What is diplomatic immunity?

The Union Flag flying over the British embassy in Moscow

Former tennis champion Boris Becker has claimed
that his creditors cannot pursue him in court because he is
entitled to diplomatic immunity as an attache for the Central
African Republic.

“The German tennis legend was named as a sport and
culture attache to the European Union by the government of the
conflict-torn African nation in April,” CNN reports.

Becker, who was declared bankrupt last year,
says the position is equivalent to a role as a military or trade
attache, “which everyone recognises as attracting diplomatic
immunity”.

So who does diplomatic immunity protect  –
and does it give diplomats carte blanche to commit any
crime?

What is diplomatic immunity?

Enshrined by the 1961 Vienna Convention on
Diplomatic Relations, diplomatic immunity means that diplomats
serving abroad cannot be arrested or prosecuted in either civil or
criminal courts in their host country.

It is one of a host of protections contained in
the international treaty, which also bars host governments from
entering foreign embassies or reading their documents without
permission.

The reasoning behind diplomatic immunity is that
it prevents governments from persecuting foreign diplomats for
political reasons, or prosecuting them for actions that would not
be considered crimes in their home country.

However, the principle remains controversial,
not least because it gives the impression that consular officials
are allowed to operate above the law, free to abuse their power
without check.

Headline-grabbing stories in recent years tell of
diplomats getting away with everything from human trafficking to racking up tens of millions of pounds in unpaid
parking tickets.

Some diplomats have also been accused of using their
immunity to flaunt labour laws and exploit their domestic workers,
many of whom depend on their employer for their visa, The Atlantic reports.

Who does it protect?

Practiced by all but a handful of nations,
diplomatic immunity applies to consular staff posted abroad and the
family members who accompany them on their posting.

The level of immunity is “dependent on rank”, says the
Crown Prosecution Service. Only top officials
such as ambassadors are entitled to full diplomatic immunity, while
more junior consular staff may only be covered while performing
official duties.

So can diplomats literally get away with
murder?

For more serious crimes, the host government may
enact Article 9 of the 1961 treaty, which allows host nations to
declare a foreign diplomat “persona non grata” – Latin for
“unwelcome person”.

Once this status is applied to a diplomat, their
home nation must recall them as soon as possible.

If this is not done, or if the crime is particularly
serious, the host nation can ask the diplomat’s government to waive
their immunity. In 2016, Canada agreed to strip a London-based attache of
his immunity so that he could be prosecuted for possessing
child pornography.

However, such measures are rarely necessary, as
the majority of diplomats behave themselves.

Latest figures show that in 2016, the Foreign Office recorded 12 allegations of
“serious and significant” crimes against individuals protected by
diplomatic immunity, out of more than 22,000 protected officials
stationed in the UK. Eight of the crimes recorded were driving
offences.