| Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft | |
|---|---|
| Type | Aviation,international criminal law, anti-terrorism |
| Drafted | September/October 1969[1] |
| Signed | 16 December 1970[1] |
| Location | The Hague, Netherlands[1] |
| Effective | 14 October 1971[1] |
| Condition | 10 ratifications |
| Signatories | 75 |
| Parties | 187 |
| Depositary | Governments of the United Kingdom, United States, and Russia (originally theSoviet Union) |
| Languages | English, French, Russian and Spanish |
TheHague Hijacking Convention (formally theConvention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft) is amultilateral treaty by which states agree to prohibit and punishaircraft hijacking.[1] The convention does not apply to customs, law enforcement or military aircraft, thus it applies exclusively to civilian aircraft. The convention only addresses situations in which an aircraft takes off or lands in a place different from its country of registration. The convention sets out the principle ofaut dedere aut judicare—that a party to the treaty must prosecute an aircraft hijacker if no other state requests his or herextradition for prosecution of the same crime.
The convention was adopted by the International Conference on Air Law atThe Hague on 16 December 1970.[1] It came into force on 14 October 1971[1] after it had been ratified by 10 states. As of 2025, the convention has 187 state parties.
The convention has 187 state parties, which includes 185UN members plus theCook Islands andNiue. The 8 UN member states that arenot parties to the treaty are:
Burundi
East Timor
Eritrea
Kiribati
Federated States of Micronesia
Solomon Islands
South Sudan
TuvaluOf these 8 states, the convention has been signed but not ratified by Burundi.
Former state parties that were not formally succeeded by any existing state includeCzechoslovakia,East Germany,South Vietnam, andYugoslavia. A number of states ratified but have since been succeeded by new states:Serbia ratified as theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia; Russia ratified as theSoviet Union;Belarus ratified as theByelorussian SSR; andUkraine ratified as theUkrainian SSR. Prior to the unification ofYemen, bothNorth andSouth Yemen had ratified the convention. TheRepublic of China signed and ratified the agreement; in 1980, the People's Republic of China approved the treaty with a statement that it declared the Republic of China's actions with respect to the convention "null and void".
In 2010 in Beijing, the Protocol Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft was adopted. The Protocol makes amendments and additions to the original convention. As September 2018, the Protocol has been ratified by 27 states. It entered into force on 1 January 2018.