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No. This would be in direct contravention of the Vienna Protocols [1] that define a diplomatic pouch and its protections. You are not allowed to stuff your pers
by azernik 9y ago
No. This would be in direct contravention of the Vienna Protocols [1] that define a diplomatic pouch and its protections. You are not allowed to stuff your personal shit in a diplomatic courier pouch, and any country openly and intentionally allowing the abuse of the Vienna Protocols for these purposes would be in very hot water internationally. Like, international-incident, embassies-expelled hot water.
[1] Article 27 Section 4: "The packages constituting the diplomatic bag must bear visible external marks of their character and may contain only diplomatic documents or articles intended for official use."
- derefr 9y agoIt's still not clear to me that e.g. the Queen of England couldn't travel around with her shopping list in a diplomatic pouch. A country's government gets to decide for itself what is and isn't for its "official use", no? So if a country says your laptop contains materials intended for their official use, then it does. It's just a matter of you being important enough for them to be willing to make that claim on your behalf.
- crooked-v 9y agoThe difference is that nearly everything the Queen of England does is in some way important to the UK, even if it's just on the level of keeping crown operations (which bring in substantial funds to the state) running smoothly.
- azernik 9y agoAnd as soon as they get caught, the countries so offended against will call that (rightfully) a flagrant lie. The treaties were written specifically to prevent such a use of diplomatic privilege. That adjective "official" in the Convention is literally meaningless if a country is allowed to claim anything is "official", and trust me, treaty writers do not insert any words without a reason.