COOPERATION BETWEEN INTERPOL AND THE UNITED NATIONS February 2018
A HISTORY OF COOPERATION 1997: Cooperation agreement between INTERPOL and the UN Many decades of collaboration was formalized in an agreement granting each organization observer status within the other. The agreement set out shared objectives to assist countries in combating organized crime, responding to international needs related to national and transnational crime, and preventing crime through police training and public awareness. 2002: INTERPOL and UNMIK A Memorandum of Understanding was signed to establish a framework for cooperation on crime prevention and criminal justice. A point of contact was set up within the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) police to perform the functions of an INTERPOL National Central Bureau. 2009: INTERPOL and UNDPKO The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO) and INTERPOL signed a Supplementary Arrangement and produced an action plan in which they agreed to exchange information to enhance crime prevention. Both parties have combined efforts to cooperate in providing support to host country law enforcement, including assessment, training, advice and institutional development. INTERPOL and UN Security Council Sanctions Committees In 2005, INTERPOL first worked with the 1267 Committee, the Sanctions Committee established in 1999 in relation to Al-Qaida and the Taliban, which was later divided into two distinct sanctions regimes, and has also evolved to encompass ISIL (Da esh). The successful cooperation has led to arrangements with other Sanctions Committees and the publication of more than 500 INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notices. INTERPOL currently has cooperation agreements with 10 Sanctions Committees. 2016: General Assembly resolution The UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution enhancing cooperation with INTERPOL, within their respective mandates. Co-sponsored by a large number of countries, the resolution facilitates increased opportunities for partnership and greater awareness about INTERPOL among all UN member states.
OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF INTERPOL TO THE UNITED NATIONS To further promote cooperation between the two organizations, INTERPOL established a permanent presence at the United Nations in New York in 2004 and in Vienna in 2018. The Office of the Special Representative of INTERPOL to the United Nations acts as a liaison bureau, connecting the police world with the diplomatic community in New York and in Vienna. Its aims are to: Establish trust and better understanding between the police and diplomatic realms by identifying areas of common interest and opportunities for increased coordination; Demonstrate and promote INTERPOL policing capabilities which can help member countries effectively fight transnational crime; Raise awareness of INTERPOL values and its objective of political neutrality; Deliver concrete operational support to UN entities; Enhance coordination with partner organizations and build on complementarities to develop joint-initiatives. The office represents INTERPOL at the United Nations in key meetings of the Security Council and the General Assembly, actively participates in working groups and processes, and promotes the visibility of INTERPOL at high-level events. The office establishes and maintains regular contact with UN entities and partners, including the Permanent Mission of member countries. In addition to identifying and developing political avenues for collaboration, the liaison office works to promote the concerns of global law enforcement, particularly in the domain of peace and security, within the UN community and in relevant international initiatives, declarations resolutions, reports and policy decisions. INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock meets UN Secretary- General António Guterres
INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock addresses a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in November 2014 on the implementation of UN sanctions INTERPOL - UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL SPECIAL NOTICES INTERPOL notices are used by international law enforcement to request cooperation or share critical crime-related information. Notices are published at the request of INTERPOL s National Central Bureaus to seek the location and arrest of wanted persons, help locate missing persons, and provide warnings to law enforcement about criminal activity. A new type of notice was created in 2005 to combine the UN Security Council sanctions regime with INTERPOL s well-established notice system to alert national law enforcement authorities that sanctions apply to designated individuals and entities. Each Special Notice contains detailed information about a particular individual or entity subject to the UN Security Council s targeted sanctions. The Special Notices are included in INTERPOL s database and circulated to its National Central Bureaus. Special Notices may also be disseminated to other law enforcement agencies such as immigration services. An abridged version of each Special Notice is also published on INTERPOL s website. As well as publishing Special Notices and including the information in its databases, INTERPOL provides additional information in consultation with member countries and has conducted training courses on Special Notices for frontline law enforcement officers.
INTERPOL AND THE UNITED NATIONS INTERPOL support its 192 member countries in their work to prevent and fight crime by promoting international cooperation and innovation on police and security matters. To this end, INTERPOL works with several UN entities towards common goals on a wide range of crime areas and programmes to benefit each organization and the global police community, including: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA); UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and its Counter- Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF); UN Department for Political Affairs (DPA); Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED); Police Division of the Office for Rule of Law and Security Institutions (UNDPKO).
ABOUT INTERPOL Connecting police for a safer world INTERPOL is the world s largest international police organization, with 192 member countries. Our role is to enable police around the world to work together to make the world a safer place. Our hightech infrastructure of technical and operational support helps meet the growing challenges of fighting crime in the 21st century. Only through international cooperation can police hope to tackle today s criminals. We work to ensure that police around the world can instantly share and access the relevant date necessary to assist their investigations through secure communications channels. We facilitate police cooperation even where diplomatic relations do not exist between particular countries, in line with INTERPOL s objective of political neutrality. The targeted training, expert investigative support and global networks offered by INTERPOL help police on the ground to coordinate their efforts to make the world a safer place. Office of the Special Representative of INTERPOL to the United Nations One United Nations Plaza Suite DC1-2610 New York, NY 10017 USA INTERPOL Permanent Observer Office to the United Nations in Vienna Vienna International Centre Wagramer Strasse 5 PO Box 500 1400 Vienna, Austria Tel: +1 917 367 3463 Fax: +1 917 367 3476 E-mail: nyoffice@interpol.int Tel. +43 1 260 60 83 260 www.interpol.int