United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Security Council Resolution

United Nations Security Council Resolution

A United Nations Security Council resolution is a UN resolution adopted by the fifteen members of the Security Council; the UN body charged with "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security"....

 617, adopted unanimously on July 29, 1988, after recalling Resolution 579

United Nations Security Council Resolution 579

United Nations Security Council Resolution 579, adopted unanimously on December 18, 1985, in a meeting called by the United States, the Council expressed its deep concern at the prevalence in incidents of hostage-taking having grave consequences for the international community and relations between...

 (1985) on hostage-taking

Hostage

A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...

, the Council condemned the abduction of Lieutenant-Colonel William R. Higgins

William R. Higgins

William Richard "Rich" Higgins was a United States Marine Corps colonel who was captured in 1988 while serving on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. He was held hostage, tortured and eventually murdered by his captors.-Biography:William Higgins was born in Danville, Kentucky on...

 and demanded his immediate release. It also urged Member States to use their influence to promote the implementation of the current resolution.

The resolution was not implemented, and Higgins was later murdered by his captors.

See also

• Israel-Lebanon conflict
  Israel-Lebanon conflict
  The Israeli–Lebanese conflict describes a series of related military clashes involving Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, as well as various non-state militias acting from within Lebanon....
  
  
• Lebanese Civil War
  Lebanese Civil War
  The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
  
  
• List of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 601 to 700 (1987 – 1991)
• South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000)