INTERPOL was founded in 1923 with the noblest of intentions. Following the globalization of the world after World War I, with increased opportunities for criminals to travel and hide in other countries, INTERPOL was created to facilitate police communications between member nations, assist in the hunt for fugitives from justice, and help prevent international crime from proliferating.

Despite a charter that states that INTERPOL warrants, known as Red Notices, may not be used for political purposes, repressive regimes and strongarm dictators still find ways to circumvent this restriction. The war on international terrorism leads even benign democracies to cut corners, opening a path for further abuses. INTERPOL must thread the needle between doing too much and doing too little in this potential minefield.

Russia: The Long Arm of the Secret Police

Few nations have threaded this needle as effectively as Russia. According to the U.S. civil rights organization Freedom House, Russia is currently responsible for over 35% of all public Red Notices. When a member nation requests a Red Notice, it is nearly always granted. INTERPOL lacks the resources to thoroughly vet every request to determine if it is politically based.

Russia has filed trumped-up Red Notices for expatriate Russian citizens living abroad for refusal to testify in criminal cases in Moscow; political activists have been charged with “vandalism” and “hooliganism” to qualify them for Red Notices.

Most of these Red Notices are successfully challenged by the subjects after the initial arrest, before deportation. Still, some analysts believe Russia’s purpose is not the arrest and detention of individuals but to demonstrate the reach and power of Russian police services.

Questionable Candidacy, Dubious Transparency

In 2021, INTERPOL raised eyebrows and alarm flags worldwide when Major General Ahmed Naser al-Raisi from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) became a nominee for President of the agency. The UAE has a very poor record on human rights, and its police agency has languished in areas of corruption and transparency. Nevertheless, al-Raisi was confirmed as President.

The question of al-Raisi’s qualifications could not adequately be raised because INTERPOL itself suffers from a lack of transparency. The candidacy of al-Raisi and any other internal workings of INTERPOL remain shrouded in secrecy.

The internal review board for INTERPOL, the Commission for Control of Files (CCF), answers to no external agency. As the Internet meme says, “We investigated ourselves and cleared ourselves of all wrongdoing.” There is no way for outsiders to know when or whether they have cleared erroneous notices as requested.

Benevolent Dictators and Ruthless Democracies

INTERPOL performs an essential service for our global and interconnected society. It provides an immediate way for the security services of nations that may be hostile to one another to share information about criminal activity that transcends political or religious boundaries. After all, even two nations locked in warfare don’t want a serial killer or a child trafficker operating within their borders.

The proliferation of human trafficking, drug smuggling, and non-state terrorism makes the job of INTERPOL even more essential. Without a nonaligned agency such as INTERPOL, nations would have to go through their respective governments to share data on drug cartels, organized crime families, and terrorist groups.

Unfortunately, the threat these groups pose means that even democracies may be tempted to misuse INTERPOL. The agency tends to assume that all member nations operate at the same level and, in the interest of fairness, presumes that all members act in good faith. In other words, a notice request from Iran is treated with the same level of concern as one from Finland.

Conversely, how nations handle Red Notices (or any INTERPOL notice) is entirely up to the recipient nation. Some countries, such as the United States, treat them as advisories and will conduct their own reviews of the subject and the allegation. Others treat them as fugitive warrants and summarily arrest the subject without further review. This can have dire consequences for the subject and their family.

Correcting the Situation

It is clear that INTERPOL Red Notices and the agency itself are being misused, primarily because of the agency's lack of staffing and oversight and the almost naïve attitude of its leadership towards its member countries. The nature of the agency, as it exists, invites abuse.

However, INTERPOL performs an invaluable purpose as an independent law enforcement clearinghouse. By providing a location for police agencies in member countries to exchange information without the political baggage of their respective governments, INTERPOL has been more beneficial than not throughout most of its existence.

Open Societies Foundation has suggested a method of repairing the cracks in INTERPOL’s infrastructure and believes these fixes would not be difficult to implement—if INTERPOL’s leadership is amenable to the concept. The problem, as they see it, is a breakdown of INTERPOL’s interpretation of its mission and a lack of understanding about the impact their notices may have on an individual in today’s society.

As Open Societies notes in their report, thanks to the Internet and the online request form INTERPOL uses, “In a matter of seconds, member countries can draft and submit an alert seeking the arrest of a wanted criminal, with the information recorded instantly ... and immediately accessible to police around the world.” Of course, any errors, falsehoods, or mistaken identities are not corrected as swiftly, and any malicious intent cannot be quickly repaired.

Open Societies suggests that external judicial oversight would be an effective corrective measure to INTERPOL abuses. Using the CCF as an advisory board as well as an internal investigative could provide a liaison between such an external oversight board and INTERPOL’s leadership.

Better transparency by INTERPOL would be ideal. At present, there are no easy mechanisms to request or access INTERPOL files, and channels for obtaining information on a person’s Red Notice must go through the requesting nation. It can take months or even years, or it may never happen. INTERPOL has no authority to order member nations to amend their own files, and granting them this ability through an external agency would help prevent abuses.

Finding a balance between the need for INTERPOL and the ease of abusing the reach of its policing powers is essential as the globalization of society continues and the need for international contact increases.