UN officials in New York have accumulated $16 million in debt from unpaid parking tickets, while London diplomats owe £10 million for traffic violations. The Guardian questions whether this is a small price to pay for dealing with larger issues or shameless dishonesty from those in power?
In April, diplomats from various countries in Canberra were indebted for more than 500,000 Australian dollars (2.7 million kuna). The debt primarily arose from fines for unpaid parking tickets, as well as running red lights and speeding. Diplomats from Saudi Arabia are responsible for as much as 140,000 Australian dollars of that debt.
The Guardian refers to diplomats as “plagues of capitals” from which the latter can hardly protect themselves due to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which grants them diplomatic immunity, as well as permission for unsanctioned immoral behavior. It is up to local authorities to attempt to collect debts through persuasion, which, as everyone knows, is ineffective. However, when the prescribed mechanism fails, ingenuity comes into play. Thus, New York managed in 2002 to drastically reduce debts for fines by refusing to register vehicles with large debts, but since then, debts have increased again.
