Durban - Lwazi Somya, a senior researcher at the Southern African Liaison Office, said there was nothing untoward in the granting of immunity for BRICS delegates attending the summit in South Africa.
Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) Minister Naledi Pandor on Monday granted immunity to delegates who are expected to attend the BRICS ministerial meeting in Cape Town from Thursday, and the BRICS summit from August 22 to24.
According to Pandor’s notice, which was gazetted on Monday, participants will be granted immunity in accordance with the Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the August summit after a warrant for his arrest was issued by the International Criminal Court.
Somya said this was part of diplomatic processes that have been established in the international arena to ensure there is diplomatic security upon the delegations of the various heads of state.
“This is not just applicable to the heads of state themselves, this covers the delegations which include the ministers, members of the diplomatic corps, negotiators, advisers and other members who are required to facilitate the diplomatic engagements during the BRICS summit,” he told SABC.
Somya said this was not new and these processes had been set out, including in the Vienna Convention, on how engagements take place at a diplomatic level.
“This gazette is in line with previous gazettes the government has issued including previous summits we hosted, including the AU summit, where we had the previous controversy surrounding former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.”
Somya said Dirco had made it clear that the immunity that was issued did not waver any warrant of arrest issued by the ICC or any other international tribunal that had issued a warrant of arrest for any government official or head of state.
“However the Rome Statute also makes provision that a country can allow visitation of heads of states should an arrest warrant not stem from the UN security council.”
Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela said the immunity was a standard conferment of immunities that “we (and all countries) do for all international conferences and summits held in South Africa irrespective of the level of participation”.
“The immunities are for the conference and not for specific individuals. They are meant to protect the conference and its attendees from the jurisdiction of the host country for the duration of the conference.
“These immunities do not override any warrant that may have been issued by any international tribunal against any attendee of the conference,” Monyela said.