hostage?
A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, or refrain from acting, in a certain way, often under threat of serious physical .
What is the act of hostage taking?
Hostage taking is defined as the seizing or detention of an individual coupled with a threat to kill, injure or continue to detain such individual in order to compel a third person or governmental organization to take some action..
What is the act of hostage-taking?
Hostage taking is defined as the seizing or detention of an individual coupled with a threat to kill, injure or continue to detain such individual in order to compel a third person or governmental organization to take some action..
What is the definition of hostage in the Geneva Convention?
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) accurately defines hostage-taking as “the seizure, detention or otherwise holding of a person (the hostage) accompanied by the threat to kill, injure or continue to detain that person in order to compel a third party to do or to abstain from doing any act as an Oct 11, 2023.
What is the international humanitarian law for hostage?
International and non-international armed conflicts Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions prohibits the taking of hostages. [1] It is also prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention and is considered a grave breach thereof..
What is the most famous hostage situation?
On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the embassy and detained more than 50 Americans, ranging from the Chargé d'Affaires to the most junior members of the staff, as hostages. The Iranians held the American diplomats hostage for 444 days..
What is the protocol for a hostage situation?
If you are taken hostage: Remain calm, be polite, and cooperate with your captors. DO NOT attempt escape unless there is an extremely good chance of survival. It is safer to be submissive and obey your captors. Speak normally..
Why are people taken hostage?
Some are kidnapped by terrorist groups, others by criminal gangs. Criminals are looking to extort money. Terrorists might be looking for money, the exchange of prisoners, a change in policy or to gain propaganda. The motives vary from group to group, place to place and over time..
A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, or refrain from acting, in a certain way, often under threat of serious physical
taking of hostages” are considered as an exceptionally serious war crime and as a serious violation of the principles and rules of international law applicable in armed conflict.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) accurately defines hostage-taking as “the seizure, detention or otherwise holding of a person (the hostage) accompanied by the threat to kill, injure or continue to detain that person in order to compel a third party to do or to abstain from doing any act as an Oct 11, 2023
International humanitarian law prohibits taking and executing hostages. Such acts are considered war crimes (GCI–IV Common Art.
hostage-taking in international law. According to the definition given in Art. 1 of the 1979 International. Convention against the Taking of Hostages, it can
Indeed, hostage-taking constitutes a crime against international law involving individual penal responsibility, and qualifies as a war crime under humanitarian law.
State practice establishes this rule as a norm of customary international law applicable in both international and non-international armed conflicts.
The International Convention against the Taking of Hostages defines the offence as the seizure or detention of a person (the hostage), combined with threatening to kill, to injure or to continue to detain the hostage, in order to compel a third party to do or to abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit
Can a person take a civilian hostage?
Although the prohibition of hostage-taking is specified in the Fourth Geneva Convention and is typically associated with the holding of civilians as hostages, there is no indication that the offence is limited to taking civilians hostage.
Does international human rights law prohibit 'hostage-taking'?
International human rights law does not specifically prohibit “hostage-taking”, but the practice is prohibited by virtue of non-derogable human rights law because it amounts to an arbitrary deprivation of liberty (see Rule 99).
Is hostage taking a war crime?
“Hostage taking is absolutely prohibited under international law and constitutes a war crime. ICRC access must be provided to those taken hostage, and the hostages must receive medical care. No harm must come to the hostages taken and held incommunicado by Hamas. They must be released,” the experts said.
Was the List A departure from international law?
These provisions were to some extent a departure from international law as it stood at that time, articulated in the List (Hostages Trial) case in 1948, in which the US Military Tribunal at Nuremberg did not rule out the possibility of an occupying power taking hostages as a measure of last resort and under certain strict conditions.
Is hostage-taking a crime under international law?
Belgium’s Law concerning the Repression of Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols (1993), as amended in 1999, provides that hostage-taking constitutes a crime under international law
Should the United Nations take a hostage?
There is absolutely no basis on which to countenance the taking of anyone hostage, let alone doing that to unarmed personnel of other nations participating in the work of the United Nations and trying to bring about and maintain a peace in a vicious civil war in which innocent civilians are being subjected to atrocities on widespread basis
Why is a proclamation necessary to a lawful taking of hostages?
It is essential to a lawful taking of hostages under customary law that proclamation be made, giving the name and addresses of hostages taken, notifying the population that upon the recurrence of stated acts of war treason that the hostages will be shot
585
However, the context of the quote illustrates the necessity for the requirement
International law hostage
Person seized by abductor to compel action by another party
A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, or refrain from acting, in a certain way, often under threat of serious physical harm or death to the hostage(s) after expiration of an ultimatum. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition defines a hostage as a person who is handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war.
1979 international criminal law treaty
The Hostages Convention is a United Nations treaty by which states agree to prohibit and punish hostage taking. The treaty includes definitions of hostage and hostage taking and sets out the principle of aut dedere aut judicare: a party to the treaty must prosecute a hostage taker if no other state requests extradition for prosecution of the same crime.
The Hostages Trial was held from\n8 July
1947–8 war crimes trial in Nuremberg, Germany
The Hostages Trial was held from 8 July 1947 until 19 February 1948 and was the seventh of the twelve trials for war crimes that United States authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II. These twelve trials were all held before US military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms at the Palace of Justice. The twelve US trials are collectively known as the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials or, more formally, as the Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT).
The Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (
Elite tactical unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) elite tactical unit. The HRT was formed to provide a full-time federal law enforcement tactical capability to respond to major terrorist incidents throughout the United States. Today, the HRT performs a number of tactical law enforcement and national security functions in high-risk environments and conditions and has deployed overseas, including with military Joint Special Operations Command units.
The Japanese embassy hostage crisis began on 17 December 1996 in
1996–1997 hostage crisis in Lima, Peru
The Japanese embassy hostage crisis began on 17 December 1996 in Lima, Peru, when 14 members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) took hostage hundreds of high-level diplomats, government and military officials and business executives. They were attending a party at the official residence of the Japanese ambassador to Peru, Morihisa Aoki, in celebration of Emperor Akihito's 63rd birthday. Although the crisis took place at the ambassadorial residence in San Isidro rather than at the embassy proper, it is often referred to as the Japanese embassy hostage crisis.
The Mapenduma hostage crisis began on 8 January 1996 after the Free Papua Movement took 26 members of a World Wildlife Fund research mission captive at Mapenduma, Jayawijaya in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. The hostages were subsequently moved to Geselama. The International Committee of the Red Cross acted as an intermediary between the OPM and the Indonesian authorities. Fifteen hostages, all of Indonesian nationality, were released relatively quickly, but eleven remained in OPM hands. After lengthy negotiations the ICRC secured an agreement for the release of the remaining hostages on 8 May. However, the OPM leader, Kelly Kwalik, backed out of the agreement on the day of the intended release. The ICRC removed itself from the negotiations and stated that the Indonesian Army was no longer bound by an agreement not to engage in combat with the hostage takers.
