Diplomatic crime sprees under the spotlight in London (News Feature)

By Anna Tomforde Jun 29, 2010, 15:30 GMT

London - Drink-driving, shoplifting, robbery and even human trafficking are amongst allegations levelled at foreign diplomats and embassy staff in London where a furious debate has erupted over their traditional immunity from prosecution.

'Diplomatic immunity has become diplomatic impunity,' Geoffrey Robertson, QC, one of Britain's foremost lawyers, told the BBC on Tuesday, calling for diplomats and staff to be prosecuted for serious crimes.

The 1961 Geneva Convention on Diplomatic Relations, hammered out at the height of the Cold War, had given diplomats total immunity from 'mass murder to parking offences,' he said.

'In the age of e-mail and skype the outrage of getting away with serious crimes must stop,' said Robertson. He suggested that diplomats should be tried by British courts or have their cases referred to the International Criminal Court of Justice before a British judge.

But his views find little favour with veteran diplomats who argue that the security of their staff is still today being protected by the 1961 Convention.

Tony Brenton, a former British ambassador to Moscow, argued that the rules set up nearly 50 years ago were still 'crucial to the maintenance of diplomatic integrity' in large parts of the world.

While staff members in Moscow had suffered harassment from break-ins and 'tampering with cars,' the Convention had protected them from any 'direct legal attack on their freedom' by the authorities, argued the former ambassador.

There were still a lot of 'ill-motivated' administrations around the world which were ready to look for ways of hassling foreign diplomats on their territory,' Brenton told the BBC.

The debate has erupted with fresh vigour after Foreign Secretary William Hague revealed in parliament this week that foreign diplomats committed 17 serious and drink driving offences in 2009, including human trafficking, sexual assault and a threat to kill.

Hague said diplomatic immunity was invoked for envoys from Saudi Arabia and Sierra Leone who were accused of human trafficking, while a Pakistani diplomat was alleged to have carried out the death threat.

Serious offences were those that could carry prison sentences of a year or more, Hague said in a written statement to parliament.

According to the details given, a Saudi Arabian envoy allegedly committed sexual assault, while a diplomat from Nigeria was linked to a case of actual bodily harm.

A diplomat from Gambia was accused of shoplifting and one from Cameroon of neglecting a young person.

There were also nine instances of driving under the influence of alcohol, one of driving under the influence of alcohol and without insurance and one of driving without due care and attention.

Approximately 25,000 embassy staff and their dependants in Britain are covered by diplomatic immunity. Over the past five years there were 78 exemptions from serious charges, the figures showed.

However, the biggest headache for the British authorities remains the collection of fines from diplomatic missions resulting from their refusal to pay the congestion charge for driving into the centre of London.

Embassies have clocked up fines totalling 36 million pounds (54 million dollars), with the US embassy alone owing 3.8 million pounds, the figures showed.

A further seven countries owe more than 1 million pounds, including Russia with 3.2 million, Japan with 2.8 million and Germany with 2.6 million pounds in unpaid fines.

Nigeria owes just under 2 million pounds, Sudan 1.3 million, India 1.2 million and Poland 1 million, the figures show.

The dispute over the congestion charge dates back to the introduction of the anti-pollution levy in 2003. The embassies argue that the Geneva Convention prohibits the 'direct taxation' of diplomatic missions.

According to Foreign Office figures, a total of 526,300 pounds are also owed in fines for parking and minor traffic violations, and more than 480,000 pounds are outstanding in unpaid rates on properties. The total figure of 17 alleged offences for 2009 is higher than the 10 set out for 2008. There were 20 in 2007, 15 in 2006 and 15 in 2005.