Diplo Blog
What’s new with cybersecurity negotiations: The OEWG 2021–2025 annual report adopted
13 August 2022
The third substantive session of the OEWG saw delegations meet to adopt the annual progress report, to provide a clear roadmap for their future work, and to identify specific issues for focused discussions. Spoiler al...
Wreckers are as important as builders
02 August 2022
I was reading Eric Hobsbawn’s excellent eulogy on Tony Judt this rainy morning. One sentence struck me. Speaking of the end of the Communist system, this Marxist historian stated: The real heroes of the period [i.e...
Diplomacy as poetry
17 July 2022
Ambiguity, Diplomatic theory and practice, Language and diplomacy
Can poetry help diplomacy? A joke, surely! Poetry and diplomacy are worlds apart and have nothing in common other than using language as a medium. Diplomacy is devoid of poetry unless, that is, we count the alliterati...
Diplomatic immunity law and jus cogens: Can the relationship result in invalidating the VCDR or the VCCR?
Many commentators suggest that the concepts of diplomatic immunity are outdated because they were developed prior to the emergence of fundamental concepts of international human rights law. It is suggested that immuni...
State immunity: Germany revisits earlier ICJ decision and its potential ramifications for diplomatic immunity
04 July 2022
Diplomatic law, International law, International relations, law and politics, Privileges and immunities
On 3 February 2012, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rendered its judgment on the issue of jurisdictional immunity in the case Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening) rega...
10th anniversary of the Humanitarian Diplomacy course
This year, Diplo is marking the 10th anniversary year of its Humanitarian Diplomacy online course, delivered in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). This is a g...
A brief history of Yoga diplomacy
22 June 2022
Contemporary diplomacy, Cultural diplomacy, Cultural diversity, Health diplomacy, Intercultural communication, Nation branding, Public diplomacy, Sports diplomacy
Yoga, said Narendra Modi at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2014, is not just exercise. 'By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can also help us deal with climate change.' He ...
The Slovene Diplomatic Union: Enhancing the profession
Thirty-two years before French diplomats went on strike for the second time in almost four centuries of their formal diplomatic history, Greek diplomats went on strike. I was at that time part of the Yugoslav Foreign ...