News excerpts:

Concerns have been raised about the misuse of Interpol’s notice system, especially the issuance of blue corner notices, which are less scrutinised than their red corner notices.

About the news:

• Critics argue that countries often exploit protocols and notices of Interpol to target political refugees and dissidents. 
• While efforts have been made to address this, questions remain about striking the right balance between facilitating police cooperation and preventing misuse of this powerful tool.

Blue Corner and Red Corner notice:

• One of Interpol’s main functions is to issue “notices” 
• These notices are alerts to member states for missing or wanted persons. 
• Although states are not mandated to follow these notices, they often treat them as a warrant for someone’s arrest and extradition. 
• There are seven types of notices — Red Notice, Yellow Notice, Blue Notice, Black Notice, Green Notice, Orange Notice, and Purple Notice.
• A special category of notices known as the “Interpol — United Nations Security Council Special Notice” is issued for entities and individuals who are the targets of UN Security Council Sanctions Committees.
• A blue corner notice also known as an “enquiry notice” allows police forces in member states to share critical crime-related information such as obtaining a person’s criminal record, and location and having his or her identity verified among others. 
• For instance, in January 2020, Interpol issued a blue corner notice to help locate fugitive self-styled godman Nithyananda, weeks after the Gujarat Police sought the agency’s intervention for this.
• A Red Corner Notice is issued by a member state to arrest a wanted criminal through extradition or any other similar lawful action. 
• Such notices are issued against persons wanted by national jurisdictions for prosecution or to serve a sentence based on an arrest warrant or a court decision. 
• The country issuing the request need not be the home country of the fugitive, Interpol acts even on the request of a country where the alleged crime has been committed.
• While blue corner notices are issued prior to the filing of criminal charges, red corner notices generally follow criminal convictions. 
• The concerned individual can be stopped and arrested while travelling through a member state. 
• There will also be other detrimental consequences such as the closure of bank accounts. 
• However, Interpol cannot compel law enforcement authorities in any country to arrest the subject of a red corner notice as the exercise of such powers is entirely discretionary.

How is the notice system prone to misuse?

• Activists have accused Interpol of neglecting to uphold its Constitution, which explicitly forbids any activities of a political character.
• Much of this outrage is directed at Russia, which has repeatedly issued notices for the arrest of individuals who oppose the Kremlin.
• Bill Browder, a human rights activist who exposed corruption in Russian state-owned companies has been subjected to multiple red notice requests at President Vladimir Putin’s behest. 
• According to the U.S. rights organisation Freedom House, Russia is responsible for 38% of all public red notices.
• International human rights groups have also accused China, Iran, Turkey, and Tunisia, among others, of abusing the agency’s notice system for authoritarian ends.
• In response to the mounting criticism, Interpol toughened the oversight of its red notice system. 
• However, vulnerabilities still remain with the issuance of blue notices with experts flagging that such notices are less likely to be reviewed before publication. 
• The agency’s data shows that blue notices have roughly doubled in number over the past decade.
• But countries like Turkey argue that such restraint in the issuance of notices hampers police cooperation and that the West should not interfere with their internal affairs. 
• In 2021, Turkey publicly criticised Interpol for refusing to publish 773 red notices against followers of Fethullah Gulen — an exiled religious leader who has been accused of plotting a coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016. 

Conclusion: 

Interpol Red Notices, when exploited by authoritarian regimes, pose significant risks to personal freedom. Reforms are needed to reduce the dangers to both individuals and democracies of Interpol abuse.