DIPLOMATIC PROTECTION OF FOREIGN NATIONALS

Abstract

This chapter discusses international laws related to diplomatic protection of foreign nationals. According to the traditional conception of diplomatic protection, a claim by a State against another State on account of an injury to one of its nationals has as its basis the injury which the claimant State has suffered through its national. As a corollary to this construction, the principle has long been accepted that a State may not normally grant protection to nonnationals. Nevertheless, State practice has in the past occasionally conceded that under certain circumstances exceptions may be desirable. The Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) apparently considered, in a dictum in the Panevezys–Saldutiskis Railway Case, that such exceptions require a treaty. A less strict position was adopted by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case concerning Reparation for Injuries Suffered in Service of UN in which the Court referred to important exceptions to the nationality rule. This view is also reflected in the position adopted in 1965 by the Institut de Droit International.