00:00The discussion over diplomatic passports has taken center stage in recent days.
00:06Now, former President Paula May Weeks is seeking to clear up what she says are common misconceptions about the documents.
00:13In the Facebook page for her consultancy, titled Paula May Weeks Training and Consulting, Weeks explains that Trinidad and Tobago
00:21issues three categories of passports,
00:24ordinary, official and diplomatic, but says the diplomatic and official passports are designed for different purposes.
00:32A diplomatic passport, she explains, is traditionally issued to career diplomats, envoys, heads of state, heads of government and former
00:41holders of those offices.
00:43It allows its bearer to conduct the business of the state with fewer diplomatic impediments and operates within the framework
00:52of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
00:55Her piece reads, quote,
00:57The immunity granted under this convention belongs to the state and not the individual.
01:03The sending state receives the right to waive the diplomatic immunity of any of its representatives, end quote.
01:11Weeks says an official or service passport is different.
01:15It is issued to public officers traveling on official government business and any privileges attached to it are limited to
01:23the specific function being carried out on behalf of the state.
01:27She also stresses that neither passport overrides the sovereignty of any other country, explaining, quote,
01:34A state may choose to deny entry, expel someone, and refuse to recognize any status claim, end quote.
01:42The former president adds that while Trinidad and Tobago is free to decide how it issues diplomatic and official passports,
01:49other sovereign states are equally free to determine how those documents are treated at their borders.
01:55The government has maintained that some 985 persons in TNT have been issued diplomatic passports, many not possessing the requisite
02:05criteria.
02:06They have decided to replace some diplomatic passports with official passports as a corrective measure and not a sanction against
02:14those affected.
02:15Arvishi Tiwari, Rupnarain, TV6 News.
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