NCJ Number
76054
Journal
Terrorism Volume: 5 Issue: 1 and 2 Dated: (1981) Pages: 139-160
Date Published
1981
Length
22 pages
Annotation
The central political issues that pervaded the debates from 1975 to 1979 at the United Nations over a proposed West German international convention banning the taking of hostages are reviewed.
Abstract
The draft resolution introduced by West Germany in concert with 16 other states into the U.N. General Assembly in November 1976 was essentially a procedural resolution that called for the establishment of an ad hoc committee charged with a mandate to draw up an international convention 'on the basis that the taking of hostages should be condemned, prohibited and punished and that persons that perpetrate such acts should be prosecuted or extradited for the purpose of prosecution.' However, Third World countries, wishing to make allowance for the political motivations of the hostage-takers, sought to exclude 'any act or acts carried out in the process of national liberation against colonial rule, racist or foreign regimes, by liberation movements recognized by the United Nations or regional organizations.' Compromise solutions on the questions of violating sovereignty and territorial integrity under the pretext of taking hostages and on the right of political asylum were achieved. However, the question of whether to include wars of national liberation within the scope of the proposed convention was left unresolved, as indicated by the contradictory language between Article 12 of the convention and the Additional Protocol I of June 1977, cited by the same convention. This inherent tautology in the convention, which was required to insure its adoption by the General Assembly, will undoubtedly hinder its general ratification by individual countries and subsequent entry into force. Eighty-four legal notes are provided.