Interpol is an intergovernmental organization that enables police in its 194 member countries to unitedly fight international crimes. Interpol does not have executive powers, that is why it does not arrest suspects or act without the approval of national authorities. Interpol notices are international requests for cooperation or alerts allowing police in member countries to share critical crime-related information. Notices are published by the General Secretariat at the request of a National Central Bureau and are made available to all the member countries.
To evade the criminal charges, suspects often fly to another country. A Red Notice (RN) alerts police forces in all the countries about fugitives who are wanted on an international level. An Interpol Warrant describes an RN as a request to law enforcement agencies all across the world to search, locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.
Read More: Why Interpol Issues The Red Notice?
It is possible to challenge Interpol’s Red Notice and ask for its deletion as Interpol’s regulations allow for anyone targeted by a Red Notice to do so. But the process for this is quite complex and it may last longer. The process involves an assessment of the Red Notice based on the criteria given by Article 83 of Interpol’s Rules.
Interpol Red Notice is valid only if the following criteria are met:
The offence committed must be of serious nature
The offence committed must be punishable by a maximum deprivation of liberty for at least two years or more.
Interpol Red Notice might not be published for the following offences:
Offences that raise controversial issues relating to behavioural or cultural norms in various countries
Offences relating to family matters
Offences originating from a violation of laws or regulations of an administrative nature or deriving from private disputes
An Interpol Red Notice may also be deleted if it appears that the prosecution is politically biased or if it comes to the attention that there are insufficient grounds for prosecution.
Red Notice may be challenged directly through the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files (‘CCF’). The CCF is an independent, impartial body responsible for ensuring that the processing of personal data complies with applicable Interpol rules. The Commission has two chambers:
the Supervisory and Advisory Chambers, which advises on the operations and processing of personal data; and
the Requests Chamber, which has the power to examine and decide on individual requests for revisions to and deletions of data and previous decisions.
The process for appealing a decision or revising data with the CCF is as equal as presenting an asylum case but is rooted in international human rights law and Interpol’s foundational documents. Interpol’s constitution requires it to comply with two broad protections outlined in Articles 2 and 3. Article 2 states that the organization aims to promote international police cooperation within the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 3, sometimes referred to as the neutrality clause, states that it is ‘strictly forbidden for Interpol to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial character’. Despite these safeguards against persecutory requests, Interpol does not properly vet Red Notice requests to comply with these protections.
