Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Government has requested the sending state to (a) waive, (b) suspend and (c) remove the rights to diplomatic immunity of an individual diplomat to the UK since 2010.

Mr Philip Hammond

Under Article 32 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a diplomat’s immunity may only be waived by the sending State. The VCDR does not refer to immunity being suspended, nor removed. Full statistics and details about requests for waivers of immunity for the period specified are not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Such requests would cover instances where a diplomat was the alleged offender; the alleged victim of a crime; where a diplomat has witnessed a crime and police have sought a witness statement; or where police have sought witness statements from diplomats in relation to unconnected investigations. However, statistics for waivers requested in respect of serious and significant offences allegedly committed by individuals with some form of diplomatic or consular immunity are recorded centrally for the period covering 2010-2014. In total, 14 such requests were made during this period.