STATUS OF FORCES AGREEMENTS
Many persons are under the impression that
because they are attached to a ship visiting a
foreign port, they are immune from jurisdiction
of the local government. That is true as long as
they remain aboard or go ashore only on official
business. When they go ashore on liberty,
however, they are subject to the jurisdiction of
the foreign sovereign for any infractions of the
law, whether criminal or civil. The Department
of Defense protects your rights as much as
possible if you are brought to criminal trial by
foreign courts. To be allowed to protect your
rights, the United States entered into agreements
with several of our allied countries. The
agreements are called the Status of Forces
Agreements (SOFAs).
A Status of Forces Agreement contains a
complex package of treaties, protocol, and
executive agreements between the United States
and the individual country involved. It defines the
rights and duties of U. S. service personnel, civilian
components, and their dependents while they are
stationed in that foreign country.
The agreements are by no means identical in
all countries. To a large measure, the differences
in agreements resulted from the contrasting
political realities that faced the negotiators of
different countries.
PURPOSE OF SOFA
The main purpose
define the status of
personnel stationed in
of SOFAs is to clearly
one country’s military
the territory of another.
The SOFAs say, in part, that the country we are
visiting will give up some jurisdiction to the
visiting country in some criminal and civil cases.
Some topics covered by the Status of Forces
Agreements are as follows:
Freedom of troop movements within the
host country
Passport requirements
Criminal jurisdiction
Taxes
Imposition of customs duties
Regulations covering
Exchange privileges
driver’s license
The development of a collective defense in
peacetime requires that forces of various countries
be stationed in the territory of other treaty
countries. Those forces form an integrated force
for the defense of those countries involved. The
forces must be free to move from one country to
another under the demands of strategy. There-
fore, uniformity of arrangements and procedures
governing the status of such forces in countries
other than their own and their relationship to the
civilian authorities is essential. The Status of
Forces Agreements, accordingly, try to regulate
that relationship in two ways. First, they
guarantee the armed forces adequate legal
protection without infringing on the authority of
the military command. Second, they fully
recognize the peacetime rights and responsibilities
of the civilian authorities in the host countries.
The United States must receive consent from
the host country to station troops on that foreign
soil. We must also agree to the conditions under
which our troops may remain.
The original intent of the Status of Forces
Agreements by the United States was to get the
most favorable conditions from the host country
for our own forces.
The agreements apply to personnel belonging
to the land, sea, and air armed forces, as well as
civilian personnel accompanying an armed force.
Article II of the NATO Status of Forces Agree-
ment sets forth the basic principle to be observed
by any force in a country other than its own:
It is the duty of a force and its civilian
component and the members thereof as
well as their dependents to respect the law
of the receiving State, and to abstain from
any activity inconsistent with the spirit of
the present Agreement, and in particular,
from any political activity in the receiving
State. It is also the duty of the sending
State to take necessary measures to that
end.
DEVELOPMENT OF SOFA
Why does the United States station large
contingents of forces in foreign countries, and
why does the status of these forces have to be
defined by agreements?
The United States has accepted the fact that
the only true security available in this modern
world is collective security. Congress has
demonstrated time and again its recognition of
this proposition. We have entered into alliances
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