Diplomatic Asylum: Why an Embassy Isn't Embassy Suites
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On November 4, 1956, Hungarian Cardinal József Mindszenty sought asylum in the U.S. embassy in Budapest as Soviet tanks invaded that country to restore communist leadership. Mindszenty didn't leave until 15 years later, following years of negotiations between Budapest, Washington and the Vatican.
On June 27, 1978, seven members of two Pentecostal families burst into the U.S. embassy in Moscow seeking asylum. They lived there in a cramped basement apartment until 1983 when they were allowed to return to their homes and await permission to emigrate.
On April 1, 1980, six Cubans crashed a bus through the Peruvian Embassy gates in Havana. After Peru refused to turn the asylum-seekers over to the Cuban government, Castro angrily ordered all security guards removed from the embassy perimeter whereupon more than 10,000 Cubans flooded onto the embassy grounds demanding asylum. After a two-week standoff, an agreement was reached to allow the people to leave the island.
On February 6, 2012, Chengdu police chief Wang Lijun entered the American consulate in that city, reportedly with a lot of dirt on the Bo Xilai case and possibly to seek asylum. Consulate officials managed to persuade the police chief to leave 24 hours later into the custody of central government reps.
In late April, Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng escaped house arrest in his Shandong village and reportedly has found refuge in the U.S. embassy in Beijing. "Chen is under U.S. protection and high-level talks are currently under way between U.S. and Chinese officials regarding Chen's status," said a statement from the China Aid Association.
These are just a sampling of cases involving individuals seeking safety and asylum in foreign embassies. As can be seen, three of the cases entailed lengthy accommodation of the asylum-seekers inside embassies, even extending to years.
Diplomats' biggest fears when serving abroad are being the target of terrorists, taken hostage or assassinated. High on the list after these is having unwanted guests storm your diplomatic mission demanding protection from the host government. The reasons are: a) embassy/consulate security; b) political repercussions vis-a-vis the host government; and c) major disruption in mission operations. Ideally, an ambassador and his/her staff aim to persuade the asylum-seeker(s) to leave the mission peacefully with assurances from the host government that it will take no retribution against them.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 stipulates that the premises of a diplomatic mission are inviolate and must not be entered by the host country except by permission of the head of the mission. The right to grant diplomatic asylum is not generally recognized by international law. U.S. embassies are authorized to grant temporary refuge for humanitarian reasons in extreme and exceptional circumstances, such as when the life or safety of the asylum-seeker is being threatened.
Having served in four communist countries, I have had first-hand experience with diplomatic asylum-seekers. In all but one case, we managed to persuade the asylum-seekers to return home quietly, sometimes with a commitment on our part to work constructively with the host government to help them emigrate or to be able to carry on their lives without retribution.
The exception involved a North Korean man who entered one of our embassies requesting political asylum. Our politically appointed non-career ambassador and his incompetent career Foreign Service deputy mishandled the case from the get-go. Without consulting embassy staff, they allowed the man to occupy a room inside our cramped building with no forethought as to what to do next. They then ordered all American staff to pull duty staying with the man 24/7. The man, of course, required food, medical attention, supplies -- none of which was covered in standard budgeting. The embassy's security officer was beside himself with this decision to allow an uncleared individual -- a national of an enemy state, no less -- to reside indefinitely in the embassy. Embassy operations were being disrupted in a significant way. Many of us were unable to carry out our regular duties. The State Department threw the ball back in our court, telling us it was the ambassador's responsibility to resolve the case. Finally, I confronted the ambassador, laying out the written policies and guidelines governing such cases. The North Korean was an ordinary citizen of his country, having no intelligence value to us and no record as a dissident or a human rights activist. With the ambassador's go-ahead, I negotiated an arrangement whereby the U.N. refugee agency accepted the North Korean for resettlement in South Korea and the host government promised that it would not interfere. Case resolved, our embassy returned to what passed for normal.
There is nothing mystical or magical about an embassy. It is an office building like many others, only with perhaps more locks and security systems, and, in the case of the U.S., a detachment of Marine Guards. Otherwise, it is just a bunch of offices filled with standard office equipment, coffeemakers and desk photos of the wife or hubby and kids. In other words, it is not Embassy Suites. It is not designed to accommodate overnight guests. At the end of the day, the occupants go home to eat and sleep and goof off.
It would appear that the U.S. consulate in Chengdu handled the case of the police chief well, persuading him to leave and ensuring he was remanded into the hands of central government authorities instead of Bo Xilai's goons. As for the case of the human rights dissident Chen Guangcheng, U.S. Embassy Beijing has its work cut out for it. It creates diplomatic headaches for the United States just days before Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives for annual talks. My guess is that the ambassador and his staff are engaged in intensive talks with the Chinese to settle the case as quickly as possible. Otherwise, they potentially face a Cardinal Mindszenty scenario. If so, they had better get trained up by Embassy Suites in the hospitality business.