1. The offence of taking hostages within the meaning of this Convention, any person who takes possession of a person (hereinafter referred to as "hostage"), or holds it and threatens to kill, injure or continue to hold the person in order to compel a third party Party, namely a State, an international intergovernmental organization, a natural or legal person or a group of persons, to perform any act or to refrain from doing so as an explicit or implicit condition of the release of The hostage.

2. Any person who is guilty of an offence for the purposes of this Convention:

(a)

Attempts to commit an act of taking a otages; or

(b)

Is complicit in a person who commits or attempts to commit an act of hostage-taking.

Each State Party shall reprimand the offences provided for in the first article of appropriate penalties which take into account the serious nature of such offences.

(1) The State Party on whose territory the hostage is held by the offender shall take any measures it deems appropriate to improve the fate of the hostage, in particular to ensure his release and, if necessary, facilitate his departure after his Release.

2. If an object obtained by the perpetrator of the offence of the taking of hostages is to be held by a State Party, the State Party shall return it as soon as possible to the hostage or to the third party referred to in Article 1, as the case may be, or to their authorities Appropriate.

The States Parties shall cooperate in the prevention of the offences provided for in Article 1, in particular:

(a)

Taking all possible measures to prevent the preparation, in their respective territories, of such offences intended to be committed within or outside their territory, including measures to prohibit them Territory the illegal activities of individuals, groups and organizations that encourage, foment, organize or carry out key acts of hostage-taking;

(b)

Exchanging information and coordinating administrative and other measures, where appropriate, to prevent the commission of such offences.

1. Each State Party shall take the necessary measures to establish its jurisdiction for the purposes of the offences set out in Article 1, which are committed:

(a)

On its territory or on board a ship or aircraft registered in that State;

(b)

By any of its nationals, or, if the State considers it appropriate, by stateless persons who have their habitual residence in its territory;

(c)

To compel him to perform any act or to refrain from doing so; 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 the offences provided for in Article 1 in the case where the alleged offender is on its territory and where the State does not extradite him Not to any of the States referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.

(3) This Convention does not exclude criminal jurisdiction exercised under domestic law.

1. If it considers that the circumstances so warrant, any State Party on whose territory the alleged offender is located shall, in accordance with its law, ensure that the person is detained or takes any other measures necessary for the Ensure the person, during the time required for the initiation of criminal proceedings or extradition proceedings. The State Party shall immediately carry out a preliminary investigation with a view to establishing the facts.

2. The detention or other measures referred to in paragraph 1 of this article shall be notified without delay directly or through the Secretary-General of the United Nations:

(a)

The State in which the offence was committed;

(b)

To the State which has been the subject of the constraint or attempt at constraint;

(c)

To the State of which the natural or legal person who has been the subject of coercion or attempted coercion has nationality;

(d)

To the State of which the hostage is a national or in whose territory he has his habitual residence;

(e)

To the State where the alleged offender has the nationality or, if the latter is stateless, to the State in whose territory he has his habitual residence;

(f)

The international intergovernmental 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 of this Article are taken shall be entitled:

(a)

To communicate without delay with the competent representative closest to the State of which it is a national or otherwise entitled to establish such communication or, if it is a stateless person, of the State in whose territory it has its own Usual residence;

(b)

To receive a visit from a representative of that 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 whose territory the alleged offender 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 (b), to invite the International Committee of the Red Cross to communicate With the alleged offender and to visit him.

(6) The State conducting the preliminary inquiry referred to in paragraph 1 of this article shall promptly communicate its findings to the States or the organization referred to in paragraph 2 of this article and shall indicate whether it intends to exercise its jurisdiction.

The State Party in which criminal proceedings have been instituted against the alleged offender shall communicate in accordance with its laws the final result to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall inform the other States Interested parties and international intergovernmental organizations concerned.

The State Party in whose territory the alleged offender is found, if it does not extradite the alleged offender, submits the case, without any exception, and whether or not the offence has been committed in its territory, has its competent authorities For the exercise of criminal proceedings in accordance with a procedure in accordance with the law of that State. These authorities shall take their decision under the same conditions as for any infringement of a common law of a serious nature in accordance with the laws of that State.

(2) Any person against whom proceedings are instituted on the basis of one of the offences provided for in Article 1 shall enjoy the guarantee of equitable treatment at all stages of the proceedings, including the enjoyment of all rights and Guaranteed by the law of the State in whose territory it is located.

It shall not be entitled to an extradition request submitted under this Convention in respect of an alleged offender of the offence if the requested State Party has substantial grounds to believe:

(a)

That the request for extradition in respect of an offence under article 1 has been made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing a person in respect of his or her race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin or opinions Policies; or

(b)

The position of that person is likely to be prejudicable:

(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 right to exercise the rights of protection cannot communicate with it.

2. In relation 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 in so far as they are incompatible with This Convention.

1. The offences provided for in Article 1 shall be fully understood as extraditable offences in any extradition treaty between States Parties. States Parties undertake to understand these offences as extraditable offences in any extradition treaty to be concluded between them.

(2) If a State Party which makes extradition conditional on the existence of a treaty receives a request for extradition by another State Party with which it is not bound by an extradition treaty, the requested State shall have the discretion to consider the present Convention as the legal basis for extradition in respect of the offences set out in Article 1.

Extradition shall be subject to the other conditions laid down by the law of the requested State.

States Parties which do not make extradition conditional on the existence of a treaty shall recognise the offences provided for in Article 1 as extraditable offences between them under the conditions laid down by the law of the requested State.

4. Between States Parties, the offences provided for in Article 1 shall be considered for the purposes of 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. Article 5.

1. States Parties shall afford the widest measure of mutual legal assistance in any criminal proceedings relating to the offences provided for in Article 1, including the communication of all the evidence before them And are necessary for the purposes of the procedure.

2. The provisions of paragraph 1 of this article shall not affect the obligations relating to mutual legal assistance stipulated in any other treaty.

To the extent that the Geneva Conventions of 1949 ¹ For the protection of war victims or the Additional Protocols ² To such agreements shall apply to an act of special hostage-taking, and to the extent that the States party to this Convention are obliged, by virtue of those conventions, to prosecute or surrender the author of the hostage-taking, the present Convention does not apply to acts of hostage-taking during armed conflicts within the meaning of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Protocols thereto, including armed conflicts referred to in article 1, paragraph 4, of the Protocol Additional I of 1977, in which the peoples struggle against colonial domination and 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 between States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

This Convention shall not apply where the offence is committed in the territory of a single State, that the hostage and the alleged offender have the nationality of that State and that the alleged offender is discovered on the Territory of that State.

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.

The provisions of this Convention shall not affect the application of the treaties on asylum, in force on the date of adoption of the said Convention, with regard to the States which are party to those treaties; but a State Party to the present Convention may not invoke those treaties in respect of another State Party to the present Convention, which is not a party to those treaties.

1. Any dispute between two or more States Parties concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention which is not settled by negotiation shall be submitted to arbitration at the request of one of them. If, within six months after the date of the request for arbitration, the parties fail to agree on the organization of the arbitration, any one of them may refer the dispute to the International Court of Justice, in 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 of this article. The other States Parties shall not be bound by those provisions to a State Party which has formulated such a reservation.

(3) Any State Party which has made a reservation in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of this article may at any time withdraw that reservation by a notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

(1) This Convention shall be open for signature by all States until 31 December 1980 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

2. This Convention shall be ratified. Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

(3) This Convention shall be open for accession by any State. Instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

(1) This Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after 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 by that State of its instrument of Ratification or accession.

1. Any State Party may denounce this Convention by written notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

(2) Denunciation shall take effect one year after the date on which the notification has been received by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

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 transmit certified copies thereof to all States.

In witness whereof, The undersigned, duly authorized to that effect by their respective Governments, have signed this Convention, which was opened for signature in New York on 18 December 1979.

(Suivent signatures)