Prevention of Taking and Killing of Hostages: International Legal Regulation

Abstract

In the 21st century, the threat of international terrorism has replaced the threat of "classic" military confrontations inherent in previous centuries. Despite the fact that terrorist attacks are usually aimed at achieving political goals, however, human lives often become a means of achieving such goals, which creates many challenges not only for world politics and global security but also for internal legal regulation. The issue of the legal definition of the taking and killing of hostages as the methods and types of committing terrorist acts is often fraught with significant difficulties. Using the method of comparative legal analysis, this study analyzes the legal norms of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which provide for punishment for the murder of hostages, as well as some problems of interpreting these legal norms in the context of foreign experience. Having studied these circumstances, the authors emphasize the importance of differentiating the dispositive norms of the Criminal Code of Ukraine related to the murder of hostages. The study shows that the Crimi-