WHY DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY AND WHY NOT: A DISPUTE OF IMMUNITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Diplomacy is an essential element of peacekeeping in the modern world. Diplomatic immunity is provided to people involved in diplomatic missions, which protects them from jurisdiction of courts of the host nation. Various legal theories and practical reasoning have been propounded to justify its need. One can find that states limit such immunities and privileges when it comes to private servants. Their ignorance or lack of knowledge makes them vulnerable to the personal wills and whims of the diplomat. We can observe various instances which show arbitrary use of such diplomatic immunity for political or personal cause. We can also observe how diplomatic immunity has been given priority over rights of the private servants and vice versa. The article seeks to understand how courts have overcome the limitation set to them by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations ('VCDR'), 1961 and other possible solutions to the conflict between diplomatic immunity and human rights.