On Their Sovereign’s Secret Service: Special Envoys Detained while in Transit

Abstract The case of Mr. Saab, a Venezuelan ad hoc diplomat, raises numerous issues beyond codified international law. The issues discussed in this article are a vivid reminder of the importance of customary international law, and that its principles should not be held to have been tacitly dispensed with by any treaty in the absence of any words making clear an intention to do so. Indeed, whilst important portions of the law of diplomatic relations, including ad hoc diplomacy through special missions, are codified in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) and the Convention on Special Missions (Special Missions Convention), important aspects of ad hoc diplomacy remains governed by customary international law—as confirmed by the preambles of these treaties. The VCDR and the Special Missions Convention, whether collectively or separately, do not cover all issues relating to diplomacy. In this article, an attempt is made to how these issues should have been addressed in Mr. Saab’s case if the executive and judicial branches of the Government of Cabo Verde had kept this in mind.