Diplo Blog

When the abuse of diplomatic immunity is alleged to have occurred, it usually refers to diplomatic officers taking advantage of their special status under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) to avoid penalties for misdemeanours, such as ignoring parking regulations, shoplifting, and so on; occasionally for more serious offences.

Transportation as the growth engine of the economy has been one of the industries that has been hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has substantially impacted how we work, how we travel, and how we use technology. It has put an incredible strain on global supply chains, from medical supplies to household goods, as spikes in demand stress-test logistics infrastructures. 

As COVID-19 spreads across the globe, South East Asia has become a particularly affected region, numbering, by 2 June 2020, more than 90 000 COVID-19 cases and 2000 deaths.

In times when public authorities make decisions that affect public health, civil liberties, and people’s prosperity, respecting the public’s right to access information on these decisions is vital.

Under international human rights laws, governments have the obligation to protect the right to freedom of expression, including the right to seek, receive, and impart information. Ensuring that reliable information is accessible in various formats and that all citizens have access to the Internet, is crucial if governments are to protect public interest.

During the COVID-19 crisis, for the first time in history, billions of people on all continents and at sea, underwent an identic experience, irrespective of country, race, nationality, or gender. No war, no crisis, no pandemic, no revolution in the past produced such a social and psychological impact, across all borders. The fear and uncertainty brought on by the virus triggered almost identical reactions from individual human beings and communities.

The future relationship negotiations between Britain and the EU, which commenced on 3 March 2020, teach many lessons in the art of negotiation. Among these are the obvious value of certain kinds of deadline and the less obvious value of publicly announcing ‘red lines’ before talks start. For present purposes I shall concentrate on what they reveal about videoconferencing and whether it has all been for show.

Tech in geopolitics, data tracing apps in focus, and cyber-attacks returning to ‘normal’ were among the main digital policy trends in May 2020.

These and many other developments were covered during May’s just-in-time briefing on Internet governance – our monthly appointment on the last Tuesday of every month – which took place on 26 May 2020. They are also summarised in the Issue 50 of the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP) Digital Watch newsletter.

Lockdowns and other restrictions imposed by governments as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have caused catastrophic losses to businesses. Foreign investors around the world, whose investments are protected under international investment treaties, are entitled to have disputes with the host state arbitrated by an international arbitration tribunal.

Older persons rank high amongst groups that are most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only do they face higher threats to their rights to life and health, but preventative and response-related measures further deepen their social isolation, and the chance to exercise their rights and autonomy. This will all continue until their voices are heard, and their views are seriously taken into account.

In 2019, the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) published the report Measuring digital development. The report presented several important facts and figures, including that an estimated 4.1 billion people have used the Internet in 2019. Among them, 83.9% came from developed countries (DC), while only 19.6% came from the least developed countries (LDCs).