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Persona non grata (Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, plural
Plural

Plural is a grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. In the English language, singular and plural are the only grammatical numbers....
: personae non gratae, also abbreviated PNG), literally meaning "an unwelcome person," is a term used in diplomacy
Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war, economics and culture....
 with a specialised and legally defined meaning. The opposite of persona non grata is persona grata.

r the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations
Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations

The Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic Relations is an international treaty on diplomacy intercourse and the privileges and Diplomatic immunity of a diplomatic mission....
 Article 9, a receiving State may "at any time and without having to explain its decision" declare any member of a diplomatic staff persona non grata. A person so declared is considered unacceptable and is usually recalled to his or her home nation.






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Persona non grata (Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, plural
Plural

Plural is a grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. In the English language, singular and plural are the only grammatical numbers....
: personae non gratae, also abbreviated PNG), literally meaning "an unwelcome person," is a term used in diplomacy
Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war, economics and culture....
 with a specialised and legally defined meaning. The opposite of persona non grata is persona grata.

Diplomacy

Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations
Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations

The Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic Relations is an international treaty on diplomacy intercourse and the privileges and Diplomatic immunity of a diplomatic mission....
 Article 9, a receiving State may "at any time and without having to explain its decision" declare any member of a diplomatic staff persona non grata. A person so declared is considered unacceptable and is usually recalled to his or her home nation. If not recalled, the receiving State "may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the mission."

While diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity

Diplomatic immunity is a form of immunity and a policy held between governments, which ensures that diplomats are given safe passage and are considered not susceptible to lawsuit or prosecution under the host country's laws ....
 protects mission staff from prosecution for violating civil and criminal law
Criminal law

The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply....
s, depending on rank, under Articles 41 and 42 of the Vienna Convention, they are bound to respect national laws and regulations (amongst other issues). Breaches of these articles can lead to persona non grata being used to 'punish' erring staff. It is also used to expel diplomats suspected of espionage
Espionage

Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secrecy or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information....
 ("activities incompatible with their status"), or as a symbolic indicator of displeasure (e.g. the Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 expulsion of the Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
ian First Secretary in 1984). So-called "tit-for-tat" exchanges have occurred, notably during the Cold War
Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between a number of world powers, including the United States, the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, France, United Kingdom and those countries' respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s....
. Notable recent occurrences include exchanges between the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Venezuela
Venezuela

Venezuela , officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a country on the northern coast of South America.The country comprises a continental mainland and numerous islands located off the Venezuelan coastline in the Caribbean Sea....
, the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Belarus
Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, between Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 and Georgia
Georgia (country)

Georgia is a transcontinental country in the Caucasus region, located at the dividing line between Europe and Asia. It is bordered by the Russia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, Armenia to the south, and Turkey to the southwest....
, between the United States and Bolivia
Bolivia

The Republic of Bolivia , named after Sim?n Bol?var, is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil on the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina on the south, and Chile and Peru on the west....
 and between India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 and Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
. In October 2008 Serbia
Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
 expelled ambassadors of Montenegro
Montenegro

Montenegro , Montenegrin language/Serbian language: ???? ????, Crna Gora , ) is a country located in Balkans. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Kosovo to the east and Albania to the south....
 and the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia

The Republic of Macedonia , , often referred to simply as Macedonia, is a landlocked country on the Balkans in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the west....
. In November 2008 Serbia
Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
 also expelled ambassador from Malaysia
Malaysia

Malaysia is a federation that consists of States of Malaysia in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government....
. In March of 2009, President Evo Morales of Bolivia declared a member of the US embassy (political division) persona non grata.

The Treaty of Lausanne
Treaty of Lausanne

The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland, that settled the Anatolian and Eastern Thrace parts of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by annulment of the Treaty of S?vres that was signed by the Istanbul-based Sublime Porte; as the consequence of the Turkish War of Independence between the Allies of World W...
 in 1923 included the list of 150 personae non gratae of Turkey
150 personae non gratae of Turkey

After the Turkish War of Independence , the newly established Republic of Turkey presented a list of 600 names to the Conference of Lausanne, which were to be declared persona non grata....
, which forbade the entry of mainly a group of former Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
 officials and about 100 other persons to Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
, until the lifting of this status in 1938.

Kurt Waldheim
Kurt Waldheim

Kurt Josef Waldheim was an Austrian diplomat and politician. Waldheim was Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and President of Austria from 1986 to 1992....
, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and President of Austria
President of Austria

The Austrian Federal President is the federation head of state of Austria. Though theoretically entrusted with great power by the constitution, in practice the President acts, for the most part, merely as a ceremonial figurehead....
, and his wife were given personae non gratae status in the U.S. and other countries when he was accused of having known about Nazi war crimes and not having done anything about them.

In 1995, Croatia
Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a Central European country at the crossroads of Pannonian Plain, Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea....
 declared Carl Bildt
Carl Bildt

, Order of St Michael and St George is a Sweden politician and diplomat. Formerly Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994 and leader of the liberal conservatism Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999, Bildt has served as Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs since 6 October 2006....
 a persona non grata announcing that he had "lost the credibility necessary for the role of a peace mediator". Bildt had suggested that the President of Croatia, Franjo Tudman
Franjo Tudman

Franjo Tudman was the first president of Croatia in the 1990s.Tudman's nationalism political party HDZ won the first post-communist multi-party elections in 1990 and he became the president of the country....
 was as guilty of war crimes as the Krajina Serb leader, Milan Martic
Milan Martic

Milan Martic is a Serbian politician, convicted of war crimes by the ICTY on June 12, 2007. He led rebel Serbian forces in Croatia during the Croatian War of Independence....
.

In 2008, President of Bolivia
President of Bolivia

The President of Bolivia is the head of state of Bolivia. According to the current constitution, the president is elected by popular vote for a single non-renewable five year term....
 Evo Morales
Evo Morales

Juan Evo Morales Ayma , popularly known as Evo , has been the President of Bolivia of Bolivia since 2006. He has been declared the country's first fully Indigenous peoples of the Americas head of state in the 470 years since the Spanish colonization of the Americas....
 declared U.S. Ambassador Phillip Goldberg persona non grata, claiming that the U.S. government conspired against him and supported his opponents.

In January 2009 following diplomatic tensions between Venezuela
Venezuela

Venezuela , officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a country on the northern coast of South America.The country comprises a continental mainland and numerous islands located off the Venezuelan coastline in the Caribbean Sea....
 and Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
 after Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the south, east and north....
, Israel ordered Venezuelan diplomats to leave the country, declaring them "persona non grata in Israel".

Non-diplomatic usage

In non-diplomatic usage, calling someone persona non grata is to say that he or she is ostracized
Ostracism

Ostracism was a procedure under the Athenian democracy in which a prominent citizen could be exile from the city-state of Athens for ten years....
, so as to be figuratively nonexistent.

See also

  • damnatio memoriae
    Damnatio memoriae

    Damnatio memoriae is the Latin language literally meaning "damnation of memory", in the sense of removed from the remembrance. It was a form of dishonor that could be passed by the Roman Senate upon treachery or others who brought discredit to the Roman State....
  • refugee
    Refugee

    Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecutionOwing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality,...


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