DECLARING DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIVES AS PERSONA NON GRATA IN THE PRACTICE OF STATES

Maintaining and developing international relations is possible through individuals tasked with representing states. Under international law, the state sending the diplomatic representative has the sovereign right to freely determine its own representative. Conversely, it is accepted that the receiving state has the authority to approve or reject the foreign diplomatic representative who will serve in its country. Establishing a diplomatic representation relationship between two states is based on mutual consent, and the continuation of this relationship also requires such consent. In other words, any state party to the diplomatic representation relationship may terminate its existing representation relationship with the other state at any time it deems appropriate; it may also decide to terminate the representation duty of a sent diplomatic representative. Declaring a diplomatic representative as persona non grata is one of the reasons that terminates the duty. According to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the receiving state may declare the sending state's head of mission or any member of its diplomatic staff persona non grata at any time, without having to explain the reasons for its decision (Article 9). In state practice, the declaration of persona non grata is used as a countermeasure. In some cases, the diplomatic representative is requested to leave the receiving state’s territory within a short period, such as twenty-four hours, as a form of retorsion. Declaring a diplomatic representative persona non grata can occur due to certain reasons, such as committing a crime or interfering in the internal affairs of the receiving state. Additionally, tensions arising from the general course of relations between two states may lead to the declaration of persona non grata, regardless of the personal situation of the diplomatic representative. An example of this is the mutual declarations of persona non grata for numerous representatives between the United Kingdom and Russia following the poisoning of former spy Sergey Skripal in 2018. The aim of this study is to reveal its consequences in terms of interstate relations by analyzing the various aspects of declaring persona non grata as a type of sanction.