Interpols Red Notice system Libby McVeigh, Head of Law Reform - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The use and abuse of Interpol’s Red Notice system

Libby McVeigh, Head of Law Reform

@fairtrials www.fairtrials.org

Our campaign for INTERPOL reform

About our work on INTERPOL

• Work on 30+ INTERPOL cases since 2011
• Strengthening INTERPOL, Nov 2013
• Meetings with INTERPOL to discuss it
• Ongoing campaign for reform

The world in which INTERPOL operates

(1) A world of global policing challenges

• Organised crime crosses borders easily
• Suspects, evidence often located in other countries
• INTERPOL helps countries respond to this challenge
• Connects police of 190 countries
• ‘Wanted person’ system to track down fugitives
• Exchange of expertise, training, other notices eg. missing

persons

• Good. Countries need to work together to fight crime!

Benny Wenda Indonesia

The world in which INTERPOL operates

(2) A world where repression and persecution is common

Interpol – Overview What is Interpol?

• Aim: To facilitate international police cooperation
• 1956 Constitution – General Assembly; Executive

Committee; General Secretariat; Commission for Control of INTERPOL’s files (CCF) - Headquartered in Lyon

• National Central Bureaus (NCBs) in each country

Red Notice – Process

NCB Interpol NCB NCB NCB

Red notice – Process:

• Enables one country to locate a wanted

person in order to have them extradited from the country in which encountered.

NCB

Arrest warrant

Country X Review Red Notice

Human Impact Human impact

• Arrest & detention
• Bahar Kimyongür, arrested and deprived of liberty in Spain,

Italy and Netherlands (6 months total)

• Employment & family life issues
• Flight attendant who lost job because of Red Notice
• Restricted freedom of movement
• Benny Wenda, unable to travel to carry out advocacy

activities

• Reputational harm
• Patricia Poleo, award-winning Venezuelan refugee journalist

INTERPOL’s Rules Justification: the rules

• Rules on the Processing of Data (2012)
• Exhaustively listed purposes for using INTERPOL
• De minimis criterion: 2 years / 6 months
• Constitution
• Respect for human rights – Article 2
• Exclusion of political cases – Article 3
• Rules look good on paper
• Some issues arising in interpretation and application

Quantity not quality?

Detecting and Preventing Abuse Key issues: (1) Interpretation of Article 3 – disconnect between domestic approaches in asylum/extradition proceedings and INTERPOL’s approach. (2) Review of Red Notice requests – unclear what this involves; we know that the arrest warrant is not required. (3) Continuing review – failure to act upon receiving information regarding extradition refusals and asylum grants.

Effective remedies Clearly a need for an effective remedy, but:

(1) Absence of effective remedy at national level (2) INTERPOL’s immunity from judicial oversight (3) Inadequacy of CCF as an avenue of redress

• Started as a data protection body
• Now performing an important human rights role
• Petr Silaev
• Fair Trials: 28-page application (asylum / extradition / human rights

arguments and extensive evidence)

• CCF asked questions of Russian NCB – not seen…
• CCF response: 1-page response - no reasoning / explanation of approach

taken, relied on Russian material which had not been seen by Petr

CCF Annual Budget (2010- 2012) Total Operating Income (2012)

CCF Budget

CCF Reform Our recommendations for CCF reform

•  Create a separate chamber for complaints
• Clear, mandatory time-frames
• No reliance on evidence not seen by individual
• Binding, reasoned decisions (CCF agrees)
• Publication of decisions (with safeguards)
• Possibility to challenge adverse decisions

International responses

Joint MEP letter November 2013 Commission responds December 2013

International responses

Moving in the right direction? INTERPOL developments:  New Secretary-General – keen to demonstrate that our

concerns have been taken on board, including enhanced measures in relation to compliance checks before any Red Notice is published

• r visible to member countries.

 New Chair of CCF – Nina Vajic, former ECtHR judge.  Working group established - to conduct ‘a comprehensive review of INTERPOL’s supervisory mechanisms at all levels, including National Central Bureaus, the General Secretariat and CCF’.

Thank you for listening! libby.mcveigh@fairtrials.net