The Press WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1970. Diplomatic Immunity

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32266, 8 April 1970, Page 14

The Press WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1970. Diplomatic Immunity

The ferocity and extent of World War II established that there are no neutrals, and no civilian noncombatants, when military expediency dictates otherwise. The brutal murder of the West German Ambassador to Guatemala is the latest in a series of events which show an extension of this wartime principle; now there is no guaranteed neutrality or diplomatic immunity when the dictates of internal political opposition make it expedient to ignore these things. Count von Spreti was killed for reasons quite unconnected with himself or the country he represented. The principle—if such it can be called —behind the murder is eveh more contemptuous of human life than that behind the hijacking of aircraft; the justifications are similar: the means, however atrocious, are justified by the end. The victims of political kidnappings usually have no political connection with those responsible. The avowed object of the kidnapping of diplomats has been to raise funds or to secure the release of political prisoners; even more important to the kidnappers may be the public attention thus drawn to them and to their causes, and the unfavourable attention focused on governments which fail to prevent such outrages. Political opponents of a government may thus succeed, as they have succeeded in Guatemala, in creating a climate of insecurity in which a government must face diplomatic crises, perhaps diplomatic isolation, as a consequence of its failure to protect those whose safety it must guarantee. The very institution of government is made to appear ineffectual. The kidnappers have scored an important political point when they can demonstrate the failure on the part of the system they oppose to provide one of the most fundamental justifications of government—security for those who live under it.

The disruptive effects of terrorism against unoffending targets selected almost at random has been amply demonstrated in this century in countries as far apart as Ireland and South Vietnam. Political terrorism can make many normal human activities almost impossible; it can bring about the very governmental repression which the terrorists may claim to be acting against in the first place. The Guatemalan kidnappers have suggested this is one of their aims. Once the accepted canons of political opposition have been breached there is no easy way to restore a semblance of security. The kidnapping and murder of diplomats, like the hijacking of civilian aircraft, demonstrates the fragility of the civilised conventions of international behaviour which grew up slowly in Western Europe and have since been imitated through most of the world. Conventions such as diplomatic immunity are almost unenforceable once reckless opponents have held them up to contempt Strained relations between Guatemala and West Germany because of Count von Spreti’s death may appear relatively unimportant; but all States which wish to be counted part of the civilised world must deplore what has happened there and ensure that no political justification shall be used to defend the deed or those who committed it.