Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, in which instances embassies and high commissions in the UK have invoked the principle of diplomatic immunity in each of the last five years.

James Duddridge

Under Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a diplomatic agent shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State. He shall also enjoy immunity from its civil and administrative jurisdiction, except in limited circumstances specified in the Convention. Full statistics and details about instances when Embassies and High Commissions have invoked the principle of diplomatic immunity for the period specified are not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Such requests would cover instances where a member of the mission’s diplomatic or consular staff (or a member of their family forming part of their household) was the alleged offender, the alleged victim of a crime, or had witnessed a crime and police had sought a witness statement; or where police had sought witness statements from staff in relation to their official functions.