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The status held by a member of the staff of a diplomatic mission who is classed as a diplomatic agent. Those enjoying it, also called the diplomatic staff, are thereby entitled to diplomatic privileges and immunities, and are included in the receiving state\'s diplomatic list. It is for the sending state to propose that an individual be so classified, and for the receiving state to agree. No problem arises with regard to members of the sending state\'s diplomatic service; difficulties can, however, occur regarding members of other government departments who temporarily serve abroad. Usually there is pressure from such departments for their members to be given diplomatic status, especially as they are often quite senior. But the sending state\'s foreign ministry may be uneasy about that if such individuals are not obviously serving in a representational capacity; and those of its government departments charged with the administration of the law and the raising of revenue may also be unhappy at the thought of the reciprocal requests which may follow from the receiving state. For its part, the receiving state may raise at least an eyebrow at proposed expansions of the diplomatic corps in its capital which bear a doubtfully diplomatic character.
As between states, such issues generally seem to be settled without much difficulty, albeit at the cost of the inclusion in diplomatic lists of some unusual-sounding ‘diplomatic’ titles – as indicated in the entry dealing with attachés. Latterly, too, the matter appears to be handled with increasing liberality (provided that the individuals concerned can reasonably be said to be performing duties of a diplomatic nature). There are two associated reasons for this. One is the ever-potent principle of reciprocity, which ensures equality of treatment as between any pair of states. The other is the worry that developed during the second half of the twentieth century about the safety, in many capitals, of the members of diplomatic missions. Inasmuch as the granting of diplomatic status provides such individuals with some additional safeguards, states became rather more willing to be generous in this respect. It is unlikely that that development will now be reversed.
In the normal way, a receiving state is unlikely to agree to grant diplomatic status to an agent of a foreign state who is posted at a city within the receiving state which is not its capital. (Consular officers, of course, enjoy consular status, and are therefore not covered by this statement.) One exception to this approach, however, occurs with regard to the staff of the office of a deputy high commissioner (sense 2). Diplomatic agents making up a special mission or a permanent mission to an international organization also enjoy a privileged status, but strictly it should not be called ‘diplomatic’ and its detailed nature is likely to differ from that accorded to the diplomatic staff of resident and non-resident missions. |
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