Adiplomatic mission orforeign mission is a group of people from astate ororganization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state.[1] In practice, the phrase usually denotes anembassy orhigh commission, which is the main office of a country'sdiplomatic representatives to another country; it is usually, but not necessarily, based in the receiving state'scapital city.[2]
Consulates, on the other hand, are smaller diplomatic missions that are normally located in major cities of the receiving state (but can be located in the capital, typically when the sending country has no embassy in the receiving state). In addition to being a diplomatic mission to the country in which it is located, an embassy may also be a non-resident permanent mission to one or more other countries.[3][4][5][6]
The term embassy is sometimes used interchangeably withchancery, the physical office or site of a diplomatic mission.[7] Consequently, the terms "embassy residence" and "embassy office" are used to distinguish between the ambassador's residence and the chancery.
Diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by anambassador, a legation was headed by aminister. Ambassadorsoutranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legations were originally the most common form of diplomatic mission, but they fell out of favor after World War II and were upgraded to embassies.
Honorary Consul
A single person, not a diplomat or consular officer (civil servant), representing another country on an honorary basis with only a limited range of services. Not necessarily a citizen of the country he represents but in most of the cases a citizen of the host country.[8]
The head of an embassy is known as anambassador orhigh commissioner. The termembassy is commonly used also as a section of a building in which the work of the diplomatic mission is carried out, but strictly speaking, it is the diplomatic delegation itself that is the embassy, while the office space and the diplomatic work done is called thechancery. Therefore, the embassy operates in the chancery.
The members of a diplomatic mission can reside within or outside the building that holds the mission's chancery, and their private residences enjoy the same rights as the premises of the mission as regards inviolability and protection.[9]
All missions to theUnited Nations are known simply aspermanent missions, whileEU member states' missions to theEuropean Union are known aspermanent representations, and the head of such a mission is typically both a permanent representative and an ambassador. European Union missions abroad are known as EU delegations. Some countries have more particular nomenclature for their missions and staff: aVatican mission is headed by anuncio (Latin for "envoy") and consequently known as anapostolic nunciature. Under the rule ofMuammar Gaddafi,Libya's missions used the namepeople's bureau, headed by a secretary.
Missions betweenCommonwealth countries are known ashigh commissions, and their heads are high commissioners.[10] Generally speaking, ambassadors and high commissioners are regarded as equivalent in status and function, and embassies and high commissions are both deemed to be diplomatic missions.[11][12]
In the past, a diplomatic mission headed by a lower-ranking official (anenvoy orminister resident) was known as alegation. Since the ranks of envoy and minister resident are effectively obsolete, the designation oflegation is no longer among thediplomatic ranks used in diplomacy and international relations.
Aconsulate is similar to, but not the same as a diplomatic office, but with focus on dealing with individual persons and businesses, as defined by theVienna Convention on Consular Relations. A consulate or consulate general is generally a representative of the embassy in locales outside of the capital city.[10] For instance, the Philippines has itsembassy to the United States in the latter's capital, Washington, D.C., but also maintains seven consulates-general in major US cities. The person in charge of a consulate or consulate-general is known as a consul or consul-general, respectively. Similar services may also be provided at the embassy (to serve the region of the capital) in what is normally called a consular section.
In cases of dispute, it is common for a country torecall its head of mission as a sign of its displeasure. This is less drastic than cutting diplomatic relations completely, and the mission will still continue operating more or less normally, but it will now be headed by achargé d'affaires (usually thedeputy chief of mission) who may have limited powers. Achargé d'affaires ad interim also heads the mission during the interim between the end of one chief of mission's term and the beginning of another.
Contrary to popular belief, diplomatic missions sometimes do not enjoy fullextraterritorial status and are generally not sovereign territory of the represented state. The sending state can give embassies sovereign status but this only happens with a minority of countries.[13] Rather, the premises of an embassy remain under the jurisdiction of the host state while being afforded special privileges (such as immunity from most local laws) by theVienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Diplomats themselves still retain fulldiplomatic immunity, and (as an adherent to the Vienna Convention) the authorities of the host country may not enter the premises of the mission (which means the head of mission's residence) without permission of the represented country, even to put out a fire. International rules designate an attack on an embassy as an attack on the country it represents.[14] The term 'extraterritoriality' is often applied to diplomatic missions, but normally only in this broader sense.
As the host country's authorities may not enter the representing country's embassy without permission, embassies are sometimes used byrefugees 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 thelist of people who took refuge in a diplomatic mission for a list of some notable cases.
The basic role of a diplomatic mission is to represent and safeguard the interests of the home country and its citizens in the host country.[16] According to the 1961Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which establishes the framework of diplomacy among sovereign states:
The functions of a diplomatic mission consist,inter alia, in representing the sending State in the receiving State; protecting in the receiving State the interests of the sending State and of its nationals, within the limits permitted by international law; negotiating with the Government of the receiving State; ascertaining by all lawful means conditions and developments in the receiving State, and reporting thereon to the Government of the sending State; promoting friendly relations between the sending State and the receiving State, and developing their economic, cultural and scientific relations.[17]
Diplomatic missions between members of theCommonwealth of Nations are not called embassies, buthigh commissions, for Commonwealth nations share a special diplomatic relationship. It is generally expected that an embassy of a Commonwealth country in a non-Commonwealth country will do its best to provide diplomatic services to citizens from other Commonwealth countries if the citizen's country does not have an embassy in that country. Canadian and Australian nationals enjoy even greater cooperation between their respective consular services, as outlined in theCanada-Australia Consular Services Sharing Agreement. The same kind of procedure is also followed multilaterally by the member states of theEuropean Union (EU). European citizens in need of consular help in a country without diplomatic or consular representation of their own country may turn to any consular or diplomatic mission of another EU member state (art. 23TFEU).[18]
Some cities may host more than one mission from the same country.
InRome, many states maintain separate missions to bothItaly and theHoly See. It is not customary for these missions to share premises or personnel. At present, only the Iraqi and United States embassies to Italy and theHoly See share premises; however, separate ambassadors are appointed, one to each country. In the case of theUN's Food Agencies, the sending country's ambassador to the Italian Republic is usually accredited aspermanent representative. The United States maintains a separatemission to the UN agencies, led byits own ambassador, but is located in the compound that houses its embassies to Italy and the Holy See.
In some cases, an embassy or consulate is divided between multiple locations in the same city. For example, the Bangladeshi Deputy High Commission inKolkata has two locations: one atPark Circus and another, opened later, at Mirza Ghalib Street, to reduce overcrowding.
Governments ofstates not recognized by the receiving state and of territories that make no claim to be sovereign states may set up offices abroad that do not have official diplomatic status as defined by the Vienna Convention. Examples are theTaipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices that represent the government of the Republic of China; Somaliland's Representative Offices in London,Addis Ababa, Rome,Taipei, andWashington, D.C.; theHong Kong andMacau economic and trade offices that represent the governments of those two territories. Such offices assume some of the non-diplomatic functions of diplomatic posts, such as promoting trade interests and providing assistance to its citizens and residents. They are nevertheless not diplomatic missions, their personnel are not diplomats and do not have diplomatic visas, although there may be legislation providing for personal immunities and tax privileges, as in the case of the Hong Kong offices in London and Toronto or the Macau office in Lisbon, for example.
^"The Russian Federation has diplomatic relations with a total of 187 countries, but some of them – mainly for financial reasons – maintain non-resident embassies in other countries",International AffairsArchived 2023-11-11 at theWayback Machine, issues 4–6 (Znanye Pub. House, 2006), p. 78
^"Laws and Rules Regarding Extraterritoriality".integrity-legal.com. Archived fromthe original on 2021-04-14.There is a common misconception that Embassies and Consulates have extraterritoriality. As anecdotal evidence of this misconception, people will often say things like, 'the US Embassy sits upon United States soil.' For the most part, this is not the case as extraterritoriality is not conferred upon an Embassy or Consulate, but in some situations extraterritoriality may be created by Treaty.
^"Sir Ray Whitney".The Daily Telegraph. London. 15 August 2012.Archived from the original on 2022-01-12. Retrieved17 August 2015.Red Guards scaled the British mission's wall as diplomats watched the Ealing comedyTwo-Way Stretch. They retreated to an inner room without switching off the projector, pushing a piano across the door as the mob broke windows and began climbing in. Whitney and his colleagues retreated again to the embassy's secure zone, with heavily barred windows. The Chinese set fire to the mission, then used a battering ram on the steel emergency door.
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