Skill in negotiating and in day-to-day diplomacy Skill in observing, analysing and reporting

Skill in representation

Skill in the management of a mission

Skill in communication and public diplomacy

Cross-cultural skills

SPECIALIST QUALITIES

Political awareness

Personal acceptability

Intellectual curiosity and the drive to go on learning

Intellectual versatility

Leadership

Common sense

5. Full and limited diplomatic privileges and immunities

The privileged position of diplomats in society is traditional, but it is not for this reason that it continues to be respected; it is because representatives of a state can only carry out their diplomatic functions satisfactorily if they are utterly free from pressures, whether legal, physical or moral, that the state in which they are serving may be able to impose on them.

Privileges and immunities are applicable both to the diplomatic mission and its functions, and to the individual.

The privileges and immunities accorded to diplomatic missions and their functions are also applicable to the United Nations and its functions under the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, though the application of the Convention varies in different states.

The following is a summary of the principles contained in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

AH diplomats enjoy personal inviolability, and members of their family forming part of their household similarly enjoy inviolability provided that they are not nationals or permanent residents of the host state. A state which accepts the establishment of a foreign diplomatic mission is bound to ensure complete protection to all members of that mission and to their families against physical violence, and from attacks on their freedom.

IMMUNITY FROM CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDICTION

WAIVER OF DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

COUNTERCLAIMS

INVIOLABILITY OF CORRESPONDENCE

INVIOLABILITY OF PROPERTY

EXEMPTION FROM LIABILITY FOR PUBLIC SERVICE

EXEMPTION FROM LIABILITY TO SERVE AS A WITNESS

EXEMPTION FROM NATIONAL AND LOCAL TAXATION

EXEMPTION FROM CUSTOMS DUTIES

EXEMPTION FROM SOCIAL SECURITY PROVISIONS

EXEMPTION FROM INSPECTION OF PERSONAL LUGGAGE

FREEDOM OF TRAVEL

TRAVEL THROUGH A THIRD STATE

RECIPROCAL OBLIGATIONS OF DIPLOMATS

Diplomats who are nationals or permanent residents of the state in which they are serving are entitled only to immunity from jurisdiction and personal inviolability in respect of official acts performed in the exercise of their functions, though other privileges and immunities may be granted in particular states. Other members of the staff of a mission and private servants who are nationals or permanent residents of the state in which they are serving enjoy only those privileges and immunities that the host state considers appropriate.

6. Consular relations and their principle designations (p. 52-55)

"consular post" means any consulate-general, consulate, vice-consulate or consular agency;

The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 is an international treaty that defines a framework for consular relations between independent countries. A consul performs two essential functions: (1) protecting in the host country the interests of their countrymen, and (2) furthering the commercial and economic relations between the two countries.

The establishment of diplomatic relations between states implies agreement in principle to the establishment of consular relations unless the contrary is specifically stated; but the severance of diplo­matic relations does not automatically signify the severance of consular relations.

Consular functions are described in general terms in the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations as follows:

(a) protecting in the receiving state the interests of the sending state and of its nationals, both individuals and bodies corporate,

(b) furthering the development of commercial, economic, cultural and scientific relations between the sending state and the receiving state and otherwise promoting friendly relations between them in accordance with the provisions of the Convention;

(d) issuing passports and travel documents to nationals of the send­ing state, and visas or appropriate documents to persons wishing to travel to the sending state;

(e) helping and assisting nationals, both individuals and bodies corporate, of the sending state;

(k) exercising rights of supervision and inspection provided for in the laws and regulations of the sending state in respect of vessels having the nationality of the sending state, and of aircraft registered in that state, and in respect of their crews;