Do parking fines have an impact on diplomacy? They do when diplomats don’t pay them.
This practice is very common at the seat of international organizations. About half of the diplomatic parking tickets in The Hague remain unpaid.
Beaten up
When a provocative Dutch TV journalist caught foreign diplomats violating local regulations red-handed, things got out of hand. He ended up in casualty after being beaten by Angolese embassy staff.
Moral corruption
At root, the question of unpaid fines is one of moral corruption by foreign workers taking advantage of their immunity from local jurisdiction. It is no issue between states, but one between states and cities.
Home of the UN, New York, managed to find a legal way round the problem. Trespassing diplomats no longer get away with ignoring local authorities.
Naming and shaming
In the Netherlands, Angolese Ambassador Luis José de Almeida experienced that the reputational effects of naming and shaming and outrage in the social media is even more devastating.
Everybody would benefit from a global diplomatic norm on parking and paying fines.