The Home Secretary welcomed the Secretary General back to London
and emphasised the high priority she attaches to international
co-operation in order to enforce the law – and that she was
always seeking to ensure that the police and law enforcement
agencies have the tools they need to do that.
The Secretary General thanked the Home Secretary for her warm
welcome and congratulated her on the leadership she continued to
show internationally, in particular at the G7 Interior Ministers’
meeting in London in September 2021 and since. He also wanted to
congratulate British police and the National Crime Agency for
their work with European partners in recent days on the operation
to arrest suspected people traffickers across Europe.
The Home Secretary sought assurances that Russia was not able to
abuse INTERPOL systems following its invasion of Ukraine. The
Secretary General was adamant that he is now implementing
INTERPOL’s strongest monitoring process to ensure that there can
be no such abuse of INTERPOL systems for political purposes in
contravention of INTERPOL’s Constitution and that action would be
taken immediately in the event of any non-compliance being
identified. The Home Secretary thanked him for this reassurance.
They went on to discuss a variety of issues, including how
partners continue to work together to tackle criminality in such
fields as corruption and online child sexual exploitation and
abuse. They agreed on the importance of communicating how
INTERPOL could support its membership in tackling international
criminality and providing reassurance that robust mechanisms were
in place to prevent misuse of its systems and therefore build
trust.
They also noted the ongoing globalisation of crime, with
criminals using new technology for nefarious means just as law
enforcement agencies are harnessing new technology to detect
criminality and bring perpetrators to justice.
The Home Secretary and Secretary General also looked ahead to
INTERPOL’s 100th anniversary in 2023 and agreed that it would be
an excellent opportunity to promote the evolution of its work,
noting that the UK will then host the annual INTERPOL General
Assembly in 2024.
Home Secretary said:
INTERPOL is a critical pillar of global law enforcement. People
need to know that their government is doing all it can to keep
them safe and the work we do with INTERPOL is an essential
element of that.
INTERPOL – as a global police information hub – plays a vital
role in working with our police and law enforcement agencies to
protect the British public and make our streets safer.
INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock said:
I was pleased to congratulate the Home Secretary on her
leadership in promoting co-operation to protect communities and
bring criminals to justice and to thank her for her continued
support in the implementation of the G7 commitments and
INTERPOL’s work to make the world safer, especially in preventing
online child sexual abuse.
