UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Dr. Alice Jill Edwards is due to present a report in Geneva on Wednesday that will recognize hostage families as victims of Hamas psychological terror, according to an advance copy of the report available on the UN’s website. Edwards’ report could pave the way for families of hostages to file legal claims against Hamas in international tribunals.
“The rise in the number of incidents of State hostage-taking, particularly by a small group of repeat offenders, alongside the continued prevalence of non-State hostage-taking, demand collective international attention. Research for the present report has consistently highlighted the severe psychological and physical harm suffered by hostages. These traumatic events also leave a lasting impact on their families, their communities and, in some extreme cases, entire nations,” the report said.
It called on governments and international institutions to “Recognize that both hostages and their family members constitute victims who are entitled to effective reparation, rehabilitation and support,” and to “Establish available, accessible and appropriate support systems to assist hostages and their families that address the psychological, physical and economic consequences of being taken hostage.”
The report also called on prosecutors at the International Criminal Court “to pursue investigations into and prosecutions of hostage-taking and torture” and for the creation of a United Nations fund to support hostages that would be “funded in part by confiscations of financial assets and property imposed by sanctions.”
Edwards’ report was based on visits to Yazidi survivors of ISIS captivity in Iraq, and meetings with torture survivors from 14 sub-Saharan countries. In December, Edwards visited Israeli communities near the Gaza border and met with families of the hostages.
At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 59 remaining hostages, 36 are believed to be dead.
