On 18 December 1979, at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages was opened for signature. It had been adopted the previous day by the General Assembly, resolution 34/146. The original is deposited with the Secretary-General; the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic (Article 20). It remained open for signature by all States until 31 December 1980; thereafter ratification and accession, instruments with the Secretary-General (Article 17). Registration: UNTS 21931, volume 1316.

Article 1 defines, in law, the offence: any person who seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure or to continue to detain another person (the hostage) in order to compel a third party — a State, an international intergovernmental organization, a natural or juridical person, or a group of persons — to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostage. Attempt and complicity are likewise offences. This is not a handbook of hostage-taking; it is a framework of international criminal law. Article 2: each State Party shall make the offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature.

Article 3: the State Party in whose territory the hostage is held shall take all measures it considers appropriate to ease the situation of the hostage, in particular to secure release and, afterwards, departure. Article 5: jurisdiction when the offence is committed in its territory or on board a ship or aircraft registered there; by its nationals (and, if it considers it appropriate, stateless persons habitually resident there); in order to compel that State; and, if it considers it appropriate, when the hostage is its national; and where the alleged offender is present and it does not extradite. Article 8: aut dedere aut judicare — without exception whatsoever, the case shall be submitted to the competent authorities if there is no extradition. Fair treatment throughout the proceedings.

Article 9: extradition shall not be granted if the requested State Party has substantial grounds for believing that the request has been made for the purpose of prosecuting a person on account of race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin or political opinion, or that the person’s position may be prejudiced. Article 10: the offences shall be deemed extraditable. Article 12: the Convention shall not apply to an act of hostage-taking committed in the course of armed conflicts, in so far as the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Protocols thereto apply. Article 13: it shall not apply where the offence is committed within a single State, the hostage and the alleged offender are nationals of that State and the alleged offender is found there. Article 14: nothing in the Convention shall be construed as justifying the violation of the territorial integrity or political independence of a State in contravention of the Charter of the United Nations.

Article 16: disputes to negotiation, then arbitration or the ICJ, with a permitted reservation to Article 16(1). Article 18(1): the Convention enters into force on the thirtieth day following the deposit of the twenty-second instrument of ratification or accession. Entry into force: 3 June 1983. Article 19: denunciation by written notification to the Secretary-General.

The Convention is not a treaty on asylum (Article 15). The list of non-parties is not set out here.

The General Assembly Hall, United Nations Headquarters, New York, the place of opening for signature, not a particular signing room. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

For context: Hostages Convention. The text: International Convention against the Taking of Hostages.