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A person employed, either on a regular or ad hoc basis, for the expressly limited purpose of carrying a diplomatic bag. Hence a diplomatic courier is today not a diplomatic agent such as a special envoy, though in the ancient world the roles were usually fused in one individual. A diplomatic courier also carries identifying documents, usually a courier\'s passport (though in earlier times discreet badges were also found useful). This is important because a diplomatic courier is entitled to personal inviolability and immunity from arrest and detention; but he or she is not entitled to the more extensive privileges of a diplomatic agent. The immunities of an ad hoc courier cease when the diplomatic bag has been delivered to the consignee. Whether regular or ad hoc, the diplomatic courier must also carry a document indicating which bags are ‘diplomatic’ and which are not, since personal luggage may be searched at any frontier. This document, known as a ‘way bill’ or lettre de part, must also list every diplomatic bag. Though the work of the diplomatic courier is not, as a result of the revolution in transport and telecommunications, by any means as important or as dangerous as in former times, it is still valued for especially sensitive documents and other items – and couriers still occasionally disappear. A dedicated courier service was not permanently established by the United States until shortly before the Second World War. See also casual courier; express; freedom of communication; herald; Queen\'s Messenger; staffeto. |
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