On April 18, the Vienna Convention of 1961 on Diplomatic Relations was signed. It regulated the establishment and termination of them, the establishment of missions and all their functions, established diplomatic classes - chargé d'affaires, envoy and ambassador, streamlined the accreditation of heads of diplomatic missions and subordinate personnel.
Immunities
The Convention defines the immunities and privileges of a diplomatic mission as a whole and purely personal immunities and privileges of technical and diplomatic personnel. The most important is the inviolability of the premises. The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations prohibits the authorities of the host states from entering without the consent of the head of the mission himself. On the contrary, the authorities must protect the missions from any intrusion and evenminor damage, from disturbing the peace of the mission. Diplomatic privileges and immunities in the light of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 impose many taboos and even obligations on the sending state.
Search, requisition, arrest and the like cannot be carried out in the premises of the representative office. Inviolable should also be mail and other relations of representation with their state. Staff and their families also enjoy this right: their persons and homes are inviolable under the jurisdiction of the host country. Servants are exempt from income tax. The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations has two optional protocols: the nationality laws of the host country do not apply, the jurisdiction of the international court is mandatory.
Diplomatic Law
This is a part of international law with a set of norms that set the rules for the status and functions of state bodies of external relations. Here, there is full correspondence with the main diplomatic forms: bilateral diplomacy is carried out through special missions, multilateral diplomacy is carried out by delegations through sessions of bodies of international organizations or representations of countries that are permanently attached to international organizations.
The main treaty act is the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. In 1969, the Convention on Special Missions was also adopted in The Hague, and in 1975 in Vienna, the Convention onthe universal nature of relations between missions and international organizations. This is not the first Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Vienna twice hosted representatives of countries. The Russian Federation has participated in both Vienna Conventions.
Government agencies for external relations
Foreign relations bodies are divided into foreign and domestic. The latter include the highest state body that determines the foreign policy of the state, the collegiate or sole head of state, representing this country in the international arena, the government that directs foreign policy, and the body of this government - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Foreign bodies of external relations can be temporary and permanent. The latter are embassies or missions, representations in international organizations, consulates. Temporary are special delegations or missions to international bodies or conferences.
Functions and composition
Established diplomatic relations between states exchange missions under a special agreement regarding the class of head of mission. There are three levels here: chargé d'affaires, envoy, ambassador. It is simply that an attorney must be distinguished from a temporary attorney who, in the absence of an ambassador, does his job. The Vienna Convention of 1961 defined these three classes: ambassadors and envoys are accredited by heads of state, and charge d'affaires by foreign ministers.
Ranks in the structure of the diplomaticrepresentations are determined according to the internal legislation of the accrediting country. The staff also has three categories: in addition to the diplomatic, there are administrative and technical (cipher clerks, accountants, translators, office workers, and so on) and service personnel (cooks, security, drivers, gardeners, and so on). Diplomatic personnel are inviolable and are not subject to customs inspection. The second and third categories of personnel can carry any items for furnishing, but they are not exempt from customs. The Vienna Convention (1961) and its significance were very soon and positively assessed by the participating States.
Establishing activities. Agrement
Diplomatic relations are established, and missions are established only by agreement of countries. But, by the way, the first does not always entail the second. Diplomatic relations can be established without the establishment of a mission, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) specifically stipulates this. The appointment and acceptance of a diplomatic representative is accreditation. There are four stages here:
- Agreman. This is the consent of the host state regarding the appointment of a specific person in one capacity or another, and the host country has the right to refuse. The request for an agrement is made confidentially and not necessarily in writing. With the receipt of consent (agreman), the head of this mission will automatically be a persona grata (persona grata in Latin - a desirable person).
- Official appointment of head of mission.
- Arrive at destination state.
- Presentation of credentials signed by the head of state - powers in general.
Then comes the actual work.
Cessation of activities
The mission of a diplomatic representative is terminated for a good reason (resignation, illness, new appointment), and this is dictated by his own state. In another case, when the initiative comes from the host country, this is the recognition of a diplomat as an undesirable person (persona non grata) or a case of dismision - the removal of diplomatic immunity from him, while he is declared a private person. Sometimes it is the refusal of a diplomat to do his job.
The meaning of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations is that almost every force majeure in the relations of countries establishing a diplomatic mission is provided for by it. The termination of the functioning of the entire representation is due either to the rupture of any relations between these countries (practically a declaration of war), or if one of the two countries ceases to exist. The representative office may also cease its activities in the event of an unconstitutional change of government or in the event of a social revolution.
Special missions
Missions of various levels can be diplomatic in nature, according tointernational customs prevailing in this area. These are missions sent by the state to solve certain issues and perform certain tasks. Sometimes missions are sent by several countries if the issue is of common interest. The head of the country, if he heads this mission, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and any other high-ranking representatives, must enjoy immunity and privileges in any state.
The boundaries of privileges and immunities are not clearly defined, but heads of state and other high-ranking persons can specifically discuss all issues related to this and agree on requirements with each other. However, there was no precedent for a diplomat's immunity to be violated from jurisdiction of any kind - criminal, administrative or civil. Judging by many years of observations, customs privileges are also granted to diplomats in full. If the persons of the highest rank of the diplomatic mission do not have, then their status is still similar to the status of the corresponding category of personnel of the diplomatic mission.
Restrictions on immunities
Some restrictions on privileges and immunities, confirmed by the Vienna Convention, are not sufficiently justified. The Soviet Union did not sign this convention because of its disagreement with the statements in Article 25, which provides for the inviolability of the premises of the special mission. The convention allows local authorities to appear in these premises in the event of a fire or other natural disaster, without the consent of the head of mission. Fire cannot be the cause of the violationimmunity.
Submission
Article 31 of the Vienna Convention, which provides for immunity from the jurisdiction of the country of residence of all members of the mission's diplomatic staff, at the same time establishes that claims can be brought against these diplomatic missions for damages in case of accidents caused by vehicles that were used outside their official work.
Joining the convention
The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations provides for openness for signing by far from all categories of states. Countries must be members of the UN or other specialized agencies, participate in the Statute of the International Court of Justice, or be invited by the UN General Assembly. This is expressly stated in articles 48 (documents of 1961) and 76 (documents of 1963).
For example, for this reason, South Ossetia was not recognized as a party to the Vienna Convention. The South Ossetian Parliament admitted that their country does not fall into any of the categories and that some articles of the Convention are clearly discriminatory. However, South Ossetia became a party to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), but it joined these documents unilaterally.
