Ecuador Mexico Tensions: Violation of Vienna Convention

Context

Ecuador, in a serious violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations

raided at Mexico’s  embassy in Quito.

More on News:

• The raid was to arrest Jorge David Glas, a former Vice-President, convicted and sentenced for corruption who took refuge in the Mexican embassy in Quito in December.
• Ecuador declared Mexico’s Ambassador as persona non grata after Mexico’s President comments that were critical of Ecuador’s 2023 elections. 
• Mexico, which says its sovereignty has been breached, has now moved the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands, demanding the expulsion of Ecuador from the UN.

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About Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations

• Adoption: It was adopted on 14th April 1961 by the United Nations Conference on Diplomatic Intercourse and Immunities and entered into force on April 24, 1964.
• Membership: Currently, 193 countries are parties to this convention.
• Ratification: It is nearly universally ratified, with Palau and South Sudan being the exceptions. India has ratified the convention.
• Framework: Vienna Convention provides a complete framework for the establishment, maintenance and termination of diplomatic relations on a basis of consent between independent sovereign States.
• Article 22: Ecuador’s police action on Mexico’s embassy violated Article 22 of the Vienna Convention.
  • Principle of Inviolability: The premises of the mission shall be inviolable, the agents of the receiving State may not enter them except with the consent of the head of the mission.
  • Duties of the State: The receiving State shall take appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.
  • Immunity: The premises of the mission, their furnishings and other property thereon and the means of transport of the mission shall be immune from search, requisition, attachment or execution.

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