taking of hostages

Hostage taking is when someone “seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure, or to continue to detain another person in order to compel a third person or a governmental organization to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the person detained, or attempts or conspires to do so.” See: 18 U.S. Code § 1203 - Hostage taking

The taking of hostages, if perpetrated as part of an armed conflict, is a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The prosecutor must show the following elements:

• The perpetrator seized, detained, or otherwise held the victim(s) hostage;
• The perpetrator threatened to kill, injure, or persist in detaining the victim(s);
• The perpetrator intended to compel a state, international organization, or persons to act or refrain from acting as a condition for the safety or release of the victim(s);
• The victim(s) were protected under the Geneva Conventions of 1949;
• The conduct took place in the context of an international armed conflict.

[Last reviewed in June of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]

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