John T. Chisholm · April 2014
82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 528 (2014)
The practice of diplomatic asylum, by which countries grant asylum within the walls of their embassies abroad, is not widely recognized in international law. Outside of Latin America, no multilateral treaty accepts a right to grant diplomatic asylum and the International Court of Justice rejected the practice decades ago. Yet countries continue to accept high-profile individuals into their embassies in contravention of these international legal authorities.
The United States’ acceptance of Chinese political dissident Chen Guangcheng into its embassy in Beijing and Ecuador’s grant of diplomatic asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at its embassy in London represent two recent examples. This Note argues that these incidents demonstrate a norm that certain elements of diplomatic asylum practice are actually
accepted components of international law. Furthermore, it seeks to show that failure to recognize this norm undermines international legal practice more generally. This Note also examines the implications of the norm generated by these incidents within the context of current foreign relations practice.
