Geneva – Office of The United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights, Jan. 29, 2026
The Special Rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, today urged States negotiating the new Crimes Against Humanity Convention to explicitly include hostage-taking within its scope, warning that its omission represents a serious gap in international protection.
“This is a major oversight,” Edwards said. “Hostage-taking has become an increasingly deliberate tactic used by parties to conflicts, and by States themselves, to exert pressure, extract concessions or gain military leverage. It inflicts severe suffering – both physical and psychological – and must be recognised.”
The draft Convention, currently under negotiation by States, aims to prevent and punish some of the gravest crimes known to humanity taking place during widespread or systematic attacks against civilians, and strengthen international cooperation, national prosecution and accountability for perpetrators.
“I am concerned that despite the profound human cost to civilians and the corrosive impact on societies and international relations, the practice is not expressly addressed in the current text under negotiation,” the Special Rapporteur said.
