A troubling new president for Interpol

INTERPOL, the international law enforcement agency, has had a history of allowing its international database of fugitives to be used by authoritarian governments to persecute dissidents. It is therefore troubling that a Chinese security official will become the organisation’s next president.

Interpol announced last week that Meng Hongwei, China’s vice minister of public security, was elected by the agency’s general assembly to serve as president for a four-year term.

In China, human rights lawyers and activists have been persecuted by the authorities for years. Some have been detained and harassed; dozens have been held in secret prisons without access to lawyers.

“The appointment of Meng Hongwei is alarming given China’s longstanding practice of trying to use Interpol to arrest dissidents and refugees abroad,” said Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia director of Amnesty International. “It seems at odds with Interpol’s mandate to work in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

China and Russia are among the countries that have abused Interpol’s “red notice” database of information about fugitives. While the system is central to international law enforcement cooperation – preventing suspected terrorists from obtaining visas, for instance – it has been used to punish journalists, activists and rights defenders. There is a mechanism for people to challenge red notice alerts, but it can be time-consuming and costly.

As Interpol’s president, Meng will run its executive committee, which plays a key role in setting the agenda for new initiatives and has oversight over the work of the secretary-general, the day-to-day chief.

When Interpol’s general assembly meets next year in Beijing, it should, at the very least, take steps to prevent the red notice database from being misused. It can also clarify and strengthen its human rights policy so that Interpol is used solely to share intelligence about legitimate threats and criminals.