- •Diplomatic handbook Seventh Edition
- •Longman London and New York
- •Contents
- •Chapter I
- •Introduction
- •International organisations: accreditation
- •In the absence of a full diplomatic
- •Orders of precedence
- •Precedence between heads of diplomatic
- •Individual precedence within a mission
- •Individual precedence inter se of
- •Precedence of heads of mission within the
- •Immunities
- •Inviolability and immunity of premises
- •Inviolability of records, documents,
- •Immunity from criminal jurisdiction
- •Immunity from civil and administrative
- •Inviolability of correspondence
- •Inviolability of property
- •Relating to the consular post
- •Facilities, personal privileges and immunities
- •The united nations purposes and principles
- •Purposes
- •Principles
- •The general assembly
- •The security council
- •The economic and social council
- •The trusteeship council
- •The international court of justice
- •The secretary-general and the secretariat
- •Intergovernmental agencies related
- •Food and agriculture organisation
- •International atomic energy agency
- •International civil aviation organisation
- •International fund for agricultural development
- •International labour organisation
- •International maritime organisation
- •International telecommunications union
- •The international monetary fund
- •The world bank
- •United nations development programme
- •Universal postal union
- •World health organisation
- •World intellectual property organisation
- •World meteorological organisation
- •Subsidiary organisations
- •International law commission
- •International research and training
- •Institute for the advancement of women
- •Other consultative bodies
- •United nations children’s emergency fund
- •United nations environment programme
- •United nations fund for population activities
- •United nations high commission for refugees
- •International
- •Arab league/the league of arab states
- •Asia-pacific economic cooperation
- •Bank for international settlements
- •Black sea economic cooperation
- •Caribbean regional organisations the association of caribbean states
- •Central american common market
- •Central european initiative
- •Common market for eastern and southern africa
- •The commonwealth
- •Council of europe
- •Economic cooperation organisation
- •European free trade association/ european economic area
- •Indian ocean association for regional cooperation
- •Islamic conference organisation
- •Maghreb arab union
- •North american free trade agreement
- •North atlantic treaty organisation
- •Organisation of african unity
- •Organisation of american states
- •South pacific regional organisations
- •Visegrád group
- •Western european union
- •World trade organisation
- •Chapter 9
- •International law and
- •Definition and general principles
- •Treaties and treaty-making general principles
- •Types of treaties
- •The process of treaty-making
- •The form and content of treaties
- •The validity of treaties
- •The termination of treaties
- •Diplomatic asylum
- •Voting quorums and majority requirements
- •All male/female seating plan: host/hostess and seven guests
- •Invitations
- •Introducing people
- •Visiting cards
- •International
- •Islamic festivals
- •1. The ozone layer
- •2. Global warming and the
- •3. Biodiversity
- •4. The preservation of forests
Orders of precedence
A diplomat is concerned with four orders of precedence:
Precedence between heads of diplomatic
MISSIONS
The precedence of a head of mission is based on the class into which he falls:
Ambassador, High Commissioner or Apostolic Nuncio;
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary or Inter-nuncio (a rank rarely used);
Chargé d’Affaires en titre (titular or en pied).
Within each class, seniority is based on the date on which the head of mission assumed his duties as such. This is either the date on which he presented his credentials to the Head of State, or alternatively the date on which he notified his arrival to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent or handed to the Minister or Ministry a copy of his credentials, depending on the practice of the country. In most countries the date is that of the presentation to the Head of State, but in some, including the UK, it is the date of handing over the copy of credentials.
If two heads of mission present their credentials on the same day precedence may be determined either by the place in the alphabet of the first letter of the state (in French) of the representatives concerned; or, more commonly, by the relative times of day they officially commenced their functions. Whichever practice of determining precedence is adopted by a state, it must be applied consistently, and not altered without prior notification.
In certain states the diplomatic representative of the Holy See takes precedence over all other heads of mission of the same category.
At gatherings at which all heads of mission are present a Chargé d’Affaires en titre will follow heads of mission of ambassadorial rank, and Chargés d’Affaires ad interim will come third, each Chargé taking precedence within his class according to the date of his assumption of duty. When other members of the diplomatic staff of a mission (including spouses) are present they take their place with the head of mission or Chargé in accordance with his precedence.
Precedence is not affected by a head of mission’s credentials becoming temporarily invalid owing to the death of the Head of State who signed or accepted them.
Individual precedence within a mission
The individual precedence of members of the 'political' staff below head of mission is:
Minister Plenipotentiary
Minister-Counsellor
Counsellor
First Secretary
Second Secretary
Third Secretary
The place of service and specialist attachés is determined by individual missions. They usually come before a First Secretary but rarely above the diplomat next senior to the head of mission. The precise order of precedence is normally found in the diplomatic list which every state receiving diplomatic representatives produces, though in certain states the list is arranged in functional sections. It is the responsibility of the head of mission to notify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the precedence of the members of his mission.