M Mushfiqul Fazal, State Department Correspondent
“As per the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, any host country must uphold its obligations to ensure the protection of all diplomatic mission premises and personnel”, Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson for the US Department of State, has said.
He made the remark at a briefing on Monday while responding to a question over Bangladesh government’s decision over additional security escorts for foreign diplomats.
Vedant Patel said the safety and security of US’s diplomatic personnel and facilities are of utmost importance.
Patel made the remarks after Bangladesh decided not to provide additional security escorts for foreign diplomats, including the US and the United Kingdom envoys, in Dhaka.
In the briefing, State Department correspondent M Mushfiqul Fazal asked, “Bangladesh authority withdraws additional security to envoys, including U.S. and UK. The foreign minister told reporters that they will not give any additional security to the U.S. ambassador and the UK and others, around six ambassadors. As you know, the U.S. ambassador’s convoy was attacked a couple of times in recent days and 2018 by the pro-regime supporters. Are you concerned about the ambassadors and the embassy personnel's security in Bangladesh?”
In reply, Vedant Patel said, “I’m not going to get into the specifics about security details concerning the U.S. embassy or its personnel. But I will note that per the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, any host country must uphold its obligations to ensure the protection of all diplomatic mission premises and personnel and take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on personnel.”
The safety and security of US’s diplomatic personnel and facilities are of the utmost importance, he added.
MN/
