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3 MARCH 1999. - An Act to approve the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages, made in New York on 17 December 1979 (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The International Convention against the Taking of Hostages, made in New York on 17 December 1979, will come out with its full effect.
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 3 March 1999.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
E. DERYCKE
Minister of Justice,
T. VAN PARYS
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
T. VAN PARYS
____
Note
(1) 1998-1999 session:
Senate.
Documents. - Bill tabled on 9 October 1998, No. 1-1110/1. - Report, no. 1-1110/2. - Text adopted in session and transmitted to the Chamber, No. 1-1110/3.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of 17 December 1998. - Vote, meeting of 17 December 1998.
Room.
Documents. - Project transmitted by the Senate, No. 49-1896/1. - Report, No. 49-1896/2.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of 27 January 1999. - Vote, meeting of 28 January 1999.

Convention internationale contre la prise d'otages
States parties to this Convention,
Bearing in mind the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations concerning the maintenance of international peace and security and the development of friendly relations and cooperation among States,
Recognizing in particular that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of his or her person as provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
Reaffirming the principle of equal rights of peoples and their right to self-determination enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and in the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as well as in other relevant General Assembly resolutions,
Considering that hostage-taking is an offence of grave concern to the international community and that, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, anyone who commits an act of hostage-taking must be prosecuted or extradited,
Convinced of the urgent need to develop international cooperation among States with regard to the development and adoption of effective measures to prevent, punish and punish all acts of hostage-taking as manifestations of international terrorism,
The following agreed:
Article 1^er
1. Commets the hostage-taking offence within the meaning of this Convention, any person who seizes a person (hereinafter referred to as a hostage), or holds it and threatens to kill, hurt or continue to hold it in order to force a third party, i.e. a State, an intergovernmental international organization, an implied person or a group of persons, to refrain from any act or to refrain from it
2. Also commits an offence for the purposes of this Convention, anyone who:
(a) Tent to commit an act of hostage taking or
(b) Makes an accomplice of a person who commits or tries to commit an act of hostage taking.
Article 2
Any State Party shall punish the offences provided for in article 1 of appropriate penalties that take into account the grave nature of such offences.
Article 3
1. The State Party in whose territory the hostage is held by the perpetrator of the offence shall take all measures that it considers appropriate to improve the fate of the hostage, in particular to ensure its release and, if necessary, facilitate its departure after its release.
2. If an object obtained by the perpetrator of the offence as a result of the hostage taking is to be held by a State Party, the State Party shall return it as soon as possible to the hostage or third party referred to in article 1, as the case may be, or to their appropriate authorities.
Article 4
States Parties shall cooperate in the prevention of offences under Article 1, including:
(a) By taking all possible measures to prevent the preparation, in their respective territories, of these offences intended to be committed within or outside their territory, including measures to ban on their territory the illegal activities of individuals, groups and organizations that encourage, foment, organize or commit acts of hostage-taking;
(b) By exchanging information and coordinating administrative and other measures, where appropriate, to prevent the commission of such offences.
Article 5
1. Any State Party shall take the necessary measures to establish its jurisdiction for the purpose of ascertaining the offences provided for in Article 1^ercommitted:
(a) On its territory or on board a ship or aircraft registered in that State;
(b) By any of its nationals, or, if that State deems it appropriate, by stateless persons who have their habitual residence in its territory;
(c) To compel him to perform or refrain from any act; or
(d) Against a hostage who is a national of that State when the latter considers it appropriate.
2. Likewise, any State Party shall take the necessary measures to establish its jurisdiction for the purpose of knowing offences provided for in article 1 in the event that the alleged perpetrator of the offence is on its territory and where the State does not extradite him to any of the States referred to in paragraph 1^er of this article.
3. This Convention does not exclude criminal jurisdiction under domestic legislation.
Article 6
1. If the State party considers that the circumstances warrant it, any State Party in the territory of which the alleged perpetrator of the offence is located shall, in accordance with its legislation, ensure that the person is detained or take any other measures necessary to ensure that the person is detained, during the period necessary to initiate criminal proceedings or extradition proceedings. This State Party shall immediately conduct a preliminary inquiry to establish the facts.
2. Detention or other measures referred to in paragraph 1^er of this article shall be notified without delay directly or through the Secretary-General of the United Nations:
(a) The State where the offence was committed;
(b) To the State that has been subjected to coercion or attempted coercion;
(c) A State whose natural or legal person who has been subjected to coercion or attempted coercion has nationality;
(d) A State whose hostage is a national or territory of which he has his habitual residence;
(e) A State whose alleged perpetrator of the offence has nationality or, if stateless, the State in whose territory he has his habitual residence;
(f) To the intergovernmental international organization that has been the subject of coercion or attempted coercion;
(g) To all other interested States.
3. Any person in respect of whom the measures referred to in paragraph 1 are taken^er of this article shall be entitled to:
(a) To communicate without delay with the competent representative closest to the State of which she is a national or otherwise authorized to establish such communication or, if it is a stateless person, the State in whose territory she has her habitual residence;
(b) To receive a visit from a representative of this State.
4. The rights referred to in paragraph 3 of this article shall be exercised within the framework of the laws and regulations of the State in the territory of which the alleged perpetrator of the offence is located, provided that such laws and regulations shall permit the full realization of the purposes for which the rights are granted under paragraph 3 of this article.
5. The provisions of paragraphs 3 and 4 of this article shall be without prejudice to the right of any State Party, having established its jurisdiction in accordance with article 5, paragraph 1 (b), to invite the International Committee of the Red Cross to communicate with the alleged perpetrator of the offence and to visit it.
6. The State conducting the preliminary inquiry referred to in paragraph 1 of this article shall promptly communicate the findings to the States or to the organization referred to in paragraph 2 of this article and shall indicate whether it intends to exercise its jurisdiction.
Article 7
The State party in which a criminal action has been initiated against the alleged perpetrator of the offence shall communicate in accordance with its laws the final result to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall inform the other interested States and international intergovernmental organizations concerned.
Article 8
1. The State Party in whose territory the alleged perpetrator of the offence is discovered, if he does not extradite the latter, submits the case, without any exceptions, and whether or not the offence has been committed in its territory, to its competent authorities for the exercise of the criminal action in accordance with a procedure consistent with the law of that State. These authorities shall take their decisions in the same conditions as for any offence of ordinary law of a serious nature in accordance with the laws of that State.
2. Any person against whom proceedings are instituted because of one of the offences provided for in article 1 shall be guaranteed fair treatment at all stages of the proceedings, including the enjoyment of all rights and guarantees provided for by the law of the State in the territory of which it is located.
Article 9
1. A request for extradition under this Convention shall not be granted in respect of an alleged perpetrator of the offence if the requested State Party has substantial grounds for believing:
(a) That the application for extradition in respect of an offence under section 1 has been submitted for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing a person in consideration of his or her race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin or political opinion; or
(b) That the person's position may be prejudiced:
(i) For any of the reasons referred to in paragraph (a) of this paragraph, or
(ii) For the reason that the competent authorities of the State having the capacity to exercise protection rights cannot communicate with it.
2. With respect to the offences defined in this Convention, the provisions of all treaties and extradition arrangements applicable between States parties shall be amended between those States parties to the extent that they are incompatible with this Convention.
Article 10
1. Offences under Article 1^er are fully understood as extradition cases in all extradition treaties between States parties. States parties undertake to understand these offences as extradition cases in any extradition treaty to be concluded between them.
2. If a State Party that subordinates extradition to the existence of a treaty is seized with a request for extradition by another State Party with which it is not bound by an extradition treaty, the requested State has the discretion to consider this Convention as the legal basis for extradition with respect to the offences provided for in Article 1. Extradition is subject to the other conditions provided by the law of the requested State.
3. States parties that do not subordinate the extradition to the existence of a treaty recognize the offences provided for in Article 1 as cases of extradition between them in the soitions provided by the law of the requested State.
4. Between States parties, the offences provided for in article 1 shall be considered for extradition as having been committed both in the place of their commission and in the territory of the States required to establish their jurisdiction under paragraph 1^er of Article 5.
Article 11
1. States parties shall accord the widest possible mutual legal assistance in any criminal proceedings relating to the offences provided for in article 1, including with regard to the communication of all the evidence available to them and which are necessary for the purposes of the proceedings.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1^er of this article shall not affect the obligations relating to mutual legal assistance stipulated in any other treaty.
Article 12
To the extent that the 1949 Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War or the Additional Protocols to these Conventions are applicable to a particular hostage-taking act, and to the extent that the States parties to this Convention are required, under these Conventions, to prosecute or deliver the author of hostage-taking, this Convention does not apply to an act of hostage-taking committed in the course of armed conflicts^er Additional Protocol 1 of 1977, in which peoples struggle against colonial domination and foreign occupation and against racist regimes, in the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and in the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
Article 13
This Convention is not applicable where the offence is committed in the territory of a single State, that the hostage and the alleged perpetrator of the offence have the nationality of that State and that the alleged perpetrator of the offence is discovered in the territory of that State.
Article 14
Nothing in this 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 15
The provisions of this Convention shall not affect the application of the asylum treaties, in force on the date of adoption of the said Convention, with respect to the States that are parties to these treaties; but a State Party to this Convention may not invoke these treaties with respect to another State Party to this Convention that is not a party to these treaties.
Article 16
1. Any dispute between two or more States parties concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention that is not settled by negotiation shall be subject to arbitration at the request of one of them. If, within six months after the date of the application for arbitration, the parties fail to agree on the organization of the arbitration, any of them may submit the dispute to the International Court of Justice, by filing a request in accordance with the Statute of the Court.
2. Any State may, at the time of signing this Convention, ratify or accede to it, declare that it does not consider itself bound by the provisions of paragraph 1^er of this article. The other States parties shall not be bound by the said provisions to a State Party which has formulated such a reservation.
3. Any State Party that has made a reservation in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of this article may at any time withdraw this reservation by a notification addressed to the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Article 17
1. This Convention is open for signature by all States, until 31 December 1980, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
2. This Convention will be ratified. Instruments of ratification will be deposited with the Secretary General of the United Nations.
3. This Convention is open to the accession of any State. The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Article 18
1. This Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit with the Secretary General of the United Nations of the twenty-second instrument of ratification or accession.
2. For each State ratifying or acceding to the Convention after the deposit of the twenty-second instrument of ratification or accession, the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the deposit of its instrument of ratification or accession by that State.
Article 19
1. Any State Party may denounce this Convention by means of written notification addressed to the Secretary General of the United Nations.
2. The denunciation shall take effect one year after the date on which the notification was received by the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Rule 20
The original of this Convention, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the United Nations, who shall maintain certified copies thereof to all States.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, duly authorized for this purpose by their respective Governments, have signed this Convention, which was opened for signature in New York on 18 December 1979.

CONVENTION INTERNATIONALE CONTRE LA PRISE D'OTAGES, FAITE A NEW YORK LE 17 DECEMBRE 1979
Related States
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