A/HRC/20/14 rehabilitation” (A/HRC/16/51, para. 25). The Special Rapporteur adopts this recommendation. To promote prompt and effective action at the United Nations level, the recommendations in the present report are restricted to the obligations owed by States to natural persons who have suffered death or serious injury or to their next-of-kin. The distribution of financial responsibility for compensating the purely commercial interests of legal persons and the provision of compensation for damage to property raise complex questions of social policy and insurance where national practices vary widely. These differences should not be allowed to obscure or delay effective international action to protect the human victims of terrorism through the adoption of a single normative scheme declaring and protecting their rights. Furthermore, in recognition of the special status of victims of terrorism, the Special Rapporteur recommends that States establish reparation programmes that are independent of any remedies available for alleged violations of the rights of persons suspected or accused of involvement in acts of terrorism. IV. Conclusions and recommendations A. Conclusions 63. The Special Rapporteur considers that the victims of terrorism share certain common characteristics which distinguish them from the victims of other crimes of violence. Those shared characteristics call for international recognition through a specific normative framework developed under the auspices of the United Nations. 64. The Special Rapporteur considers deliberate infliction of lethal or potentially lethal violence by non-State actors in the course of an act of terrorism amounts, in all cases where death or serious physical or psychological injury results, to a grave violation of the human rights of the victim, irrespective of the question of direct or indirect State responsibility. He notes, however, that acceptance of this principle is not essential for acceptance of the recommendations made in this report. 65. The following persons are to be considered as victims of terrorism: (a) natural persons who have been killed or suffered serious physical or psychological injury through the commission of an act of terrorism (direct victims); (b) the next-of-kin or dependants of a direct victim (secondary victims); (c) innocent individuals who have been killed or suffered serious injury indirectly attributable to an act of terrorism (indirect victims); and (d) potential future victims of terrorism. B. Recommendations 66. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States take effective international action to protect the human victims of terrorism through the adoption of a specific normative framework declaring and protecting their rights. The international community, acting under the auspices of the United Nations, should therefore take steps towards enshrining the human rights set out in this report and the corresponding obligations on States in a specific international instrument. 67. Pending the adoption of such an instrument, States should review their national legislation, procedures and practice and make all necessary amendments to bring them into line with the following Framework principles for securing the human rights of victims of terrorism: (a) The State’s obligation to protect and secure the right to life includes the duty to take appropriate steps to safeguard the lives of individuals within its 18