Back row (left to right): Juri Chayka (Attorney General, Russian Federation), Rashid Nurgalijew (Minister of the Interior, Russian Federation), Lutz Diwell (State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Germany), Alberto Gonzales (Attorney General, United States), Michael Jackson (Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, United States), Lord Peter Henry Goldsmith (Attorney General, United Kingdom), Tony McNulty (Minister of State for Security, Counter-Terrorism and Police, United Kingdom), Robert Douglas Nicholson (Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Canada), Ronald Noble (Secretary General, INTERPOL), Mario Clemente Mastella (Minister of Justice, Italy), Brice Hortefeux (Minister of Immigration, Integration and National Identity, France). Front row (left to right): Hiroto Yoshimura (Deputy Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, Japan), Kenichi Mizuno (Senior Vice-Minister of Justice, Japan), Brigitte Zypries (Minister of Justice, Germany), Wolfgang Schäuble (Minister of the Interior, Germany), Franco Frattini (Vice-President and Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, European Commission), Stockwell Burt Day (Minister of Public Safety, Canada). © Federal Ministry of the Interior Photo: Thomas Köhler

MUNICH, Germany – G8 Justice and Interior Ministers today endorsed a range of vital policing tools proposed by INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble aimed at enhancing global security.

Secretary General Noble exposed the global problem of prison escapes of terrorists and other dangerous criminals not being promptly and adequately reported to police worldwide, thereby placing the citizens of all countries potentially at risk.

During the past two years alone, INTERPOL has become aware that more than 500 prisoners have escaped from at least 72 prisons across 43 countries worldwide.

'With no system in place to automatically alert the international police community, these dangerous criminals are given an unacceptable opportunity to escape apprehension and to cause further harm,' said Secretary General Noble.

'Moreover, the absence of a global protocol on sharing vital information such as fingerprints and photographs of escaped prisoners, including terrorists, constitutes a serious threat to the safety and security of citizens worldwide,' he added.

Secretary General Noble also sought G8 support for the creation of an international missing persons and unidentified bodies database. Following the Asian tsunami in 2004, the need to develop a permanent structure to deal with any such future natural or manmade disasters was first raised by Germany at INTERPOL’s 2005 General Assembly.

Hosted by INTERPOL, this centralised database would enable police around the world to maintain and access information on unidentified persons and bodies on a day-to-day and long-term basis.

Mr. Noble also provided an update on the International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) image database being developed by INTERPOL at the G8’s request.

Endorsed by the G8 in 2005, the creation of the ICSE image database at the General Secretariat in Lyon will assist national investigators across the globe to identify and potentially rescue victims of child sexual abuse whose images have been posted on the Internet or retrieved from seized computers.

INTERPOL has progressed with the initiative and a pilot project with three G8 countries, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom, will be launched by the end of 2007.