PRESS RELEASE – 16.11.2021
On the eve of the 89th General Assembly of INTERPOL, 64 civil society organisations and
individuals including renowned human rights activists, MPs and MEPs called for further reform to
ensure that the INTERPOL complies with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The document titled ‘Civil Society Resolution on the Forthcoming 89th General Assembly of
INTERPOL’ and endorsed by NGOs, lawyers and award winning human rights activists, expresses
concerns about the ongoing abuse of the INTERPOL mechanisms including Red Notices and Stolen
and Lost Travel Document database and calls for the full implementation of recommendations put
forward by Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament have not
been fully implemented yet.
Specifically, the Resolution calls on the General Assembly and the General Secretariat of the
Organisation to:
- further improve transparency on INTERPOL procedures;
- further strengthen the appeals procedure before the Commission for the Control of Files
(CCF) by making it speedier, more interactive and more transparent; - set up an independent appeals body against the decisions of the CCF;
- set up a compensation fund for victims of unjustified Red Notices and wanted person
diffusions as well as for victims of abuse of SLTD database; - further improve preventive and subsequent scrutiny of requests submitted by abusive states;
- ensure more effective control over the information which flows through its communication
system and SLTD database.
NGOs and activists are calling their governments to: - support Interpol by providing the Organisation with the necessary resources to improve the
quality and timeliness of both preventive compliance checks and the subsequent review by the
CCF; - set up a caucus of democratic states to push reforms for (i) ensuring the human rights and
freedoms of both victims and subject persons, (ii) naming and shaming abuser countries, inter
alia People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, Belarus, Turkey, Kazakhstan; - adopt a risk assessment guideline to be more vigilant about the requests and data submitted by
National Central Bureaus (NCBs) of abuser countries; - duly probe all instances of misuse of Interpol, extraditions and other forms of interstate legal
assistance by the requesting states for political or corrupt purposes; - be vigilant about any attempt of member countries to leave a permanent effect on Interpol’s
mechanisms and leadership structure that would make the organization susceptible to abuse of
its mechanisms.
The Resolution has been submitted by the Italian Federation for Human Rights & the Arrested
Lawyers Initiative and signed by:
- FIDU – Italian Federation for Human Rights
- The Arrested Lawyers Initiative
- Norwegian Helsinki Committee
- Freedom House
- Human Rights Foundation
- Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
- Statewatch
- Defend Democracy
- International Association of People’s Lawyers
- Open Dialogue Foundation
- Fundación Internacional de Derechos Humanos
- Platforma Pro Derechos y Libertades
- The Good Lobby Profs
- Center for Human Rights in Iran
- Human Rights Institute of the World Jurist Association
- Human Rights Defenders e.V.
- Hong Kong Watch
- European Lawyers for Democracy & Human Rights
- Lawyers for Uyghur Rights
- World Uyghur Congress
- Yet Again UK
- Foundation Day of the Endangered Lawyer
- Journalists and Writers Foundation
- The Justice Abroad
- London Advocacy
- TASC- Think-tank for Action on Social Change
- Peace & Justice EU
- Safeguard Defenders
- Supolka Italia | Associazione bielorussi in Italia
- Aktion für Flüchtlingshilfe e.V
- Saleh Institute
- The Association Solidarité Chine
- International Campaign for Tibet
- Istituto Sindacale per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo
- Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Culture and Education
- OTHERS AISBL
- YC Epirus
- International Association for Human Rights Advocacy in Geneva
- Universal Rights Association
- Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong
- Movements For Freedom
- Center for Civil Liberties
- International Collegium of Lawyers
- Freedom Kazakhstan Foundation
- Freedom for Eurasia
And: - Marie Arena, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European
Parliament - Emma Bonino, Senator of Italy; ECFR co-chair, Former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Roberto Rampi, Senator of Italy, member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Inter-Parliamentary
- Lord Hylton MA ARICS, House of Lords of the UK
- William Browder, Head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign and CEO of Hermitage Capital
- Lorent Enrique Gómez Saleh, human rights activist, the European Parliament 2017 Sakharov Prize Laureate
- Bill Bowring, Professor of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London; Barrister, Bar of England and Wales
- Cesare P.R. Romano, Professor of Law; Director, International Human Rights Center of Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
- Jared Genser, Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
- Elena Gaju, Member of Paris & Barcelona Bars
- Brian Samuels Q.C., British Columbia & Colorado Bars
- Matilde Arrigucci, International law attorney
- Enes Güngören, International law attorney
- Ana Ursachi, Lawyer
- Dmytro Morhun, Lawyer
- Raj Daya, Lawyer
- Yavuz Aydin, Former Turkish judge – Justice for Rule of Law ASBL
- Aigul Pavel, Human rights activist
- Gianni Alioti, International Secretary of FIM-CISL
Comment by Eleonora Mongelli, Vice President of the Italian Federation for Human Rights
“More and more human rights experts are denouncing the abusive use of the INTERPOL system by
authoritarian regimes to persecute abroad refugees, activists, journalists and political opponents.
Such method of repression gives human rights abusers a global reach, which affects our democratic
societies. This Civil Society Resolution signed by more than 60 NGOs and human rights experts
defines the objectives and the recommendations that INTERPOL should implement without delay
during the forthcoming 89th General Assembly in order to stop its systematic abuse by autocratic
leaders”.
Comment by Ali Yildiz, human rights lawyer and the founder of the Arrested Lawyers Initiative:
“This meeting should be the time to implement the reforms that international society has been calling
for years. A sanction mechanism for the abuser states and compensation fund for the victims of these
abusive conducts should be created without further delay. Transparency of data removal procedure
should be improved. A caucus consisting of democratic member states would be a good initiative to
push for more reforms, to ensure that law abiding candidates are elected to the appellate body and
executive posts, and also to name and shame abusive countries such as Turkey, China, Russia and
others”.
For media inquiries, please contact: Eleonora Mongelli e.mongelli@fidu.it and Ali Y.
general@arrestedlawyers.org
Statement on integrity issues of INTERPOL’s leaders
By the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Italian Federation for Human Rights and the Arrested Lawyers Initiative
In addition to the need for institutional reforms, outlined in the resolution we present today, we also want to address the need to ensure that Interpol’s leaders adhere to high moral standards. It is common to put requirements of high moral character, impartiality, and integrity for leadership positions in international organizations and judicial bodies. Such requirements should be introduced in the Constitution of Interpol.
According to the Rome Statute of the ICC, “The judges shall be chosen from among persons of high moral character, impartiality and integrity who possess the qualifications required in their respective States for appointment to the highest judicial offices” (ICC Statute, Article 36(3)a). “The Prosecutor and the Deputy Prosecutors shall be persons of high moral character, be highly competent in and have extensive practical experience in the prosecution or trial of criminal cases” (Article 42(3)).
While the Constitution of Interpol refers to the purpose of the organization as “to ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities … in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, there are no references to the need for persons elected to Interpol leadership positions to adhere to human rights standards. Leadership positions include the President, Vice-Presidents, as well as members of the Executive Committee and the General Secretariat.
Article 28 of Interpol’s Constitution requires that the Secretary General “must be chosen from among persons highly competent in police matters”, and Article 30 stipulates that “the Secretary General and the staff shall neither solicit nor accept instructions from any government or authority outside the Organization,” but this fundamental document of the organization fails to stipulate the need for Interpol leaders to exemplify by their professional practices the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This failure is particularly serious at a time when Interpol’s integrity is undermined by many of its member states.
It has become known in recent months that the top candidate to be elected as Interpol’s next President, Major General Ahmed Naser Ahmed Alrais of the United Arab Emirates, has been charged with responsibility for torture and inhuman treatment conducted by UAE security services. Criminal complaints by two British citizens that experienced such abuse in 2018 and 2019 have been submitted in the UK, France, Sweden, and Norway. A coalition of 19 human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, wrote an open letter to Interpol advising against his appointment. This is the time for Interpol’s members to ensure that a person that may be responsible for serious human rights abuses is not elected as its new President. Proper language should be included in Interpol’s Constitution to ensure high ethical standards of its leaders, and vetting procedures should be put in place to ensure that candidates that fail to adhere to such standards cannot be elected.