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Mahesh

23/10/23 09:44 AM IST

1961 Vienna Convention

In News
  • The India-Canada crisis took a fresh turn as 41 diplomats were withdrawn from the country.
  • Both Canada and the US have since called for New Delhi to uphold its obligations under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations while the MEA insists that its actions had not gone against international laws.
Vienna Convention
  • The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) is a United Nations treaty that set some common principles and terms on how countries must treat each other’s diplomatic representatives, in order to ensure friendly relations and maintain proper communication channels between countries.
  • One prominent example of such principles is that of diplomatic immunity.
  • It’s the privilege of exemption from certain laws and taxes granted to diplomats by the country in which they are posted.
  • It was framed so that diplomats can function without fear, threat or intimidation from the host country.
  • Diplomatic immunity flows from two conventions, popularly called the Vienna Conventions — the 1961 Convention and the Convention on Consular Relations, 1963.
  • The 1961 Convention says, “Article 29: The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable.
  • He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention.
  • The receiving State shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity.”
  • Today, 193 countries have ratified the convention, meaning they agree it should be legally binding on them.
  • Ratification means that a country should seek approval for the treaty on the domestic level and enact a law in their country to give effect to it.
  • India ratified it through the Diplomatic Relations (Vienna Convention) Act of 1972.
Article 9
  • Article 9 of the convention states that the receiving State may, at any time and without having to explain its decision, notify the sending State that the head of the mission or any member of the diplomatic staff of the mission is persona non grata or unwelcome.
  • In any such case, the sending State shall, as appropriate, either recall the person concerned or terminate his functions with the mission,” it says.
  • Further, if the sending State refuses or fails within a reasonable period to carry out its obligations here, that is if they refuse to recall their diplomats, the receiving State may refuse to recognise the person concerned as a member of the mission.
  • Article 11, cited by the MEA in its press release, says, “In the absence of specific agreement as to the size of the mission, the receiving State may require that the size of a mission be kept within limits considered by it to be reasonable and normal, having regard to circumstances and conditions in the receiving State and to the needs of the particular mission.”
  • Around 2017, Russia and the United States also asked for each other’s diplomats to be recalled over the principle of parity and reduced the presence of their missions, following a low in their relations.
Source- Indian Express

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