Diplomatic Mission - Extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality

Contrary to popular belief, diplomatic missions do not enjoy full extraterritorial status and are not sovereign territory of the represented state. Rather, the premises of diplomatic missions remain under the jurisdiction of the host state while being afforded special privileges (such as immunity from most local laws) by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Diplomats themselves still retain full diplomatic immunity, and (as an adherent to the Vienna Convention) the host country may not enter the premises of the mission without permission of the represented country. The term "extraterritoriality" is often applied to diplomatic missions, but only in this broader sense.

As the host country may not enter the representing country's embassy without permission, embassies are sometimes used by refugees escaping from either the host country or a third country. For example, North Korean nationals, who would be arrested and deported from China upon discovery, have sought sanctuary at various third-country embassies in China. Once inside the embassy, diplomatic channels can be used to solve the issue and send the refugees to another country. See List of people who took refuge in a diplomatic mission for a list of some notable cases.

Notable violations of embassy extraterritoriality include repeated invasions of the British Embassy, Beijing (1967), the Iran hostage crisis (1979–1981) and the Japanese embassy hostage crisis at the ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru (1996).