ACTIVITIES, PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF MILITARY ATTACHE AS A COMPONENT PART OF MILITARY DIPLOMACY

Abstract

Although military attaches have served as ―soldier diplomats for centuries, very few publications exist that discuss the roles they have played in shaping or promoting intrenal and foreign policy or the impacts they have had in the development of diplomatic relations. Military attachés can best be described as military officers assigned to embassies around the world as representatives of their national Defense Ministries. Also, in the study of international relations and those of diplomatic law, the position of the military attaché has been the object of relatively little attention, studies on his position in domestic and international law, being practically non-existent. Meanwhile, the increase in military cooperation around the world and the development of military diplomacy have led to a multifold increase in the number of military, naval and air attachés deployed in diplomatic missions around the world, which has led to situations where legal uncertainty may arise regarding to the general status of a military attaché as a diplomatic agent or to the understanding of his diplomatic immunity.

Keywords

• embassy
• legation
• military attache
• military diplomacy
• international law