UN Expert Urges Hostage-Taking Be Explicitly Included in Crimes Against Humanity Treaty

Ms Edwards said hostage-taking has increasingly become a deliberate tactic used by both non-state armed groups and States to exert pressure, extract concessions and gain military or political leverage.

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, has called on States negotiating the new Crimes Against Humanity Convention to explicitly include hostage-taking within the treaty’s scope, warning that its absence represents a serious gap in international legal protection.

Ms Edwards said hostage-taking has increasingly become a deliberate tactic used by both non-state armed groups and States to exert pressure, extract concessions and gain military or political leverage. She said the practice inflicts severe physical and psychological suffering on victims and their families and must be clearly recognised in international law.

The draft Convention, currently under negotiation, is intended to prevent and punish some of the gravest crimes committed during widespread or systematic attacks against civilians, while strengthening international cooperation, national prosecutions and accountability mechanisms.

Ms Edwards said she was deeply concerned that despite the profound human cost and the destabilising impact of hostage-taking on societies and international relations, the crime is not expressly addressed in the current negotiating text.

She noted that hostage-taking frequently involves treatment that amounts to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. However, she emphasised that it is also a stand-alone crime under international law, a point recognised by the UN General Assembly in 2025 when it affirmed that hostage-taking may constitute torture and must be prevented.

Victims are often subjected to prolonged detention, isolation, uncertainty and abuse, while their families endure years of anguish, fear and instability. Ms Edwards said the practice erodes trust in institutions, undermines social cohesion and leaves lasting psychological harm across communities.

In conflict settings, she warned, hostage-taking can also prolong violence. Negotiations over detainees may stall peace processes, incentivise further abductions and entrench cycles of retaliation.

Explicitly including hostage-taking as a crime against humanity would strengthen States’ ability to investigate and prosecute perpetrators, improve international cooperation and send a clear message that civilians must never be used as bargaining tools, Ms Edwards said.

She urged States to use the current negotiations to close accountability gaps and ensure the Convention reflects contemporary realities.

Ms Edwards said the Crimes Against Humanity Convention will shape international law for decades, and warned that leaving hostage-taking outside its scope would be a lasting omission with serious consequences for survivors, their families and the international community.