This thesis refers to the international legal problems represented by the hostage taking all over the world, especially in Colombia. Having as a goal the granting of the universal rights to life and to freedom, the States and the International community repress hostage taking. They adopt international criminal provisions, whether in the context of armed conflicts, in the frame of the fight against the terrorism, or whether as an expression of common criminality. Extradition, world wide judge competence, or the judgment by international jurisdictions are some of the mechanisms used against kidnapping, aiming to dissuade this crime. On another hand, having also as a goal the protection and safeguard of the rights of those persons who regardless the prohibition regrettably become hostages, the States and the International community provide assistance to the victims of kidnapping, the hostages. After defining the Rstatuts of the hostager, which implies analyzing its grounds and the representation of the hostages, the thesis exposes the hostages' rights to recover their freedom, their "redemption", and some economic rights. The investigation will also analyze the mechanisms used primarily by the States , then by the UNO and the Red-Cross, all illustrating the universality of the protection by the international entities in order to observe the hostage statute.