Federale ("Federal Service Guarantees Citizenship") examines some of the technicalities differentiating consular and diplomatic immunities.
Money quote(s):
"(N)ow that the Punjab State government in Pakistan has arrested an American diplomat and are holding him in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, the radical left is on the war path, defending the right of a State government to arrest and hold a diplomat.
As is usual with the left, they deceive their readers. They claim that the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 authorizes the arrest"
&
"(D)espite the selective quotations from the Reds, Davis is not a consular officer, but a diplomatic officer, covered by Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, which is quite stricter regarding arresting and holding diplomats as opposed to consular officers. But Counterpunch and their writer Dave Lindorff are either too dumb to know the difference between a diplomatic officer and a consular officer or they know and act to deceive"
Be sure to read the final paragraph: training matters; "Lack of training kills."
5 comments:
As someone assigned to Consulate Lahore, wasn't he technically a "consular officer" as opposed to a "diplomatic officer?" Isn't that why the PO in a Consulate is Consul-General, even if the officer can and will never touch consular work?
Not that that should limit Davis' immunities.
I don't know, not for certain. Presumably, wiser (and greyer) heads than mine have this sorted out.
Having said that, it was my earlier inpression that Mr. Davis was assigned to the embassy rather than the Lahore consulate, although he was arrested in Lahore.
It goes back to the old days when consuls were considered commercial or trade representatives, and acted usually only on those issues. Basically some trader was appointed by the government to represent the U.S. on trade issues, as opposed to general issues of diplomacies. Today, of course, consuls and consulates deal with diplomatic issues mainly, but also with issues like visas, commerce, U.S. citizen services, etc. But generally no longer represent the trading/international trade community.
But, for the record, Davis had a diplomatic visa in a DP, as well as a business visa in a regular passport.
Oh, and thanks for the link. I had thought you had stopped posting.
@Federale:
Hadn't quit, just was taking a bit of a break.
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