The Protection Of Diplomatic Personnel

The recent emergence of many new states and the creation of a large number of international institutions have resulted in considerable growth in the number of persons having diplomatic status. However, an unfortunate side-effect of this growth has been a corresponding increase in the number of attacks on diplomatic personnel, as symbolic figures diplomats are targets for all types of political violence. This book provides an in-depth examination of the legal and non-legal regimes directed towards the protection of diplomatic personnel around the world. It examines the theoretical and practical justifications for the granting of special protection to such personnel and also particular recent developments in international law relating to the prevention of terrorism and the development of international criminal law, including the International Criminal Court.

The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations has for over 50 years been central to diplomacy and applied to all forms of relations among sovereign States. Participation is almost universal. The rules giving special protection to ambassadors are the oldest established in international law and the Convention is respected almost everywhere. But understanding it as a living instrument requires knowledge of its background in customary international law, of the negotiating history which clarifies many of its terms and the subsequent practice of states and decisions of national courts which have resolved other ambiguities. Diplomatic Law provides this in-depth Commentary. The book is an essential guide to changing methods of modern diplomacy and shows how challenges to its regime of special protection for embassies and diplomats have been met and resolved. It is used by ministries of foreign affairs and cited by domestic courts world-wide. The book analyzes the reasons for the widespread observance of the Convention rules and why in the special case of communications - where there is flagrant violation of their special status - these reasons do not apply. It describes how abuse has been controlled and how the immunities in the Convention have survived onslaught by those claiming that they should give way to conflicting entitlements to access to justice and the desire to punish violators of human rights. It describes how the duty of diplomats not to interfere in the internal affairs of the host State is being narrowed in the face of the communal international responsibility to monitor and uphold human rights.

The dramatic increase in attacks on diplomatic personnel that began in the 1970s has now reached alarming proportions. Events such as the long detention of U.S. diplomats in Iran, the embassy bombings in Lebanon, and the numerous assassinations of foreign service officials around the world have heightened global tensions. Because diplomatic exchang

The safety of diplomats has animated recent public and political debates. As diplomatic personnel are increasingly targeted by terrorism and political violence while overseas, sending states are augmenting host nations' security measures with their own. Protective arrangements range from deploying military, police, and private security guards to relocating embassies to suburban compounds. Yet, reinforced security may also hamper effective diplomacy and international relations. Scholars and practitioners from around the world bring to light a large body of empirical information available for the first time in Diplomatic Security. This book explores the global contexts and consequences of keeping embassies and their personnel safe. The essays in this volume offer case studies that illustrate the different arrangements in the U.S., China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Israel, and Russia. Considering the historical and legal contexts, authors examine how states protect their diplomats abroad, what drives changes in existing protective arrangements, and how such measures affect the safety of diplomats and the institution of diplomacy. Diplomatic Security not only reveals how a wide variety of states handle security needs but also illuminates the broader theoretical and policy implications for the study of diplomacy and security alike.

In recent years there have been an increasing number of incidents involving diplomats, such as the storming of the US embassy in Tehran and taking of hostages, and the murder of a British policewoman by a member of the Lybian mission in London. Other less serious ones, like the flouting of traffic regulations and the non-prosecution of those stealing, have brought the question of immunity into the public domain. Why, it is asked, should law-abiding citizens put up with lawless behaviour from those who can retreat into the sanctuary of an embassy?