Diplomatic immunities and privileges in relation to the diplomatic bag and their application in Malta

Abstract

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations stands as a very successful legislative work undertaken under the auspices of the United Nations, accommodating the majority of states. An aspect of major importance to the execution of the functions of the missions abroad remains the diplomatic bag, which is granted the maximum protection under the Convention. Accordingly, in the following chapters this thesis will be dealing with certain aspects that relate to the transmission of the diplomatic bag from one point to the other, the difficulties it encounters and possible remedies available to the states in question. In fact, Chapter 1 gives an overview of the status of the diplomatic bag as regulated under the Convention as well as how it could have been regulated had the Draft Articles on the Status of the Diplomatic Courier and the Diplomatic Bag not accompanied by the Diplomatic Courier (adopted by the ILC) been endorsed by the member states. Subsequently, Chapter 2 describes in detail the different characteristics along the journey of the diplomatic bag from the Embassy to the sending state or vice-versa. In Chapters 3 the various obstacles that could impede the expeditious dispatch of the bag are mentioned, to which possible solutions are provided in Chapter 4. The last Chapter, then, offers suggestions as to afford a more efficient and secure dispatch to the diplomatic bag, mainly through better use of technological innovations available.