UK Sup Ct: No Diplomatic Immunity from Modern Slavery Suits [1]
On July 6, 2022, the UK Supreme Court ruled [3] that diplomats cannot evade Modern Slavery Act allegations by invoking diplomatic immunity. The case was filed by Ms. Josephine Wong who argued that Saudi diplomat Khalid Basfar forced her to work in his home for his family under abusive conditions. Basfar sought to oppose the suit by invoking diplomatic immunity under Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Wong was successful at the employment tribunal, but Basfar successfully appealed. Wong was then given leave to file an appeal with the Supreme Court, which held in Ms. Wong's favor, noting that the Court "could not accept that exploiting a domestic worker by compelling her to work in circumstances of modern slavery is comparable to an ordinary employment relationship of a kind that is incidental to the daily life of a diplomat (and his family) in the receiving state). Therefore, the Court held, Mr. Basfar was not immune from Ms. Wong's suit. The Court reinstated the employment tribunal's judgment. Two judges dissented, disagreeing with the way in which the majority arrived at its conclusion. In particular, they disagreed with the majority's "conclusion that the conditions under which a person is employed or how they came to be employed can convert employment which is not of itself a 'commercial activity' exercised by her employer into such an activity falling within the exception."