A Letter to the UN Secretary General and World Leaders:
Let us change this “ONE LAW” that would save many innocent girls and woman from rape, torture, slavery and murder.
Dear Secretary General and my Dear World Leaders;
On the middle of the night on Sept 13, 2015, two women were led to cross the country from India to Nepal, their homeland. They were two extraordinary and brave women, around 40 and 25 years old, who claim to have endured the worst of mankind — GANG RAPE, SLAVERY, SODOMY, BEATING, and TORTURE, for more than four months in the hands of a Saudi Diplomat who is also a Prince. There were some routine news coverage and few protests in India and that was it. The world seems not to care because “they were poor women, whose life didn’t matter”. They came to India with the promise of a job, so that they could take care of their families back in their home country — one of the women were to care for her sick husband.
Few days later, with no choice left, The Indian Government let the accused, the Saudi diplomat, Majed Hassan Ashoor, the first secretary at the Saudi Embassy in Delhi, leave India in the luxury and comfort of his own will, without prosecution, under the auspices of diplomatic immunity provided by the Vienna Convention.
This is not the first time people accused of committing horrific crimes have escaped due process under the pretext of “diplomatic immunity”. A simple Google search would provide plenty of examples of diplomats breaking the law and even committing horrific crimes and escaping justice.
In August 2014, a man from the Equatorial Guinea embassy in Washington DC hit a girl in her head with a chair, and the police report suggests that there have been previous reports of assaults against the same individual. “The subject has full diplomatic immunity and was not arrested,” Arlington County Police said in a crime report.
On September 12, 2015, Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al-Thani, a member of Qatar’s ruling family, fled the US after speeding through a Beverly Hills neighborhood in his Ferrari. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Los Angeles Police said Al-Thani told them he had diplomatic immunity, which would have seen him bypass prosecution in the US. However, that was not to be the case, but he fled anyway. According to video journalist Jacob Rogers, Al-Thani told him, ‘I could have you killed and get away with it”. “I told him, ‘the press is allowed to be here on the sidewalk on a public street.’ He said, ‘ Fuck America’ and threw a cigarette at me, said Rogers”
Then you have the two famous cases. In December 2013, Devyani Khobragade of India was arrested for employing a maid in New York at below minimum wage. In January 2011, Raymond Davis of the USA, a CIA contractor, shot two men dead in Lahore. In both cases, their respective Governments claimed diplomatic immunity, even though they didn’t have
diplomatic immunity at the time of committing the alleged offense and got them back to their home countries.
In 2010, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague reported that there were 18 crimes, including cases of sexual assault involving accused who were diplomats in the UK in that year alone. Of course, we don’t know how many such crimes goes unreported.
A simple web search shows that there are around 37,000 Foreign Service employees of US alone. More than 129 countries are signatory to the Vienna convention. A simple math would indicate that a lot of people- few millions- who can claim to be under diplomatic immunity and can consider themselves above the law due to their status.
Bearing few exceptions, there are two common themes in all such cases involving diplomats:
1) Country/State Pride at Stake: The country of origin of the diplomat immediately tries to shield the diplomat under the pretext of diplomatic immunity and tries to whisk away the diplomat to their home country. It’s as if the crime doesn’t matter and the victim’s life doesn’t matter — as long as the accused is a diplomat. The prestige and pride of the nation of origin of the diplomat take front and center stage. The crime becomes an afterthought.
2) Diplomats consider themselves above the Law: Please allow me to share this story. A few years ago, I was invited to a dinner party by a friend. During the conversation, another guest, a young handsome gentleman sitting next to me mentioned that he was going abroad in a diplomatic posting. As the wine flew, during casual conversation, he went on to describe his new job, the adventure in a foreign land and the perks of the position. To my shock, he said, “the best part of the job is I can even get away with killing someone as I will be protected under diplomatic immunity”. This is the scary part that diplomats take this law for granted and interpret as-if this is a legal sanction for them “to do whatever they want” and will be protected no matter what.
This issue has been highlighted in the past by news media many times and numerous articles have been written on the issue and still nothing has happened.
By letting this happen, the UN and indirectly “WE THE PEOPLE” of the world are officially sanctioning rape, murder, slavery, and torture.
This convention in its present form is antiquated and has no place in the 21st century. It is a matter of urgency that the convention BE CHANGED.
The letter and spirit of the law of “diplomatic immunity” are to allow the diplomats to conduct their affairs without fear and threat from the host country. But NOT to carry out rape, murder, and slavery, among many other crimes without fear of prosecution.
It is quite understandable that there is some fear in getting justice at times from the host country. However, there is actually a simpler solution available.
If any diplomat is accused of committing a crime or violate the law of the land where they are stationed, then “THEY ALL MUST BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE IN THE INTERNATIONAL COURT WITHOUT EXCEPTION”.
There is no reason to believe why this shouldn’t be acceptable to any reasonable person or nation for that matter.
A diplomat’s life can’t be more valuable than any other individual’s life and a diplomat must not be led to believe that (s)he can get away with committing crimes.
My quick research on the issue led me to believe that majority of such crimes are committed against women, who are already suffering from various social norms and even laws and years of subjugation by men’s for centuries.
The innocent people, most of the time poor and less privileged who are the victim of such horrific crimes are victimized again — they suffer psychological trauma for the rest of their lives knowing full well that someone caused them irreparable harm and was not even brought under due process because of “who they were”. This can’t and shouldn’t be the written law of any civilized society.
So on behalf of the most vulnerable of the world, those voiceless women of the world, those two brave Nepali women who had to endure the barbaric torture, I ask you, I challenge you.
Mr. Secretary General and My Dear World Leaders. Please change this law — make it fair and just- so that every law abiding diplomat can perform his/her duty without fear but also, must not have an iota of doubt that (s)he must be and will be prosecuted if (s)he commits a crime.
If we can’t take away the lifelong pain and suffering of these heroes, who endured such horrific crimes, at least we can bring them justice. We can show to the world that no one is above the law. Life, liberty, freedom and happiness is everyone’s right, not just the right of a few privileged ones.
I am being hounded by the thought of the Saudi Prince, who not only violated the law, endangering other human life but had the audacity to threaten a journalist to kill, that too in my city of Los Angeles. All these under the pretext of diplomatic immunity.
That we are our brother’s keeper that we are our sister’s keeper- that very thought has been hounding me since the episode of the two brave Nepalese women. The image of two brave women led away by Police with their head covered has been hunting me. The emotion of crying inside chokes me. I feel somehow, I personally failed them, we as a society failed them-they will be living the rest of their lives without any trust for anyone or security that must be guaranteed to every citizen of the world.
We must show leadership, conviction, and resolve and tell the world that we care-“we care for each one of you”, irrespective of your position in the society-financial, political or otherwise. We must apologize to those two brave women from Nepal and others who have suffered greatly due to a law we have enacted that allows perpetrators to commit such heinous crimes.
If there has to be an international law, then it should be exactly opposite of what we have today.
A law to ensure that NOT a single innocent citizen of any country falls victim to crimes committed by a diplomat and goes unpunished because the country of origin of the diplomats wants to cover it under the rug for their pride and prestige.
My Dear Secretary General and The World Leaders, CHANGE THIS LAW, so that, no other diplomat will ever be able to think that (s)he has a license to rape, murder or enslave anyone, take advantage of the most vulnerable. Let us send a message loud and clear that we care for all and we will protect each and every one on this planet.
Let there be not another incident of crime where an innocent suffers while another diplomat gets away without even due process of law.
Because after all, we value every life on this planet.
ALL LIVES MATTER.
Best Regards
Gyan Parida
Credits: The images belong to the source of origin.
About the Author:
Gyan Parida is a humanist, Venture Adviser and strategist who is passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship, startups and investment. As an Adj. Professor, he has taught the MBA, Venture Finance program at Pepperdine University, Los Angeles. He was the CEO of Silicon Alley Entrepreneurs Club of New York and also the Chairman of Global Venture Congress (Technology and Life Sciences) at Madison Square Garden, New York. He was one of the three US National Finalist, 2002 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year and Winner, Kauffman Supporter of Entrepreneurship Award. More about him on his site and his LinkedIn profile. His primary social media presence is here.
