An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification,

emergency management Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actual ...

, supervision of regional and

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loc ...

s, conduct of

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit es ...

and

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...

(including passport issuance) matters. This position is head of a department that is often called an interior ministry, a ministry of internal affairs or a ministry of home affairs. In some jurisdictions, there is no department called an "interior ministry", but the relevant responsibilities are allocated to other departments.

Remit and role

In some countries, the public security portfolio belongs to a separate ministry (under a title like "ministry of public order" or "ministry of security"), with the interior ministry being limited to control over local governments, public administration, elections and similar matters. Notable examples include Greece ( Ministry of Citizen Protection) and Israel ( Ministry of Public Security). In some jurisdictions, matters relating to the maintenance of law and order and the administration of justice are the responsibility of a separate

justice ministry A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in ...

. In countries with a federal constitution, interior ministers will often be found at both the federal and sub-national levels. Similarly, autonomous entities and

dependent territories A dependent territory, dependent area, or dependency (sometimes referred as an external territory) is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a sovereign state, yet remains politically outside the controlli ...

may also have interior ministers.

By country

In the United Kingdom, the position of Secretary of State for the Home Department, normally referred to as the "Home Secretary", was created in the British governmental reorganisation of 1782. The

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

has responsibilities different from similarly-named departments elsewhere, primarily the management and conservation of natural resources, and programs and policies dealing with

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. The functions that fall under what most other countries call an "interior ministry" come under other government departments—mostly the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-ter ...

(established in 2002 with functions such as immigration management, public safety and disaster relief), with some others falling under the Department of Justice (with functions such as handling the national police and the management of prisons) and individual state governments (e.g. election management). In Canada, the post of

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

existed from 1873 to 1936, replacing the previous role of the Secretary of State for the Provinces; it included functions similar to the US Department of the Interior. After 1936 the post was abolished, its responsibilities being transferred to other departments. In Hong Kong, the Secretary for Home Affairs is responsible for matters relating to communities, culture, sports and local governance. Policing and related matters are the responsibilities of the Secretary for Security. The Ministry of Home Affairs in India (MHA) is responsible for internal security and demographics, promoting the official languages. It carries out specialized functions through its departments, namely the Department of Border Management, the Department of Internal Security, the Department of Jammu & Kashmir Affairs, the Department of Home, the Department of Official Language and the Department of States. As such it heads such functions as the internal intelligence, and police and

Civil Services of India The Civil Services refer to the career government civil servants who are the permanent executive branch of the Republic of India. Elected cabinet ministers determine policy, and civil servants carry it out. Central Civil Servants are employee ...

, also handling

protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technology ...

, freedom-fighter pensions and manning of the courts. In Japan, law enforcement is decentralised with the National Public Safety Commission coordinating between the National Police Agency and the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

through its chairman, who is a cabinet member. National security and immigration matters fall under the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Justi ...

, whilst the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications handles the administrative system, local government, elections, telecommunication and post matters. In Vietnam, the Ministry of Public Security is responsible for policing, national security, and immigration matters.

Lists

* List of current interior ministers *

List of female interior ministers An interior ministry (sometimes ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government ministry typically responsible for policing, emergency management, national security, civil defence, supervision of local governments, condu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Interior Ministry Interior

Remit and role

By country

Lists

See also

References