Related documents
- Is amended by 24th Annual Supplement
LAWS OF KENYA
PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES ACT
THE DIPLOMATIC PRIVILEGES (UNITED NATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE) ORDER
GAZETTE NOTICE 1238 OF 1949
- Published in Kenya Gazette Vol. LI—No. 60 on 20 December 1949
- Commenced on 20 December 1949
- [Revised by 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023) on 31 December 2022]
Part I – CITATION
Part II – THE UNITED NATIONS
A — The Organization
B — Representatives of Members
C — High Officials of the United Nations
D — Persons Employed on Missions on behalf of the United Nations
E — Other officials of the United Nations
Part II - INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Part III – GENERAL
ANNEX I
GENERAL CONVENTION ON THE PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS, TOGETHER WITH CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE GENGERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS ON 13TH FEBRUARY, 1946
1.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY approves the annexed convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations and proposes it for accession by each Member of the United Nations.CONVENTION ON THE PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS
WHEREAS Article 104 of the Charter of the United Nations provides that the Organization shall enjoy in the territory of each of its Members such legal capacity as may be necessary for the exercise of its functions and the fulfilment of its purposes, andWhereas Article 105 of the Charter of the United Nations provides that the Organization shall enjoy in the territory of each of its Members such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the fulfilment of its purposes and that representatives of the Members of the United Nations and officials of the Organization shall similarly enjoy such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the independent exercise of the functions in connexion with the Organization.Consequently the General Assembly by a Resolution adopted on the 13th February, 1946, approved the following Convention and proposes it for accession by each Member of the United Nations.Article I - Juridical Personality
Section 1.— The United Nations shall possess juridical personality. It shall have the capacity -Article II - Property, Funds and Assets
Section 2. — The United Nations, its property and assets wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall enjoy immunity from every form of legal process, except in so far as in any particular case it has expressly waived its immunity. It is, however, understood that no waiver of immunity shall extend to any measure of execution.Section 3. — The premises of the United Nations shall be inviolable. The property and assets of the United Nations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation and any other form of interference, whether by executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action.Section 4. — The archives of the United Nations, and in general all documents belonging to it or held by it, shall be inviolable wherever located.Section 5. — Without being restricted by financial controls, regulations or moratoria of any kind—Article III - Facilities in Respect of Communications
Section 9. — The United Nations shall enjoy in the territory of each Member for its official communications treatment not less favourable than that accorded by the Government of that Member to any other Government including its diplomatic mission in the matter of priorities, rates and taxes on mails, cables, telegrams, radiograms, telephotos, telephone and other communications; and press rates for information to the press and radio. No censorship shall be applied to the official correspondence and other official communications of the United Nations.Section 10. — The United Nations shall have the right to use codes and to despatch and receive its correspondence by courier or in bags, which shall have the same immunities and privileges as diplomatic couriers and bags.Article IV — The Representatives of Members
Section 11. — Representatives of Members to the principal and subsidiary organs of the United Nations and to conferences convened by the United Nations shall, while exercising their functions and during their journey to and from the place of meeting, enjoy the following privileges and immunities—Article V — Officials
Section 17. - The Secretary-General will specify the categories of officials to which the provisions of this Article and Article VII shall apply. He shall submit these categories to the General Assembly. Thereafter these categories shall be communicated to the Governments of all Members. The names of the officials included in these categories shall from time to time be made known to the Governments of Members.Section 18.— Officials of the United Nations shall—Article VI — Experts on Missions for the United Nations
Section 22.—Experts (other than officials coming within the scope of Article V) performing missions for United Nations shall be accorded such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the independent exercise of their functions during the period of their missions, including the time spent on journeys in connexion with their missions. In particular they shall be accorded -Article VII — United Nations Laissez-Passer
Section 24.—The United Nations may issue United Nations laissez-passer to its officials. These laissez- passer shall be recognized and accepted as valid travel documents, by the authorities of Members, taking into account the provisions of section 25.Section 25.— Applications for visas (where required) from the holders of United Nations laissez-passer, when accompanied by a certificate that they are travelling on the business of the United Nations, shall be dealt with as speedily as possible. In addition, such persons shall be granted facilities for speedy travel.Section 26. — Similar facilities to those specified in section 25 shall be accorded to experts and other persons who, though not the holders of United Nations laissez-passer, have a certificate that they are travelling on the business of the United Nations.Section 27.—The Secretary-General, Assistant Secretaries-General and Directors travelling on United Nations laissez-passer on the business of the United Nations shall be granted the same facilities as are accorded to diplomatic envoys.Section 28.—The provisions of this Article may be applied to the comparable officials of specialized agencies if the agreements for relationship made under Article 63 of the Charter so provide.Article VIII — Settlement of Disputes
Section 29.—The United Nations shall make provisions for appropriate modes of settlement of —Final Article
Section 31. — This convention is submitted to every Member of the United Nations for accession.Section 32. — Accession shall be effected by deposit of an instrument with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the convention shall come into force as regards each Member on the date of deposit of each instrument of accession.Section 33. — The Secretary-General shall inform all Members of the United Nations of the deposit of each accession.Section 34. — It is understood that, when an instrument of accession is deposited on behalf of any Member, the Member will be in a position under its own law to give effect to the terms of this convention.Section 35. — This convention shall continue in force as between the United Nations and every Member which has deposited an instrument of accession for so long as that Member remains a Member of the United Nations, or until a revised general convention has been approved by the General Assembly and that Member has become a party to this revised convention.Section 36. — The Secretary-General may conclude with any Member or Members supplementary agreements adjusting the provisions of this convention so far as that Member or those Members are concerned. These supplementary agreements shall in each case be subject to the approval of the General Assembly.ANNEX 2
1. Extracts from the Statute of the Court.Article 19
The members of the Court, when engaged on the business of the Court, shall enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities.Article 30
Article 32
Article 42
History of this document
31 December 2022 this version
Revised by
24th Annual Supplement
20 December 1949
Commenced