What Americans Should Know About Interpol Abuse
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., seen here talking with reporters at the Capitol on May 16, 2017, will be the keynote speaker at a webinar, Ending Interpol Abuse: How the Democratic World Can Fight Transnational Repression, hosted by The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Commentary By
Over the past few years, awareness has spread about the problem of Interpol abuse.
Interpol isn’t an international police agency, even though Hollywood likes to depict it as such. It’s actually more like an electronic bulletin board on which police agencies around the world can post their “wanted” notices.
Human Rights Watch
The candidacy of a United Arab Emirates (UAE)Interior Ministry official for president of Interpol may jeopardize the global police organization’s commitment to its human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) said today.
Maj. Gen. Ahmed Naser al-Raisi has held the high-level position of inspector general at the UAE Interior Ministry since April 2015, making him responsible, among other things, for investigating complaints against police and security forces. The UAE state security apparatus has a long record of multiple abuses.
“General al-Raisi’s selection as Interpol president would indicate that Interpol’s member states have no concern whatsoever about the record of the UAE in persecuting peaceful critics,” said Khalid Ibrahim, GCHR’s executive director. “His candidacy is yet another bid by the UAE to purchase international respectability and whitewash its deplorable human rights record.”
The candidacy of a United Arab Emirates (UAE) Interior Ministry official for president of Interpol may jeopardize the global police organization’s commitment to its human rights obligations.
Interpol should not be led by a patsy thetimes.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thetimes.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Interpol too susceptible to abuse, report finds
Weâre sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later.
Dismiss
By Jamie Johnson
Save
Normal text size
Advertisement
Washington: Interpol is too susceptible to abuse by âdespotic regimesâ and its next president should not come from the United Arab Emirates because of its âsystematic breaches of human rights,â according to a new report.
UAE Major General Nasser Ahmed al-Raisi is running for president of Interpol.
In a scathing assessment of the undue influence of the UAE on the international policing organisation, the paper points to large financial donations and a âmisuseâ of the red notice system by a country where torture and repression is âa stock in tradeâ.