DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

Subject : International Relations

Context : Recently, the wife of Belgium’s ambassador to South Korea will now be exercising her diplomatic immunity to avoid criminal charges after she allegedly hit two staff members at a boutique in Seoul.

Concept :

• It is a privilege of exemption from certain laws and taxes granted to diplomats by the country in which they are posted.
• The custom was formed so that diplomats can function without fear, threat or intimidation from the host country.
• The diplomatic immunity is granted on the basis of two conventions, popularly called the Vienna Conventions;

The Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, and

The Convention on Consular Relations, 1963

• India ratified the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations in 2008.

What is the extent of this immunity?

• According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, the immunity enjoyed by a diplomat posted in the embassy is “inviolable”.
• The diplomat cannot be arrested or detained and his house will have the same inviolability and protection as the embassy.
• It is possible for the diplomat’s home country to waive immunity but this can happen only when the individual has committed a ‘serious crime’, unconnected with their diplomatic role or has witnessed such a crime.
• The diplomatic immunity is intended to “insulate” diplomats from harm but it does not insulate their countries from a bad reputation and a blow to bilateral ties.
• The privilege of diplomatic immunity is not for an individual’s benefit.
• If a diplomat acts outside his business of conducting international relations, a question arises over whether his immunity still applies.