INTERPOL anniversary highlights co-operation with UN to fight terrorism

INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble (right) and INTERPOL's Special Representative to the United Nations Dr Ulrich Kersten at the reception to mark the first anniversary of the opening of INTERPOL's offices at the United Nations in New York.

INTERPOL's Special Representative at the United Nations, Dr Ulrich Kersten takes questions from the media during a briefing on INTERPOL's work with the UN.

NEW YORK – INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble briefed members of the United Nations Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee on Thursday about INTERPOL’s work in helping to fight terrorism, and the organization’s growing co-operation with the UN in a range of anti-crime areas.

In his presentation to the Committee marking the one-year anniversary of INTERPOL’s office at the UN in New York, Mr. Noble pledged to move swiftly to introduce a new INTERPOL notice for the UN, designed to alert member countries that terrorist suspects on a United Nations watch list are the target of sanctions and subject to an assets freeze, arms embargo and travel ban.

In September 2005, INTERPOL’s General Assembly adopted a resolution which included approving the creation of the new INTERPOL notice .

Mr. Noble also called on Committee members to encourage all UN member states to contribute to INTERPOL’s stolen travel documents database, as required by UN Security Council Resolution 1617, in order to prevent the free movement of terrorists and other criminals across international borders. Although the INTERPOL database has grown to more than 8 million entries from 3,000 in just three years, only 87 countries contribute data to it.

Following an agreement between Secretary General Noble and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the Office of the INTERPOL Special Representative to the UN headquarters in New York was opened in October 2004. Dr Ulrich Kersten, former president of the Bundeskriminalamt (German Federal Criminal Police), was appointed as INTERPOL’s Special Representative to the United Nations for an initial three-year term.

Working from INTERPOL’s offices in UN Plaza, Dr Kersten and INTERPOL colleagues work to enhance communication and co-operation between the two organizations in concrete ways.

'The decision underlying the creation of an INTERPOL office at the UN headquarters was based on the belief that INTERPOL’s National Central Bureaus and member countries’ police officers could give teeth and real impact to Security Council Resolutions,' Mr. Noble said. 'Very soon police officers around the world will be better able to help the UN Security Council by identifying and stopping suspected terrorists from travelling as freely as they do now.'

Background Information
Co-operation between the United Nations and INTERPOL  

 Introduction

Article 2 of the INTERPOL Constitution emphasizes that the organization should promote co-operation with all law enforcement entities. It states further that INTERPOL should also look beyond this horizon and develop new opportunities.

One of INTERPOL’s objectives is to continue exploring new avenues – within its core functions and priority crime areas – to expand and enhance the existing co-operation on law enforcement matters with the UN, and by building the necessary bridges between the organizations to facilitate such collaboration.

From the outset, INTERPOL received significant interest from the UN for further interaction due to the UN’s greater involvement in law enforcement matters, and its recognition of the value of having immediate access to law enforcement tools and expertise.

The following is a brief summary of some of the achievements of the INTERPOL office at the UN since its creation:

• Terrorism

Counter-terrorism is a priority for law enforcement and has become a focal point for collaboration between INTERPOL and the UN. This manifests itself through INTERPOL’s co-operation with the various terrorism-related Security Council committees.

In relation to the 1267 Committee, the UN requested INTERPOL to provide assistance in improving the implementation of the Al Qaeda/Taliban sanctions system. This dedicated co-operation is also reflected by Resolution 1617 adopted by the Security Council on 29 July 2005. The effect of this was to increase collaboration between the UN and INTERPOL in order to provide the 1267 Committee with better tools to fulfill its mandate.

In September 2005, the INTERPOL General Assembly approved a resolution which included approval for the creation of a new INTERPOL notice to alert the organization’s 184 member countries that certain individuals are the target of United Nations sanctions and subject to an assets freeze, arms embargo and travel ban.

• Small arms and light weapons

Another important issue is the threat of illicit small arms and light weapons. A UN report states; 'There are over 600 million small arms and light weapons in circulation worldwide…Small arms are responsible for over half a million deaths per year, including 300,000 in armed conflict and 200,000 more from homicides and suicides.'

This is not only an issue for the UN, but also a major concern for every police chief in every country. INTERPOL therefore participated in several meetings of the UN Working Group to negotiate an international instrument to identify and trace illicit small arms and light weapons. INTERPOL focused on the possible support it could provide in assisting member states in implementing this instrument, especially facilitating such investigations. The UN is also concerned about the illicit brokering of small arms and light weapons, and intends to intensify its efforts in this area.

• Peacekeeping

Fundamental to the idea of providing support to UN peacekeeping missions is that INTERPOL should provide support to its police officers in the field on those missions.

Discussions are currently underway with the UN Civilian Police Division regarding its work within the peacekeeping missions and how INTERPOL could better facilitate this. One possibility is providing partial or full access to INTERPOL communication and information tools, depending on the mandate of the respective mission. This could be best achieved by having a similar agreement to that which INTERPOL already has with the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

A decision to support the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was approved at the 2005 INTERPOL General Assembly. INTERPOL considers this support, and its duty to assist police officers stationed in these missions, to be extremely important.

• Support to operational/investigative missions

In addition, INTERPOL supported the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) by sending three expert officers to assist the Commission with its investigation into the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri. This represented another first for INTERPOL; to be involved in an official international criminal investigation.

INTERPOL also supported the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme. There have also been further requests to assist other UN investigations and enquiries, especially with regard to criminal conduct of members of UN missions, for example, with forensic expertise available within its police services.

The first year of the INTERPOL office at the UN marked the establishment of a sound foundation of systematic co-operation with the UN. It is still the beginning of this process, but already the UN has clearly expressed its intention to continue and enhance co-operation with INTERPOL.