Persona non grata

Persona non grata

Subject : International Relations

Section: International conventions

Concept :

• A day after Canada announced it would expel a Chinese diplomat over allegations of involvement in a campaign to intimidate a Canadian politician, China on Tuesday (May 9) declared a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai as persona non grata.

Persona non grata

• In literal terms, the phrase is Latin for “an unwelcome person.”
• The term in a diplomatic sense refers to a foreign person whose entering or remaining in a certain country is prohibited by that country.
• The designation received diplomatic meaning at the 1961 Vienna Convention for Diplomatic Relations.
• Under Article 9 of the treaty, a country can declare any member of a diplomatic staff persona non grata “at any time and without having to explain its decision.”
• The persona non grata declaration is the most damning form of censure a country can bestow on foreign diplomats considering they are protected from arrests and other forms of prosecution under diplomatic immunity.
• A person declared as such can be recalled from a diplomatic mission or have their functions with the mission terminated. If the declared person is not recalled, the country can refuse to recognize the person as part of the mission.
• Persona non grata can also apply to people who have yet to enter a country.