In the immediate post-war period, the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) adopted a position of neutrality by refusing to become involved in cases of a political, religious or racial nature. In his opening speech to the Brussels Conference in June 1946, President Louwage said that, by scrupulously adhering to that principle, the Commission had succeeded in gaining the respect of administrative and judicial authorities in all member countries.

This position was also in keeping with the development of extradition law - both national and international - during the 19th and early 20th centuries and, in particular, with the concept of 'political offence'.

Despite the fact that the ICPC Statutes adopted in 1946 contained no provisions limiting the scope of the Organization's action in cases of a political, racial or religious nature, in practice, the Organization maintained its position.

In 1948, the phrase 'to the strict exclusion of all matters having a political, religious or racial character' was added to the end of Article 1(1) of the Statutes. The then Secretary General of the ICPC, Mr Ducloux, described the lack of any formal provision on the matter as a 'serious omission'. In his report to the General Assembly, Mr Ducloux said that 'the strict limitation of our action within the realm of common law [sic] has enabled us to extend the influence of the ICPC without opposition, and we consider that its future hangs largely on the strict observance of this neutrality' (ICPC, 17th session, Prague, report on the corrigendum to the Statutes).

Thereafter, Article 1 read as follows: 'The purpose of the International Criminal Police Commission is to ensure and officially promote the growth of the greatest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities, within the limits of the laws existing in the different States, to establish and develop all institutions likely to contribute to an efficient repression of common law crimes and offences, to the strict exclusion of all matters having a political, religious or racial character'.

In 1956, when the Constitution of the ICPO-Interpol was being drafted, this provision was taken up and became what is now Article 3: 'It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character'. The first thing to note is that the scope of the original provision was extended to include 'military' activities, and the second thing is that it was drafted in particularly rigorous and absolute terms.

Since then, the ICPO-Interpol General Assembly has adopted three resolutions interpreting Article 3 - AGN/20/RES/11 (Lisbon, 1951), AGN/53/RES/7 (Luxembourg, 1984) and AGN/63/RES/9 (Rome, 1994) - to take into account the reduced scope of political offences, and the growing reality of terrorism, and developments made in international humanitarian law.

Last updated on 18 March 2003