Are Interpol’s notices being politically exploited?
- February 23, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
Are Interpol’s notices being politically exploited?
Subject: IR
Section: Int organisation
Interpol:
The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) comprises 194 member countries was established in 1923.
- It does not work under UN.
- It has enjoyed a special role–that of Permanent Observer at the United Nations – since 1996.
- It is headquartered at Lyon, France.
Role:
As an information-sharing network to enable national police forces to combat transnational crimes.
Four Global Programmes of Interpol:
What are the concerns:
- About the misuse of Interpol’s notice system, especially the issuance of blue corner notices (less scrutinised than their red corner notices).
- Critics argument:
- Countries often exploit existing protocols to target political refugees and dissidents.
- While efforts have been made to address this.
- But still questions remain about striking a balance between facilitating police cooperation and preventing misuse of this powerful tool.
What is a “blue corner” notice?
- There are seven types of notices issued by Interpol — Red Notice, Yellow Notice, Blue Notice, Black Notice, Green Notice, Orange Notice, and Purple Notice.
- A blue corner notice (or an “enquiry notice”) allows police forces in member states to share critical crime-related information such as obtaining a person’s criminal record, and location and, having his or her identity verified among others. Example: In January 2020, Interpol issued a blue corner notice to help locate fugitive self-styled godman Nithyananda.
How does “blue corner” notice differ from a “red corner” notice?
What is a red corner notice?
- A red corner notice is issued by a member state to arrest a wanted criminal through extradition or any other similar lawful action.
- Such notices are issued against persons wanted by national jurisdictions for prosecution or to serve a sentence based on an arrest warrant or a court decision. The country issuing the request need not be the home country of the fugitive.
- Interpol acts even on the request of a country where the alleged crime has been committed.
Differences:
- While blue corner notices are issued prior to the filing of criminal charges, red corner notices generally follow criminal convictions.
Impact of notices:
- The concerned individual can be stopped and arrested while travelling through a member state.
- There will also be other detrimental consequences such as the closure of bank accounts.
Discretionary in nature:
- However, Interpol cannot compel law enforcement authorities in any country to arrest the subject of a red corner notice as the exercise of such powers is entirely discretionary.
Case study:
- In 2018, a red corner notice was issued against fugitive billionaire Nirav Modi in relation to the Punjab National Bank scam.
- However, in October 2022, Interpol rejected a second request by India to issue such a notice against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, whom the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has listed as a “terrorist.”
Reason by Interpol:
India has failed to provide sufficient information to support its case and that his activities have a “clear political dimension.”
Is the notice system prone to misuse?
Rule: Interpol’s Constitution explicitly forbids any activities of a political character.
However, Interpol failed to enforce the above rule as highlighted below:
As accusation by activists:
- It is directed at Russia, which has repeatedly issued notices and diffusions for the arrest of Kremlin opponents, a political character activity .
- Data: According to the U.S. rights organisation Freedom House, Russia is responsible for 38% of all public red notices.
- Accusation by International human rights groups:
- Against China, Iran, Turkey, and Tunisia etc. of abusing the agency’s notice system for authoritarian ends i.e. again a political character activity.
Response of accusation by Interpol:
- Interpol toughened the oversight of its red notice system.
Still vulnerabilities remain:
- According to experts vulnerabilities remain in Blue notices issuances.
Reason: Blue notices are less likely to be reviewed before publication.
Impact: As per the agency’s data that blue notices have roughly doubled in number over the past decade.
Reaction of countries :
But countries like Turkey argue that such restraint in the issuance of notices hampers police cooperation and that the West should not interfere with their internal affairs.