South African Foreign Ministry guaranteed diplomatic immunity to all participants of the BRICS summit

The South African Foreign Ministry said that this country guarantees the granting of diplomatic immunity to the participants of the meeting at the level of the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries. These talks will take place in Cape Town in early June. The same applies to the unification summit, which will be held in Johannesburg from 22 to 24 August. This is stated in the statement of the diplomatic mission of the Republic of South Africa.

“In accordance with [положениями закона] participants in the BRICS Ministerial Meeting and the BRICS Summit are granted immunities and privileges for the duration of the meetings,” — indicated in the message.

As the South African authorities indicated, this decision was justified by the provisions of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations of 1946 and the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies of 1947, adopted by a resolution of the General Assembly of the world organization.

At the same time, the South African Foreign Ministry later noted that the diplomatic immunity that the country’s authorities intend to provide to the participants in the meeting of the heads of foreign ministries of the BRICS countries and the association summit does not cancel the warrant of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which could be issued against any participant meetings. The diplomatic mission stressed that immunities are guaranteed in order to “protect” the participants of the meeting from the “jurisdiction of the host country for the duration of the conference.”