The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol
( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an
international organization
An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own le ...
that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime control. It is the world's largest international police organization. It is headquartered in
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
, France, with seven regional bureaus worldwide, and a National Central Bureau in all 196 member states.
The organization today known as Interpol was founded on 7 September 1923 at the close of a five-day International Police Congress in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
as the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC); it adopted many of its current duties throughout the 1930s. After coming under
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
control in 1938,
the agency had its headquarters in the same building as the
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
. It was effectively stagnant until the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
In 1956, the ICPC adopted a new constitution and the name Interpol, derived from its
telegraphic address
A telegraphic address or cable address was a unique identifier code for a recipient of telegraph messages. Operators of telegraph services regulated the use of telegraphic addresses to prevent duplication. Rather like a uniform resource locator ...
used since 1946.
Interpol provides investigative support, expertise and training to law enforcement worldwide, focusing on three major areas of
transnational crime:
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
,
cybercrime
Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or Computer network, networks. It has been variously defined as "a crime committed on a computer network, especially the Internet"; Cyberc ...
and
organized crime
Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...
. Its broad mandate covers virtually every kind of crime, including
crimes against humanity,
child pornography
Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...
,
drug trafficking and production,
political corruption
Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influen ...
,
intellectual property infringement, as well as
white-collar crime
The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. The crimes are believed to be committed by middle- or upper-class indivi ...
. The agency also facilitates cooperation among national law enforcement institutions through criminal databases and communications networks. Contrary to popular belief, Interpol is itself not a
law enforcement agency
A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...
.
Interpol has an annual budget of €142 million ($155 million), most of which comes from annual contributions by member police forces in 181 countries. It is governed by a General Assembly composed of all member countries, which elects the executive committee and the president (currently
Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi
Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi (; also romanised as Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi) is a high ranking police officer of Abu Dhabi Police, United Arab Emirates. He currently serves as the 30th president of Interpol and the Major general of the United Arab Emirates' ...
of the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
) to supervise and implement Interpol's policies and administration. Day-to-day operations are carried out by the
General Secretariat, comprising around 1,000 personnel from over 100 countries, including both police and civilians. The Secretariat is led by the secretary-general, currently
Valdecy Urquiza
Valdecy de Urquiza e Silva Junior (born 1981) is a Brazilian police officer and member of the Federal Police of Brazil serving as the secretary-general of Interpol since November 7, 2024. He was elected by the general assembly of Interpol as Secre ...
, the former vice president of Interpol for the Americas.
Pursuant to its
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
, Interpol seeks to remain
politically neutral in fulfilling its mandate, and is thus barred from interventions or activities that are political, military, religious, or racial in nature and from involving itself in disputes over such matters. The agency operates in four languages:
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
,
English,
French and
Spanish.
History
Until the 19th century, cooperation among police in different national and political jurisdictions was organized largely on an ad hoc basis, focused on a specific goal or criminal enterprise. The earliest attempt at a formal, permanent framework for international police coordination was the
Police Union of German States, formed in 1851 to bring together police from various German-speaking states. Its activities were centered mostly on political dissidents and criminals. A similar plan was launched by Italy in the
1898 Anti-Anarchist Conference of Rome, which brought delegates from 21 European countries to create a formal structure for addressing the international anarchist movement. Neither the conference nor its follow up meeting in St. Petersburg in 1904 yielded results.

The early 20th century saw several attempts to formalize international police cooperation, driven by increasing international travel and commerce, which facilitated transnational criminal enterprises and fugitives on the run.
The first major effort was the International Criminal Police Congress, held in
Monaco in 1914. This event brought diplomats and legal officials from two dozen countries to discuss international collaboration in criminal investigations, the sharing of investigative techniques, and extradition procedures. The Monaco Congress outlined twelve principles that would eventually form the foundation of Interpol, such as establishing direct communication between police forces in different countries, creating international standards for forensics and data collection, and streamlining the process for handling extradition requests. However, the idea of an international police organization remained inactive during the First World War. In 1922, the United States attempted a similar initiative through the International Police Conference in New York City, but it failed to garner international support.
A year later, in 1923, a new initiative was undertaken at another International Criminal Police Congress in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, spearheaded by
Johannes Schober, President of the Viennese Police Department. The 22 delegates agreed to found the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC), the direct forerunner of Interpol, which would be based in Vienna. Founding members included police officials from Austria, Germany, Belgium, Poland, China, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
.
The same year, wanted person notices were first published in the ICPCs International Public Safety Journal. The United Kingdom joined in 1928. By 1934, the ICPC's membership more than doubled to 58 nations.. The United States did not join Interpol until 1938, although a U.S. police officer unofficially attended the 1923 congress.
Following the ''
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...
'' in 1938, the Vienna-based organization fell under the control of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
; on November 29, 1941, Interpol had offices at ''Am Kleinen Wannsee 16''; the commission’s headquarters were eventually moved to
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
in 1942. Most member states withdrew their support during this period.
From 1938 to 1945, the presidents of the ICPC included
Otto Steinhäusl,
Reinhard Heydrich,
Arthur Nebe and
Ernst Kaltenbrunner. All were generals in the ''
Schutzstaffel'' (SS); Kaltenbrunner was the highest-ranking SS officer executed following the
Nuremberg trials.
In 1946, after the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the organization was revived as the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) by officials from Belgium, France,
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...
, the United States and the United Kingdom. Its new headquarters were established in Paris, then from 1967 in
Saint-Cloud, a Parisian suburb. They remained there until 1989 when they were moved to their present location in
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
.
Until the 1980s, Interpol did not intervene in the prosecution of
Nazi war criminals
The following is a list of people who were formally indicted for committing war crimes or crimes against humanity on behalf of the Axis powers during World War II, including those who were acquitted or never received judgement. It does not inc ...
in accordance with Article 3 of its
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
, which prohibited intervention in "political" matters.
On May 10, 2023,
Operation Identify Me was launched.
Constitution
The role of Interpol is defined by the general provisions of its constitution.
Article 2 states that its role is:
Article 3 states:
Operating procedures
Contrary to the common idea due to frequent portrayals in popular media, Interpol is not a
supranational law enforcement agency and has no agents with arresting powers. Instead, it is an international organization that functions as a network of law enforcement agencies from different countries. The organization thus functions as an administrative liaison among the law enforcement agencies of the member countries, providing communications and database assistance, mostly through its central headquarters in Lyon, along with the assistance of smaller local bureaus in each of its member states.
Interpol's databases at the Lyon headquarters can assist law enforcement in fighting international crime.
While national agencies have their own extensive crime databases, the information rarely extends beyond one nation's borders. Interpol's databases can track criminals and crime trends around the world, specifically by means of authorized collections of fingerprints and face photos, lists of wanted persons, DNA samples, and travel documents. Interpol's lost and stolen travel document database alone contains more than 12 million records. Officials at the headquarters also analyze this data and release information on crime trends to the member countries.
An encrypted Internet-based worldwide communications network allows Interpol agents and member countries to contact each other at any time. Known as I-24/7, the network offers constant access to Interpol's databases.
While the National Central Bureaus are the primary access sites to the network, some member countries have expanded it to key areas such as airports and border access points. Member countries can also access each other's criminal databases via the I-24/7 system.
Interpol issues eight types of
Interpol notice
An Interpol notice is an international alert circulated by Interpol to communicate information about crimes, criminals, and threats by police in a member state (or an authorised international entity) to their counterparts around the world. The in ...
s, seven of which are: red, blue, green, yellow, black, orange, and purple. An eighth special notice is issued at the special request of the
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
. , there were 62,448 valid Red and 12,234 Yellow notices in circulation.
In the event of an international disaster, terrorist attack, or assassination, Interpol can send an Incident Response Team (IRT). IRTs can offer a range of expertise and database access to assist with victim identification, suspect identification, and the dissemination of information to other nations' law enforcement agencies. In addition, at the request of local authorities, they can act as a central command and logistics operation to coordinate other law enforcement agencies involved in a case. Such teams were deployed eight times in 2013. Interpol began issuing
its own travel documents in 2009 with hopes that nations would remove visa requirements for individuals travelling for Interpol business, thereby improving response times. In September 2017, the organization voted to accept
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
and the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...
as members.
Finances
In 2019, Interpol's operating income was €142 million, of which 41 percent were statutory contributions by member countries, 35 percent were voluntary cash contributions and 24 percent were in-kind contributions for the use of equipment, services and buildings.
With the goal of enhancing the collaboration between Interpol and the private sector to support Interpol's missions, the Interpol Foundation for a Safer World was created in 2013. Although legally independent of Interpol, the relationship between the two is close enough for Interpol's president to obtain in 2015 the departure of
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...
CEO from the foundation board after the
Swiss Leaks allegations.
From 2004 to 2010, Interpol's
external auditors was the French
Court of Audit. In November 2010, the Court of Audit was replaced by the
Office of the Auditor General of Norway for a three-year term with an option for a further three years.
Offices
In addition to its General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, Interpol maintains six regional bureaus and three special representative offices:
*
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
, Argentina
*
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, Belgium (special representative office to the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
)
*
Yaoundé, Cameroon
*
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...
, Côte d'Ivoire
*
San Salvador, El Salvador
*
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...
, Ethiopia (special representative office to the
African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
)
*
Nairobi
Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
, Kenya
*
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, United States (special representative office to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
)
*
Harare
Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...
, Zimbabwe
Interpol's Command and Coordination Centres offer a 24-hour point of contact for national police forces seeking urgent information or facing a crisis. The original is in Lyon with a second in Buenos Aires added in September 2011. A third was opened in Singapore in September 2014.
Interpol opened a Special Representative Office to the UN in New York City in 2004 and to the EU in Brussels in 2009.
The organization has constructed the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore to act as its
research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
facility, and a place of cooperation on digital crimes investigations. It was officially opened in April 2015, but had already become active beforehand. Most notably, a worldwide takedown of the SIMDA botnet infrastructure was coordinated and executed from IGCI's Cyber Fusion Centre in the weeks before the opening, as was revealed at the launch event.
Leadership
Secretaries General
Presidents
Paul Dickopf (1968–1972)
Under the Nazi government of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
,
Paul Dickopf was a member of the
National Socialist German Students' League
The National Socialist German Students' Union ( German: ''Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund'', abbreviated NSDStB) was founded in 1926 as a division of the Nazi Party with the mission of integrating University-level education and ...
, ''
Sturmabteilung'' and the ''
Schutzstaffel'' before and during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Dickopf was elected as the president of Interpol in 1968, apparently aided by the good contacts of
François Genoud to the Arab world.
While his former Nazi connections were known, he maintained his post until 1972.
Jackie Selebi (2004–2008)
After being charged of corruption in January 2008,
Jackie Selebi resigned as president of Interpol and was put on extended leave as National Police Commissioner of South Africa.
In July 2010 Selebi was found guilty of corruption by the
South African High Court in Johannesburg for accepting bribes worth €156,000 from a drug trafficker.
Khoo Boon Hui (2008–2012)
Jackie Selebi was temporarily replaced by , the National Commissioner of
Investigations Police of Chile and former vice president for the American Zone, who remained acting president until the appointment of Singaporean
Khoo Boon Hui in October 2008.
Mireille Ballestrazzi (2012–2016)
On November 8, 2012, the 81st General Assembly closed with the election of Deputy Central Director of the
French Judicial Police,
Mireille Ballestrazzi, as the first female president of the organization.
Meng Hongwei (2016–2018)
In November 2016,
Meng Hongwei, a politician from the
People’s Republic of China, was elected president during the 85th Interpol General Assembly, and was to serve in this capacity until 2020.
At the end of September 2018, Meng was reported missing during a trip to China, after being “taken away” for questioning by discipline authorities. Chinese police later confirmed that Meng had been arrested on charges of bribery as part of a national anti-corruption campaign. On October 7, 2018, INTERPOL announced that Meng had resigned his post with immediate effect and that the Presidency would be temporarily occupied by Interpol Senior Vice-president (Asia)
Kim Jong Yang of South Korea.
Kim Jong Yang (2018–2021)
On November 21, 2018, Interpol’s General Assembly elected
Kim Jong Yang to fill the remainder of Meng’s term, in a controversial election which saw accusations that the other candidate, Vice President
Alexander Prokopchuk of Russia, had used Interpol notices to target critics of the Russian government.
Four American senators had accused Vice President
Alexander Prokopchuk of abusing
Red Notices, likening his election to "putting a fox in charge of the henhouse". A statement posted by the
Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union and signed by other NGOs raised concerns about his ability to use his Interpol position to silence Russia's critics. Russian politicians criticized the U.S. accusation as politically motivated interference.
Ahmed Nase Al-Raisi (2021 – )
On November 25, 2021,
Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi
Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi (; also romanised as Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi) is a high ranking police officer of Abu Dhabi Police, United Arab Emirates. He currently serves as the 30th president of Interpol and the Major general of the United Arab Emirates' ...
, inspector general of the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
’s interior ministry, was elected as president. The election was controversial due to the UAE’s human rights record, with concerns being raised by some human rights groups (e.g.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
) and some MEPs.
In June 2021, 35 French Parliamentarians, Members of Parliament and Senators, including from the majority and the opposition, urged President
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
to oppose the candidacy of the UAE's General
Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi, citing the accusations of torture against him. It was the second appeal by the deputy of the Rhône,
Hubert Julien-Laferrière, who had first written to Macron earlier in 2021. He questioned how a profile like Al-Raisi's, who was responsible for the torture of political opponent
Ahmed Mansoor and of a British academic
Matthew Hedges, can become the president of a most respectable institution.
While the UAE was arranging trips for Al-Raisi to Interpol's member countries, opposition against the Emirati candidate amplified. A number of
German MPs signed a petition to express "deep concern" and reject the candidacy of Al-Raisi for the post of Interpol director. Rodney Dixon, the British lawyer of Matthew Hedges and Ali Ahmad, submitted a complaint and urged the Swedish authorities to arrest Al-Raisi upon his arrival in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. The two Britons also raised a similar request to arrest al-Raisi with the Norwegian police authorities. Both Sweden and
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
apply jurisdiction that allows them to open investigations of crime, irrespective of a person's nationality or the origin country of the crime.
In October 2021, Al-Raisi had to face further opposition, as the lawyers submitted a complaint to the French Prosecutor in Paris. The claims cited Al-Raisi's role in the unlawful detention and torture of Ali Issa Ahmad and Matthew Hedges. Filed under the principle of universal jurisdiction, the complaint gave French officials the authority to investigate and arrest foreign nationals. As Raisi is not a head of state, French authorities had all the rights to arrest and question him on entering the French territory.
As the General Assembly was approaching, the opposition was rising. In November 2021, a Turkish lawyer Gulden Sonmez filed a criminal complaint against Al-Raisi's nomination in Turkey, where the vote was to take place. Sonmez said the Emirates' attempt to cover its human rights records and to launder its reputation. Besides, Hedges and Ahmad were also expected to file a lawsuit in Turkey against Al-Raisi, ahead of the General Assembly.
Criticism
Abusive requests for Interpol arrests
Despite its politically neutral stance, some have criticized the agency for its role in arrests that critics contend were politically motivated.
In their declaration, adopted in Oslo (2010), Monaco (2012), Istanbul (2013), and Baku (2014), the
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) criticized some OSCE member States for their abuse of mechanisms of the international investigation and urged them to support the reform of Interpol in order to avoid politically motivated
prosecution
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...
. The resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of 31 January 2014 criticizes the mechanisms of operation of the Commission for the Control of Interpol's files, in particular, non-adversarial procedures and unjust decisions. In 2014, PACE adopted a decision to thoroughly analyse the problem of the abuse of Interpol and to compile a special report on this matter. In May 2015, within the framework of the preparation of the report, the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights organized a hearing in
Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...
, during which both representatives of NGOs and Interpol had the opportunity to speak. According to
Freedom House, Russia is responsible for 38% of Interpol's public Red Notices. There currently are "approximately 66,370 valid Red Notices, of which some 7,669 are public."
Refugees who are included in the list of Interpol can be arrested when crossing the border.
In the year 2008, the office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...
pointed to the problem of arrests of refugees on the request of INTERPOL in connection with politically motivated charges.
In 2021, Turkey, China, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela were accused of abusing Interpol by using it to target political opponents. China used Interpol against the
Uyghurs
The Uyghurs,. alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as the ti ...
, where the government issued a Red Notice against activists and other members of the ethnic minority group living abroad.
Since 1997, 1,546 cases from 28 countries of detention and deportation of the Uyghurs were recorded. In the case of Turkey, Interpol had to turn down 800 requests, including one for
NBA basketball player
Enes Kanter Freedom. The UAE was also accused as one of the countries attempting to buy influence in Interpol. Using the Interpol Foundation for a Safer World, the Arab nation gave donations of $54 million. The amount was estimated as equal to the statutory contributions together made by the rest 194 members. It was asserted that the Emirates' growing influence over Interpol gave it the opportunity to host the General Assembly in 2018 and in 2020 (that was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
).
World
Organizations such as
Detained in Dubai,
Open Dialog Foundation,
Fair Trials International,
Centre for Peace Studies,
and
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,
indicate that non-democratic states use Interpol to harass opposition politicians, journalists, human rights activists, and businessmen. The countries accused of abusing the agency include China, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iran, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Venezuela, and Tunisia.
The
Open Dialog Foundation's report analysed 44 high-profile political cases which went through the Interpol system.
A number of persons who have been granted refugee status in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
(EU) and the US—including Russian businessman
Andrey Borodin, Chechen Arbi Bugaev, Kazakh opposition politician
Mukhtar Ablyazov and his associate Artur Trofimov, and Sri Lankan journalist Chandima Withana —continue to remain on the public INTERPOL list. Some of the refugees remain on the list even after courts have refused to extradite them to a non-democratic state (for example, Pavel Zabelin, a witness in the case of
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Alexandr Pavlov, former security chief of the Kazakh oppositionist
Ablyazov). Another case is
Manuel Rosales, a politician who opposed
Hugo Chavez and fled to
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
in 2009 and was subject to a red alert on charges of corruption for two weeks. Interpol deleted the request for prosecution immediately. Interpol has also been criticized for mistaking people on yellow alerts. One case was Alondra Díaz-Nuñez, who in April 2015 was apprehended in
Guanajuato City Guanajuato (, Otomi language, Otomi: ) is a municipalities of Mexico, municipality in central Mexico and the capital of the Guanajuato, State of Guanajuato. It is part of the macroregion of the Bajío. It is located in a narrow valley, which makes i ...
, Mexico being mistaken for a missing American teenager. Interpol came under heavy criticism from Mexican news and media for helping out
Policia Federal Ministerial,
Mexican Federal Police, and the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Mexico, in what was believed to be a
kidnapping
Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...
.
Eastern Europe
The 2013 PACE's Istanbul Declaration of the OSCE cited specific cases of such prosecution, including those of the Russian activist Petr Silaev, financier
William Browder, businessman Ilya Katsnelson, Belarusian politician
Ales Michalevic, and Ukrainian politician
Bohdan Danylyshyn.
On 25 July 2014, despite Interpol's Constitution prohibiting them from undertaking any intervention or activities of a political or military nature, the Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary leader
Dmytro Yarosh was placed on Interpol's international wanted list at the request of Russian authorities, which made him the only person wanted internationally after the beginning of the
2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine. For a long time, Interpol refused to place former
President of Ukraine
The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...
Viktor Yanukovych on the wanted list as a suspect by the new
Ukrainian government for the mass killing of protesters during
Euromaidan. Yanukovych was eventually placed on the wanted list on 12 January 2015. However, on 16 July 2015, after an intervention of Joseph Hage Aaronson, the British law firm hired by Yanukovych, the international arrest warrant against the former president of Ukraine was suspended pending further review. In December 2014, the
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) liquidated a sabotage and reconnaissance group that was led by a former agent of the Ukrainian Bureau of INTERPOL that also has family relations in the Ukrainian counter-intelligence agencies. In 2014, Russia made attempts to place Ukrainian politician
Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Ukrainian civic activist
Pavel Ushevets, subject to criminal persecution in Russia following his pro-Ukrainian art performance in Moscow, on the Interpol wanted list.
On October 30, 2023, Belarusian filmmaker
Andrey Gnyot got arrested when he landed in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
as he was put on an Interpol warrant list. He is accused by the Belarusian authorities of tax evasion and issued an extradition request. During the
2020–2021 Belarusian protests, Gnyot co-founded the Free Association of Athletes (SOS-BY), bringing together athletes opposed to the Lukashenko regime. He spent seven months in detention in Belgrade before being transferred to house arrest in June 2024.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
called on the Serbian authorities to cease the extradition process.
Middle East
According to a report by the
Stockholm Center for Freedom that was issued in September 2017, Turkey has weaponized Interpol mechanisms to hunt down legitimate critics and opponents in violation of Interpol's own constitution. The report lists abuse cases where not only arrest warrants but also revocation of travel documents and passports were used by Turkey as
persecution tools against critics and opponents. The harassment campaign targeted foreign companies as well. Syrian-Kurd
Salih Muslim was briefly detained at Turkey's request on 25 February 2018 in
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, the capital of the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
, but was released 2 days later, drawing angry protests from Turkey. On 17 March 2018, the Czech authorities dismissed Turkey's request as lacking merit.
After a senior UAE government official,
Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi
Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi (; also romanised as Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi) is a high ranking police officer of Abu Dhabi Police, United Arab Emirates. He currently serves as the 30th president of Interpol and the Major general of the United Arab Emirates' ...
became the President, Interpol ignored an injunction by the
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
(ECHR), and cooperated with Serbian authorities to extradite a Bahraini activist. Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali was extradited to Bahrain in a charter aircraft of
Royal Jet, a private Emirati airline headed by an Abu Dhabi royal family member. Critics raised concerns that it was just first example of how "red lines will be crossed" under the presidency of Al-Raisi. Besides, a warning was raised that after its decision, Interpol will be complicit in any abuse that Ali will face. In 2021 it was reported that Ahmed Naser had also allegedly tortured a number of people in the UAE before.
Appeals and requests withdrawals
The procedure for filing an appeal with Interpol is a long and complex one. For example, the Venezuelan journalist
Patricia Poleo and a colleague of Kazakh activist Ablyazov, and Tatiana Paraskevich, who were granted refugee status, sought to overturn the politically motivated request for as long as one and a half years, and six months, respectively.
Interpol has previously recognized some requests to include persons on the wanted list as politically motivated, e.g., Indonesian activist
Benny Wenda, Georgian politician
Givi Targamadze, ex-president of Georgia
Mikheil Saakashvili, ex-mayor of
Maracaibo and
2006 Venezuelan presidential election candidate
Manuel Rosales and ex-president of Honduras
Manuel Zelaya Rosales; these persons have subsequently been removed. However, in most cases, Interpol removes a Red Notice against refugees only after an
authoritarian state closes a criminal case or declares
amnesty (for example, the cases of Russian activists and political refugees Petr Silaev, Denis Solopov, and Aleksey Makarov, as well as the Turkish sociologist and feminist
Pinar Selek).
Diplomacy
In 2016,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
criticized Interpol for turning down its application to join the General Assembly as an observer. The United States supported Taiwan's participation, and the
US Congress passed legislation directing the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to obtain observer status for Taiwan.
The election of Meng Hongwei, a Chinese national, as president and
Alexander Prokopchuk, a Russian, as vice president of Interpol for Europe drew criticism in anglophone media and raised fears of Interpol accepting politically motivated requests from China and Russia.
Business
In 2013, Interpol was criticized over its multimillion-dollar deals with such private sector bodies as
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
,
Philip Morris, and the pharmaceutical industry. The criticism was mainly about the lack of transparency and potential conflicts of interest, such as
Codentify. After the
2015 FIFA scandal, the organization has severed ties with all the private-sector bodies that evoked such criticism, and has adopted a new and transparent financing framework.
Reform
From 1 to 3 July 2015, Interpol organized a session of the Working Group on the Processing of Information, which was formed specifically in order to verify the mechanisms of information processing. The Working Group heard the recommendations of civil society as regards the reform of the international investigation system and promised to take them into account, in light of possible obstruction or refusal to file crime reports nationally.
The Open Dialog Foundation, a human rights organization, recommended that Interpol, in particular: create a mechanism for the protection of rights of people having international refugee status; initiate closer cooperation of the Commission for the Control of Files with human rights NGOs and experts on asylum and extradition; enforce sanctions for violations of Interpol's rules; strengthen cooperation with NGOs, the UN, OSCE, the PACE, and the European Parliament.
Fair Trials International proposed to create effective remedies for individuals who are wanted under a Red Notice on unfair charges; to penalize nations which frequently abuse the Interpol system; to ensure more transparency of Interpol's work.
The
Centre for Peace Studies also created recommendations for Interpol, in particular, to delete Red Notices and Diffusions for people who were granted refugee status according to
1951 Refugee Convention issued by their countries of origin, and to establish an independent body to review Red Notices on a regular basis.
Emblem
The current emblem of Interpol was adopted in 1950 and includes the following elements:
* the globe indicates worldwide activity
* the olive branches represent peace
* the sword represents police action
* the scales signify justice
* the acronyms "OIPC" and "ICPO", representing the full name of the organization in both French and English, respectively.
Membership
Members
Interpol currently has 196 member countries:
Subnational-bureaus
Exclusions
Two
member states of the United Nations
The United Nations comprise sovereign states and the world's largest intergovernmental organization. All members have equal representation in the UN General Assembly.
The Charter of the United Nations defines the rules for admission of ...
and three partially-recognized states are currently not members of Interpol:
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
and
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...
, as well as
Kosovo
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
, and
Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
The Republic of China (Taiwan) joined Interpol in September 1961. After the People's Republic of China was
seated as "China" in the UN, Interpol transferred its recognition from the ROC to the PRC in September 1984.
In 2023, over 60 Interpol member states voiced their support for Taiwan's bid to re-join the organization. Specifically, representatives from Taiwan's diplomatic allies
Eswatini
Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...
,
Palau
Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...
,
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
,
Belize
Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...
,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the
Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.
The territory consists of 29 c ...
, and
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...
spoke up for Taiwan during the assembly.
See also
*
Cybercrime
Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or Computer network, networks. It has been variously defined as "a crime committed on a computer network, especially the Internet"; Cyberc ...
*
Europol
Europol, officially the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, is the law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU). Established in 1998, it is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and serves as the central hub for coordinating c ...
, a similar EU-wide organization.
*
Intelligence assessment
*
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
*
Interpol notice
An Interpol notice is an international alert circulated by Interpol to communicate information about crimes, criminals, and threats by police in a member state (or an authorised international entity) to their counterparts around the world. The in ...
*
Interpol Terrorism Watch List
*
Interpol Travel Document
*
InterPortPolice
*
Operation Identify Me
*
UN Police
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
INTERPOL Foundation for a Safer World
{{Coord, 45.7822, N, 4.8484, E, region:FR-ARA_type:landmark, display=title
1923 establishments in Austria
6th arrondissement of Lyon
International intelligence services
International law enforcement agencies
International organizations based in France
Law enforcement intelligence agencies
Organizations established in 1923
United Nations General Assembly observers