Persona Non Grata: The Obligation of Diplomats to Respect the Laws and Regulations of the Hosting State

Abstract

The components of the international system after World War II are interacting in more complicated way. This complexity between some countries has accelerated the use of the term “Persona non grata” which accords hosting states the right to prevent diplomatic representatives of other states to enter into its territory or to expel them immediately from the country. In spite of the fact that the receiving state has no right to intervene in the nomination of the foreign diplomates of other countries, it still has the right to oppose their presence in its territory. Usually the states refer to this diplomatic declaration as a result of violation of articles 41 and 42 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, which require the need to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State, and not to interfere in its internal affairs. This study attempts to answer questions that relate to the existing remedies of hosting states in response to diplomatic intervention in their domestic affairs, measures that exist to restraint the issues of diplomatic abuses, the circumstances that give hosting states the possibility to refer to this sanction, the effectiveness of this remedy, and the position of international conventions in relation to this declaration.

Keywords: Diplomatic law, Vienna Convention, diplomatic immunity, persona non grata, Sovereignty, sending State, hosting state, TIT for TAT, International Court of Justice, UN Charter.