A/HRC/24/47 III. Impact of terrorist hostage-taking on human rights 22. Several actors within the United Nations system, including the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism and UNODC, have extensively documented the impact of terrorism on various subcategories of victims and addressed their needs and rights. 42 Obviously, the findings and recommendations therein, including those relating to appropriate legislative and policy measures in favour of victims of terrorism, are equally relevant to victims of terrorist hostage-taking. Particularly relevant are the studies and the resolutions of the Economic and Social Council on international cooperation in the prevention, combating and elimination of kidnapping and in providing assistance to victims, in which the Council expressly includes references to victims of terrorist hostage-taking.43 The elaboration in the section below will mostly focus on the specific impact of terrorist hostage-taking incidents on hostages and local communities, as well as on the incidence that ransoms paid to terrorist groups may have on terrorist and other criminal activities. While the sections below focus on the individual and collective victims of terrorist hostage-taking, it should be borne in mind that responses to the phenomenon should not be in violation of the human rights of hostage-takers.44 A. Human rights of hostages 23. It is widely acknowledged that victims of terrorism in general and terrorist hostagetaking in particular may be individuals, family members, a community or a whole ethnic, religious, racial group or an entire nation. 45 The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism established a distinction between direct, secondary, indirect and potential victims of terrorism.46 Acts of terrorist hostage-taking generate multiple violations of human rights of these different categories of victims. Violations are mainly committed by the hostagetakers; in some cases, however, they occur during counter-terrorism activities. According to the specific circumstances of a terrorist hostage-taking situation, appropriate responses should take into account the interests and concerns of all affected members of society. Responses to hostage-taking situations should respect everyone’s right to life, liberty and security of person as enshrined in numerous human rights instruments and reaffirmed in the preamble to the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages. 24. Victims of hostage-taking situations in general and terrorist hostage-taking in particular “report varying types of treatment, ranging from an almost friendly style (food to 42 43 44 45 46 Insureds Are Undermining U.S. Counterterrorism Policy”, Emory Law Journal, vol. 56, No. 3, 2006, p. 745. See A/HRC/20/14, paras. 10–69; UNODC, Handbook on Criminal Justice Responses to Terrorism, New York, 2009; and UNODC, The Criminal Justice Response to Support Victims of Acts of Terrorism, 2011, available from www.unodc.org/documents/terrorism/Victims_Rights_EBook_EN.pdf. See E/CN.15/2003/7, E/CN.15/2004/7, and Economic and Social Council; resolutions 2002/16, 2006/19 and 2009/24. See also UNODC, Counter-Kidnapping Manual, 2005, available from https://cms.unov.org/documentrepositoryindexer/MultiLanguageAlignment.bitext?DocumentID=d02 6597e-ebdf-4ec9-9eac-94f0bcddee75&DocumentID=39ff4ee9-b06d-4e7f-a59f-bc5415c9206d. See Human Rights, Terrorism and Counter-terrorism, Fact Sheet No. 32, available from www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Factsheet32EN.pdf. See Frank Bolz, Jr. et al., The Counterterrorism Handbook: Tactics, Procedures, and Techniques (2nd ed.) (Boca Raton/ London/ New York /Washington, CRC Press, 2002), p. 89. A/HRC/20/14, para.16. 9