The United Nations Conference on Diplomatic Intercourse and Immunities met at the Neue Hofburg in Vienna from March 2 to April 14, 1961, pursuant to General Assembly Resolution 1450 (XIV) which stated the Assembly’s decision to convene an international conference of plenipotentiaries to consider the question of diplomatic intercourse and immunities.

When the Security Council of the United Nations investigates an event or situation at the scene, it establishes a credible factual basis for its consideration of the situation, and the situation itself may be stabilized by the presence of the investigators. These important benefits may involve concomitant difficulties for the state in whose territory the investigation occurs, since the presence of international investigators may be conceived of as a limitation of its sovereignty. Objections may also arise from states seeking to obscure the realities of the situation being investigated, or from states which resist as a matter of principle any functions of international organizations which appear to derogate from state sovereignty.

At its 681st meeting on October 25, 1957, the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly adopted a resolution which provided in part as follows:

The Fourth Committee