Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Extraterritoriality

Episode Date: February 1, 2021

A common misconception that many people have is that embassies are part of the territory of the country that owns the embassy. For example, the American embassy in Canada is part of the United States. This is not quite true. The theory covering how an embassy or a diplomat works deals with the concept of extraterritoriality. Learn more about extraterritoriality, the thing which makes international relations function, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A common misconception that many people have is that embassies are part of the territory of the country that runs the embassy. For example, the American embassy in Canada would be part of the United States. This is not quite true. The theory covering how an embassy or a diplomat works deals with the concept of extraterritoriality. Learn more about extraterritoriality, the thing that makes international relations function on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night.

And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. This episode is sponsored by audible.com. My audiobook recommendation today is backstabbing for beginners. My Crash Course in International Diplomacy by Michael Suzanne. The year is 1997. Michael Suzanne, a fresh-phrase graduate, takes up a job at the UN's Oil for Food Program, the largest humanitarian operation in the organization's history.

His mission is to help Iraqi civilians survive the devastating impact of economic sanctions that were imposed following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. On March 8, 2004 in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Suzanne becomes the first insider to call for an independent investigation of the UN's feelings with Saddam Hussein. Backstabbing for beginners is at once a witty tale of one man's political coming of age and a stinging indictment of the hypocrisy that prevailed at the heart of one of the world's most idealistic institutions. You can get a free one-month trial to Audible and two free audiobooks by going to audibletrial.com slash everything everywhere or by

clicking on the link in the show notes. The definition of extraterritoriality, according to Merriam Webster's, is exemption from the application or jurisdiction of local laws or tribunals. Many people think that an embassy is the territory of the country which operates it, because the laws of that country operate there. However, that doesn't make it the territory of the country. In the example I gave in the introduction, the American embassy in Canada is not American territory. It's Canadian territory. However, the land where the embassy is located is subject to extraterritorial jurisdiction. That means the land might be owned by the United States as property, and the laws of the United States apply there, but it's not.

sovereign U.S. territory. What's the difference you might ask? In this example, the United States could in the future buy new land for an embassy and move their operations over there, in which case the new land would have extraterritorial status and the old location of the embassy no longer would. Extraterritoriality isn't a permanent thing. It can be revoked if countries cease having diplomatic relations or can be changed or transferred. Sovereign territory is much more permanent. The historical development of extraterritoriality, unlike many ideas discussed on this show, does not go back to antiquity. Although honors might have been extended to representatives of any foreign land, and it may have been customary, it wasn't necessarily a formal and legal concept. The concept, as we know it

today, extends back to the Middle Ages. Italian trading republics such as Venice and Genoa, negotiated special status for their merchants in cities such as Constantinople and Alexandria, so long as they remained in certain sections of the city. Later, the Ottoman Empire would extend a different set of rules for Europeans who traded in the empire. Much of this was religious stemming from the fact that the Ottomans were Muslim and the Europeans were Christian. Extraterritoriality was often forced upon Asian countries like China by Europeans, who wanted exclusive trading zones and didn't want their people subject to local laws. The post-war treaty, which codified exactly how extraterritoriality works and is applied,

is the 1961 Convention on Diplomatic Relations. It has been signed by every country in the world except for Palau, the Solomon Islands, and South Sudan. The idea of extraterritoriality doesn't just apply to embassies or consulates. It can apply to people and things as well. You've probably heard of diplomatic immunity. Diplomatic immunity is nothing more than extraterritoriality extended to people. The diplomatic staff of a country and their families will often be extended immunity against local laws. Many people wonder just how absolute diplomatic immunity extends.

Could, for example, a diplomat commit murder and get away with the crime? The answer is, yes, and there have been such cases in recent memory. In 1984, a police officer in London was shot from the Libyan embassy. There was a Panamanian diplomat who was charged with rape in the Philippines. There have been numerous cases of abuse, smuggling, non-payment of contracts, and even human trafficking. So what happens when such an incident occurs? The country where the diplomat is stationed will usually declare the person persona non grata, which means that they're no longer welcome in the country anymore and have to leave immediately.

Depending upon the severity of the crime and the relations of the two countries, the nation which the diplomat represents can also suspend immunity and allow the person to be punished in the country where it was committed. In 1997, a diplomat from the Republic of Georgia was driving while drunk in an accident, where a 16-year-old girl was killed in Virginia. In this case, Georgia revoked the diplomatic. immunity. In 2004, an American soldier in Romania killed a popular singer in a traffic accident, and the United States refused to lift immunity. Rather, the soldier was court-martialed

by the United States. There have been numerous examples of this over the last 60 years of immunity being used by diplomats who committed crimes in many different countries. Diplomatic immunity can also extend to objects as well. Communications between an embassy and the home country can be delivered in what is known as a diplomatic pouch. The contents of a pouch cannot be searched or inspected when going through customs by another country without starting an international incident. A diplomatic pouch can be much larger than just a briefcase. Computer and communications equipment can be tagged as diplomatic and transferred in something as large as a shipping container. British officials were worried that Julian Assange would be smuggled out of the Ecuadorian embassy

in Lunda via a diplomatic pouch. One final area where there is extraterritoriality is on ships and international water. It isn't quite the same thing because it isn't in a foreign country, but the laws of the country where the ship is flagged are in effect on the ship. There are several places around the world that are subject to special rules of extraterritoriality. Vatican City has special extraterritorial status within the city of Rome. There are a host of churches that are under Vatican jurisdiction, including the papal summer retreat at Castle Gandalfo. The grounds of the United Nations in New York City have extraterritorial status as well, although the host country in this case is the UN. They have created rules to govern diplomats with UN credentials.

There are memorials and graveyards around the world which also have extraterritorial status. For example, the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, is subject to the laws of the United States. On the remote island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, the Longwood House where Napoleon lived in exile, is owned by France and is under French jurisdiction. I actually met the French envoy to the island who has lived there for over 30 years. The tomb of Suleiman Shah, the grandfather of Osman I'm the first, founder of the Ottoman Empire, is located just 180 meters over the border of Turkey in Syria. There's a Turkish honor guard station there, and they fly the Turkish flag,

but the territory is Syrian. Perhaps the most unique case is the headquarters of the sovereign military order of Malta in Rome. The Knights of Malta have extraterritorial status in both Italy and Malta, and they have diplomatic relations with several countries, but they are not themselves a country. They are interesting and worthy enough for a future episode. So if you ever walk into an embassy or shake hands with a diplomat, realize that legally you're dealing with someone or someplace that is working under a totally different system of laws.

Executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James McAla. The associate producer is Thor Thompson. Remember to leave a five-star review to get your review read on the show. They can be left at Apple Podcasts, Podcasts, Podcast Republic, or wherever you listen to the show. Also, you can help support the show over at patreon.com. Patrons can get merchandise like t-shirts and hoodies, as well as having direct access to provide suggestions for future episodes.