Diplomatic immunity is a form of legal immunity that ensures diplomats are given safe passage and are considered not susceptible to lawsuit or prosecution under the host country's laws, although they may still be expelled. Modern diplomatic immunity was codified as international law in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) which has been ratified by all but a handful of nations. The concept and custom of diplomatic immunity dates back thousands of years. Many principles of diplomatic immunity are now considered to be customary law. Diplomatic immunity was developed to allow for the maintenance of government relations, including during periods of difficulties and armed conflict. When receiving diplomats, who formally represent the sovereign, the receiving head of state grants certain privileges and immunities to ensure they may effectively carry out their duties, on the understanding that these are provided on a reciprocal basis.
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from one state or an organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving state. In practice, the phrase diplomatic mission usually denotes the resident mission, namely the embassy, which is the main office of a country's diplomatic representatives to another country; this is usually, but not necessarily, in the receiving state's capital city. Consulates, on the other hand, are smaller diplomatic missions which are normally located in major cities of the receiving state. As well as being a diplomatic mission to the country in which it is situated, it may also be a non-resident permanent mission to one or more other countries. There are thus resident and non-resident embassies.
The LaGrand case was a legal action heard before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which concerned the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In the case, the ICJ found that its own temporary court orders were legally binding and that the rights contained in the convention could not be denied by the application of domestic legal procedures.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 is an international treaty that defines a framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries. It specifies the privileges of a diplomatic mission that enable diplomats to perform their function without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country. This forms the legal basis for diplomatic immunity. Its articles are considered a cornerstone of modern international relations. As of October 2018, it has been ratified by 192 states.
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other States or international organizations.
The diplomatic corps is the collective body of foreign diplomats accredited to a particular country or body.
Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seatings at state dinners, the person to whom diplomatic credentials should be presented, and the title by which the diplomat should be addressed.
The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations is an international treaty that defines a framework for consular relations between sovereign states. It codifies many consular practices that originated from state custom and various bilateral agreements between states.
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the people of the two countries.
Diplomatic law is that area of international law that governs permanent and temporary diplomatic missions. A fundamental concept of diplomatic law is that of diplomatic immunity, which derives from state immunity.
The consulate is a diplomatic mission, the office of a consul and is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country, usually an embassy or – between Commonwealth countries – high commission. Like the terms embassy or high commission, consulate may refer not only to the office of consul, but also to the building occupied by the consul and the consul's staff. The consulate may share premises with the embassy itself.
Consular assistance is help and advice provided by the diplomatic agents of a country to citizens of that country who are living or traveling overseas.
Consular immunity privileges are described in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 (VCCR). Consular immunity offers protections similar to diplomatic immunity, but these protections are not as extensive, given the functional differences between consular and diplomatic officers. For example, consular officers are not accorded absolute immunity from a host country’s criminal jurisdiction, they may be tried for certain local crimes upon action by a local court, and are immune from local jurisdiction only in cases directly relating to consular functions.
There are 123 diplomatic missions in Hong Kong, of which 62 are consulates-general and 61 are consulates and six officially recognised bodies in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong has the status of a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, some consuls-general in Hong Kong report directly to their respective foreign ministries, rather than to their Embassies in Beijing.
The Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs or commonly just referred to as Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is Austria's foreign ministry. As a department of the Austrian Federal Government, it is responsible for the country's foreign policy, its diplomatic missions and relations to international organisations, especially the European Union.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the Egyptian government ministry which oversees the foreign relations of Egypt. On 17 July 2014 Sameh Shoukry was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Consular identification (CID) cards are issued by some governments to their citizens who are living in foreign countries. They may be used, for example, by an embassy to allow its citizens to vote in a foreign country. Some jurisdictions accept them for some identification purposes. They are not certifications of legal residence within foreign countries, so CID card holders could be legal or illegal aliens.
Leal Garcia v. Texas, 564 U.S. 940 (2011), was a ruling in which the Supreme Court of the United States denied Humberto Leal García's application for stay of execution and application for writ of habeas corpus. Leal was subsequently executed by lethal injection. The central issue was not Leal's guilt, but rather that he was not notified of his right to call his consulate as required by international law. The Court did not stay the execution because Congress had never enacted legislation regarding this provision of international law. The ruling attracted a great deal of commentary and Leal's case was supported by attorneys specializing in international law and several former United States diplomats.
Republic of Texas–United States relations refers to the historical foreign relations between the now-defunct Republic of Texas and the United States of America. Relations started in 1836 after the Texas Revolution, and ended in 1845 upon the annexation of Texas by the United States.
The Consulate General of the United States of America Chennai represents the interests of the United States government in Chennai, India and surrounding regions. The consulate reports to the ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The current Consul General is Judith Ravin, incumbent since September 2020. She was preceded by Robert G. Burgess.
