The Interpol General Assembly meeting in Delhi

Source: The post is based on the article “The Interpol General Assembly meeting in Delhi” published in The Hindu on 14^th October 2022.

What is the News?

The General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) is meeting in Delhi for four days. This is the second time since 1997 the 195-member-strong body is holding such a large conference in India.

What is the Interpol?

Set up in: 1923

Interpol is a secure information-sharing platform that facilitates criminal investigation of police forces across the globe through the collection and dissemination of information received from various police forces.

It keeps track of the movements of criminals and those under the police radar in various regions and tips off police forces which had either sought the Interpol’s assistance or which in its opinion will benefit from the particulars available with it.

How is Interpol organised?

Head: President. He is elected by the General Assembly. He comes from one of the member nations and holds office for four years.

Day-to-day activities: These are overseen by a full-time Secretary General elected by the General Assembly, who holds office for five years.

The General Assembly lays down the policy for execution by its Secretariat which has several specialised directorates for cybercrime, terrorism, drug trafficking, financial crime, environmental crime, human trafficking, etc.

What is the Red notice?

It is a structured communication issued by Interpol to all member nations notifying the name(s) of persons against whom an arrest warrant is pending in a particular country.

The notice issued requests all member nations that if the named individual(s) is located in their country immediate communication should be sent to the nation that wants him in connection with a criminal investigation.

What are Interpol’s future challenges?

The rising spectre of transnational, cyber and organised crime requires a globally coordinated law enforcement response. Interpol has a legacy of trust and reliability.

So Interpol needs to acquire powers of sanction against a country which refuses to cooperate in implementing a Red notice.