The International Law Principle of persona non grata and International Organizations: An Appraisal of the Ethiopian Government’s Expulsion of United Nations Officials in 2021

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Date

2024-09

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

Recently, various states have declared persona non grata officials of International Organizations, one of them being the Ethiopian government expelling seven officials of the United Nations in 2021. Such declarations have not been well received by the International Organizations, mainly the UN, which claims the principle of persona non grata is not applicable in the case of UN officials and such declarations as violations of international law. This thesis discusses the development of privileges and immunities in general, especially focusing on privileges and immunities of international organizations. Diplomatic immunities are one of the oldest doctrines in international law in state-to-state relations, attaining the level of international customary law. As International Organizations are recent phenomena themselves, the idea of privileges and immunities is not well developed as it is a treaty-based system. The paper analyzes the applicability of persona non grata in relation to International Organizations. It also discusses the specific declaration of the Ethiopian government on UN officials in 2021 and examines its legality under the proper international legal instruments. It also discusses the mechanisms available for States to utilize in dealing with abuse of privileges and immunities under the legal instruments of different organizations, focusing on the General Convention and Special Convention. The thesis employs legal analysis on the principle of persona non grata and its applicability in relation to International Organizations. The finding of the study indicates, even though the principle of persona non grata is not available in the legal instruments of different International Organizations, there is no clear normative legal ground that prohibits states from declaring it. Which makes the issue very argumentative. But it can be observed that currently states are declaring persona non grata against officials of International Organizations, which can be seen as emerging state practice that can develop to attain customary international law status. The matter needs to get normative ground to be settled, through inclusion in the international legal instruments or decision and advisory opinions of international judicial institutions like he ICJ.

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Keywords

persona non grata, Privileges and Immunities, International Organizations, General Convention, Special Convention

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