The legal implications of diplomatic accreditation

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the effects which diplomatic accreditation has on the status of the diplomat. The greatest influence on the diplomat, and indeed the core of this study, is the system of diplomatic privileges and immunities of which the most authoritative source is the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961. This Convention will be critically analysed along with the historical and theoretical backgrounds of diplomatic privileges and immunities, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963 and also the status of diplomats accredited to international organisations. The main aims of this thesis are a better understanding of the workings of the system of privileges and immunities and the proposal of amendments to the Convention on Diplomatic Relations in those areas where problems have arisen in practice in the past forty years. Finally, this thesis will also strive to clarify the general public misunderstanding that diplomatic privileges and immunities are merely a system of perks afforded to the diplomat. It will show that diplomatic privileges and immunities are indeed necessary for the proper discharge of the diplomat's duties and for the efficient conduct of relations between States.