Topic:
Country: Brazil
Delegate Name: Jake Brody
Country: Federative Republic of Brazil
Committee: Legal Committee (Legal)
Diplomatic immunity is meant to protect foreign officers from prosecutions and lawsuits of the country they are visiting, but in some cases this immunity is misused and taken advantage of. The issue at hand is how much immunity a diplomat should have and whether the limits on their immunity are enough. During the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the Model United Nations made diplomatic immunity into an international law. Diplomats are now free to do their jobs with independence and security.
In Brazil, diplomatic immunity is absolute under the legal system. Brazil believes in the independence and freedom of a foreign officer to conduct their work. Brazil’s position is to grant diplomatic immunity, within reason. Brazil grants sovereign immunity to its foreign officers. Sovereign immunity is broken up into two parts: judicial and enforcement immunity. Judicial immunity protects people employed by the judiciary from liability. Enforcement immunity protects someone absolutely, unless a constitutional law is broken. Judicial immunity is granted when acts of a diplomat are for the government or acts of the state, more specifically acts related to the sovereignty of a country. Acts committed relating to sovereignty will be granted judicial immunity. Acts that are private or commercial, that do not involve the government, will not be granted judicial immunity. Enforcement immunity is absolute and will always be followed by Brazil, unless sovereignty is broken or misused. Brazil believes that the immunity of a diplomat should be granted within reason. Immunity should only be granted if the intention of the diplomat is to better their country as a whole, and not for selfish gain. Brazil agrees with the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, which discusses functional and diplomatic immunity. Domestically, Brazil follows sovereign immunity and wants to promote this internationally as well.
A potential solution to the limits of diplomatic immunity is enacting accountability and granting sovereign immunity to diplomats and other foreign officers. Diplomats would be granted freedom and independence to conduct their jobs and would have to sign a contract. If they commit a crime in the country that they are stationed in they must be accountable for that crime. If the crime was not sovereign in origin and the contract is broken, the diplomat should not be given that immunity. They should neither be granted judicial immunity or enforcement immunity if their actions are for selfish gain, such as laundering money or bribing governments; they should be tried by the country they are in as well as their home country. Both countries affected should join together in prosecuting the diplomat, that way a fair and just trial can be achieved. Brazil affirms its ideal of sovereign immunity and hopes the United Nations adopts it.
