In diplomacy, a persona non grata (PNG) (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: personae non gratae) is a foreign diplomat who is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplomatic mission (including the removal of diplomatic immunity). A host country may declare persona non grata status for any member of a diplomatic staff at any time without any explanation.
Under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a receiving state may "at any time and without having to explain its decision" declare any member of a diplomatic staff persona non grata. [1] A person so declared is considered unacceptable and is usually recalled to their home nation. If not recalled, the receiving state "may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the mission." [2] A person can be declared persona non grata before that person even enters the country. [1]
With the protection of mission staff from prosecution for violating civil and criminal laws, depending on rank, under Articles 41 and 42 of the Vienna Convention, they are bound to respect national laws and regulations. Breaches of these articles can lead to a persona non grata declaration being used to punish erring staff. It is also used to expel diplomats suspected of espionage, described as "activities incompatible with diplomatic status," [3] [4] or any overt criminal act such as drug trafficking. The declaration may also be a symbolic indication of displeasure. [5]
So-called "tit for tat" exchanges have occurred (whereby countries involved in a dispute each expel the ambassador or other diplomats of the other country), notably during the Cold War. A notable occurrence outside of the Cold War was an exchange between the United States and Ecuador in 2011: the Ecuadorian government expelled the United States ambassador, as a result of the United States diplomatic cables leak; the United States responded by expelling the Ecuadorian ambassador. [6]
People other than diplomats can be declared persona non grata by a country. [1]
In non-diplomatic usage, referring to someone as persona non grata is to say that the person is not popular or accepted by others. [7]
In the Philippines, local legislatures of provinces, towns, and cities can declare certain people or groups, including non-diplomats and Filipino citizens, as persona non grata to express a negative sentiment toward the certain person through a non-binding resolution. This could be in response to the person breaking local ordinance or laws. [8] This has also happened in Spain. [9]
Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country. It allows diplomats safe passage and freedom of travel in a host country and affords almost total protection from local lawsuits and prosecution.
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes an embassy or high commission, which is the main office of a country's diplomatic representatives to another country; it is usually, but not necessarily, based in the receiving state's capital city. Consulates, on the other hand, are smaller diplomatic missions that 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, an embassy may also be a nonresident permanent mission to one or more other countries.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 is an international treaty that defines a framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries. Its aim is to facilitate "the development of friendly relations" among governments through a uniform set of practices and principles; most notably, it codifies the longstanding custom of diplomatic immunity, in which diplomatic missions are granted privileges that enable diplomats to perform their functions without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country. The Vienna Convention is a cornerstone of modern international relations and international law and is almost universally ratified and observed; it is considered one of the most successful legal instruments drafted under the United Nations.
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment. The word is also used informally for people who are known, without national appointment, to represent certain professions, activities, and fields of endeavor, such as sales.
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state, intergovernmental, or nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or international organizations.
The Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Canada is the embassy of China in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. China purchased the building at St. Patrick Street in 1972, soon after diplomatic relations were established between Canada and the PRC. The structure had been built by the Sisters of Good Shepherd who had used it as a convent for several decades. The Chinese government paid some $1.6 million for it. In the mid-1980s a major expansion of the structure was completed. The embassy is located in the Lower Town neighbourhood with the rear of the embassy looking out on the Rideau River.
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.
Freiherr Ladislaus Hengelmüller von Hengervár, was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat of Hungarian origin who was a long-term Ambassador at Washington D.C., throughout many Presidential administrations including those of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft.
Konstantin TheodorDumba, was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat serving as its last accredited Ambassador to the United States and famous for having been expelled during World War I following accusations of espionage.
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.
Bilateral relations exist and existed between Austria and Russia and their predecessor states. Since October 1955, the Republic of Austria maintains the constitutionally-mandated status of neutrality; the country is a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OEEC). Austria joined the EU in 1995. Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a partner of ASEAN, a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the G20, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), as well as the leading member state of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Both countries are members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Democratic Republic of the Congo–Russia relations are the bilateral foreign relations between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Russia. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has an embassy in Moscow and an honorary consulate in Yekaterinburg. Russia has an embassy in Kinshasa. The relations between the two countries were established on July 7, 1960, and restored since November 30, 1967.
Filip Teodorescu is a Romanian diplomat. He was the Romanian Ambassador to Moldova (2003–2009).
Fergus Cochrane-Dyet is a British diplomat who served as High Commissioner to Zambia from April 2016 until August 2019, being succeeded by Nicholas Woolley. In 2011, while serving as High Commissioner to Malawi, he was declared persona non grata and expelled from the country because of controversial comments he made in a leaked diplomatic cable.
Eleonora Valentinovna Mitrofanova is a Russian diplomat. She currently serves as the Ambassador of Russia to Bulgaria, having held the post since 15 January 2021. She is the first woman to hold the post of First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Persona non grata, in the context of Philippine governance parlance, refers individuals or groups declared as unwelcome in a particular locality. This designation is merely symbolic and non-binding, and does not legally prohibit a person declared as persona non grata from stepping foot on that locality.
Norway–Turkey relations are foreign relations between Norway and Turkey. The bilateral relations were established in 1926.
The Embassy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Lima was the official diplomatic mission of North Korea to the Republic of Peru. It is located in San Isidro District, Lima, Peru.
In the context of the Russo-Ukrainian War, many Russian diplomats and embassy officials were declared personae non gratae by countries around the world in 2022, and many foreign diplomats were also formally asked to leave Russia after their accreditation was cancelled.
On 5 April 2024, the Mexican embassy in Quito was raided by Ecuadorian police and military forces. Mexico and numerous other countries decried the raid as a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1954 Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum.
The Soviet Foreign Ministry accused the five Americans of engaging in "actions which are incompatible with their official status"--the normal diplomatic jargon for espionage.
The Spanish foreign ministry spokesman said the two Russians had been expelled "for activities incompatible with their status as diplomats" - the diplomatic term for spying.
"Persona non grata" (PNG), is the most serious form of censure a government can take against a person with diplomatic immunity and often used by governments as symbolic expressions of displeasure.
Media related to Persona non grata at Wikimedia Commons
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