Should UN diplomats pay parking tickets?

[jerseydevil]

This has been a big contention between New York and the United Nations for years. It has gotten so bad that a couple of days ago Mayor Bloomberg had said all diplomatic vehicles that owed fines were going to be towed. They had the tow trucks ready to go.
If you look at the bottom - Egypt is the worst offender and gets an average of 9 tickets a day and owes 1.9 million dollars in parking fines.

Diplomatic Dilemma
New York Irked Over Millions in Traffic Fines Owed by Diplomats

By Matt Donnelly
ABCNEWS.com

N E W Y O R K, Aug. 12 — Only in New York could parking tickets threaten foreign policy.

Thanks to an 11th-hour call from Secretary of State Colin Powell to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city of New York did not impound the cars of the many foreign consulates that face outstanding parking fines from the city.

Bloomberg had threatened the international scofflaws with a midnight deadline before he would call in the tow trucks, but the State Department warned that Bloomberg's decision could have hefty repercussions for U.S. diplomats serving abroad.

Bloomberg's argument — passed like a torch between New York's mayors — is that the parking tickets collected by these foreign diplomats is a problem too large to ignore. By the Bloomberg's accounting, the city is owed $21.3 million in fines dating back to 1997. The State Department puts the figure closer to $10 million, saying that the city is including interest and registration violations that can't be levied against diplomats.

Reduce and Enforce

The agreement in principle reached between the State Department and the city would ease the parking crunch by reducing the number of consular licenses and getting federal assistance in collecting outstanding debts. Each mission or consulate would be granted between one and three spaces outside U.N. headquarters, but the city reserves the right to take spaces away if a country tallies too many tickets. All other diplomatic cars will have to fight for spaces just like everyone else in the city.

About 1,600 diplomats have State Department-issued licenses that grant them immunity from parking tickets and allow them only to be towed in case of emergency. The city's problem is with the 700 consular-licensed cars that don't have immunity and were nearly towed en masse last week. The deal brokered between the city and the State Department could bring the number of diplomatic decals closer to 500.

"It's an incentive for employees to obey traffic laws and pay parking tickets, or their boss will lose his privileges," said an official with the U.N.-U.S. mission, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "It's a good deal for New Yorkers."

Doing Their Best

For their part, the diplomats have tried to work with city. At the beginning of the year, Indonesia's ambassador announced that its mission and consulate employees would have to pay their own tickets, which previously were paid by the embassy or ignored. The embassy, headquarters to 29 diplomats with more than 50 cars, was granted four parking spots by the city. Employees at the Indonesian consulate said they are forced to double-park on their two spaces daily.

"You can't avoid that," said mission spokesman Tatang Razak. "We're trying to respect the city, but we hope the city understands our problem too."

The contention by diplomats is that their service and allegiance is to the United Nations, not New York, and that the benefits and honor of being home to the U.N. headquarters should outweigh the burden of playing host to thousands of diplomats and their chauffeurs.

Shame and Discipline

Never ones to cede their parking spots easily — let alone their sovereignty — New Yorkers have been riled by the diplomats' parking for decades. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., championed legislation last year that forces the federal government to withhold aid from countries that leave New York with five-digit debt. So far the law has not been enforced.

The United States forces its diplomats serving abroad to pay parking tickets to the city they're owed, said State Department spokesman Philip Reeker, and the same goes for foreign diplomats in the United States.

"It's the our belief that all diplomatic and consular officials in the United States must abide by our laws and pay all legitimate traffic and parking fines," Reeker said.

Indonesia owes the city about $940,000 on more than 8,000 tickets issued since 1997, ranking it fourth on a list the city published last week to shame the worst offender. At the top of the list: Egypt, which owes $1.9 million on more than 18,000 tickets; Kuwait, which owes $1.2 million on more than 11,000 tickets; and Nigeria, which also owes $1.2 million on 10,000 tickets.

For its debt, Egypt averaged nine tickets a day, everyday, for more than 5 ½ years. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, Egypt has received more than $24 billion in aid from the United States since 1975.

Here are some localstories from the local NY News -
Australian Diplomats Reach Agreement With City to Pay For Outstanding Parking Tickets 6/29/01
New York Senators Urge Scofflaw Diplomats To Pay 8/7/02
State Department Objects To Mayor's Plan To Tow Diplomats 8/8/02

This is another occurence that angered a lot of people out here -

Loophole Preventing Diplomats From Being Arrested For DWI Angers Mayor, Others - 07/06/01

The mayor doesn't like it, neither do those who want to crack down on drunk drivers. But international law supercedes everything else and so the only people who like what's happening are the diplomats.

When somebody is pulled over for drunk driving, they're arrested, often their car is confiscated. But if you're a foreign diplomat it's a much different story. A new 26-page state department handbook reads, "Foreign representatives can carry out their duties effectively only if they are accorded a certain degree of insulation from standard law enforcement practices." The handbook goes on, "The taking of these DWI/DUI tests may not be compelled."

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, New York City: "You might not like that but that's the law and we have to respect that. There's no one more frustrated by that than me."

In Washington DC three years ago, a drunk driver from the Republic of Georgia killed a 16 year-old girl. Initially he was not to be prosecuted because of diplomatic immunity. According to the state department Friday, foreign diplomats on a first offense can have their driving privileges suspended for one year. On a second offense, a diplomat is asked to leave the country, but enforcement is rare and so advocates of tougher drunk driving laws are angry.

Dee Cornella, MADD of Long Island: "In the 1st place if you're drinking and driving you should pay the penalties of NY or of the United States. If you're a diplomat, if you kill somebody, they're no less alive if you're drinking and driving and you're a diplomat than it you weren't a diplomat."

On August 1st the mayor will begin a crackdown on diplomats who rack up parking tickets and don't pay them. The mayor wants to tow those violators, but on violations like a DUI or something worse, prosecution is tough.

Mayor Giuliani: "Now that doesn't mean we can't take action to protect the public. That's why we can seize an automobile, but we can't arrest them."

And for American Diplomats in foreign countries the same rules apply. They too are immune from prosecution there, except in rare cases.

Are diplomats above the law in their host countries? I feel that when our diplomats are in other countries they should abide by the laws of their host country. I don't think it is too much to ask for other countries to do the same. When American woman (diplomats, reporters, so forth) go to Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern countries - they wear a scarf and are "covered". Yet some of these same countries seem to be snubbing their noses at simple parking laws that we have here.