Warming-up.

Go round the classroom and make a list of facts you and your group mates know about the structure of Interpol.

      Read the following text and complete your list with more facts referring to Interpol’s structure.

Make sure you understand the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:

statutory meetings

the General Assembly

the Executive Committee

supreme governing body

the implementation of decisions

the agenda

preventing and combating transnational crime

24/7 operational police support

to contribute to

the organization’s criminal databases

a purely advisory capacity

 Interpol’s structure.

INTERPOL's activities are driven by member countries, within a clear framework of governing bodies and statutory meetings. The General Assembly and Executive Committee form the Organization's governance.

The General Assembly is composed of delegates appointed by the governments of member countries. As INTERPOL's supreme governing body, it meets once a year and takes all the major decisions affecting general policy, the resources needed for international cooperation, working methods, finances and programmes of activities.

The General Assembly also elects the Organization's Executive Committee. Generally speaking, the Assembly takes decisions by a simple majority in the form of Resolutions. Each member country represented has one vote.

Executive Committee is Elected by the General Assembly. The Executive Committee is headed by the President of the Organization. It provides guidance and direction to the Organization and oversees the implementation of decisions made at the annual General Assembly.

The Executive Committee (EC) meets three times a year and sets organizational policy and direction. The EC's members sit at the top level of policing in their own countries and bring many years of experience and knowledge to advise and guide us. Its role is to:

• Supervise the execution of the decisions of the General Assembly;
• Prepare the agenda for sessions of the General Assembly;
• Submit to the General Assembly any programme of work or project which it considers useful;
• Supervise the administration and work of the Secretary General.

Elected by the General Assembly, the EC has 13 members comprising the President of the Organization, three Vice-Presidents and nine Delegates, all from different countries. The President is elected for four years, and Vice-Presidents for three. They are not immediately eligible for re-election either to the same posts or as delegates to the Executive Committee.

Day-to-day implementation of the Organization's strategic decisions is carried out by the General Secretariat and National Central Bureaus.

Located in Lyon, France, the General Secretariat operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Recognizing the value of bringing together police within a region to share experiences and tackle common crime issues, the Secretariat has seven regional offices:

• Argentina (Buenos Aires)
• Cameroon (Yaoundé)
• Côte d’Ivoire (Abidjan)
• El Salvador (San Salvador)
• Kenya (Nairobi)
• Thailand (Bangkok)
• Zimbabwe (Harare)

The presence on the international stage is strengthened through liaison offices at the United Nations in New York and at the European Union in Brussels. These enable the organization to work closely with those UN and EU departments and entities that share our mission of preventing and combating transnational crime, and develop joint efforts to enhance regional and global security.

In order to further strengthen physical presence across the world, Interpol opened the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore (officially inaugurated in April 2015). The activities centred at the IGCI revolve around research and development in the identification of crimes and criminals, innovation-based capacity building, and provision of 24/7 operational police support. 

Reflecting the diversity of Interpol’s membership, around 100 different nationalities are currently represented at the Secretariat and its regional offices, many of them law enforcement personnel seconded or loaned from their national administration. Having these connections in all regions of the world ensures the organization can provide enhanced support wherever it may be needed.

Staff work in any of the Organization's four official languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish and have developed new tools, databases and services to help member countries fight a wide range of criminal activities and to encourage communication and cooperation between National Central Bureaus.

At the heart of every INTERPOL member country is a National Central Bureau (NCB), linking national police with the global network. It is typically a division of the national police agency or investigation service and serves as the contact point for all INTERPOL activities in the field.

Staffed by highly trained police officers, NCBs are the lifeblood of INTERPOL, contributing to the organization’s criminal databases and cooperating together on cross-border investigations, operations and arrests.

Given the cross-border nature of organized crime, NCBs work together increasingly on a regional basis. In all regions of the world, we see the member countries combining resources and expertise in successful interventions against those crime areas that affect them the most – from tackling counterfeit and pirated goods in South America, to illegal soccer gambling in Asia and ivory trafficking in Africa.

Advisers are the experts in a purely advisory capacity, who may be appointed by the Executive Committee and confirmed by the General Assembly.

Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF) ensures that the processing of personal data – such as names and fingerprints – is in line with INTERPOL's rules, in order to protect both the fundamental rights of individuals and the cooperation among police internationally.

Questions to discuss.

1. How is INTERPOL governed and funded?
2. What is INTERPOL's supreme governing body?
3. What are Interpol’s official languages?
4. What are seven regional offices that the Secretariat has?
5. What are the activities centred at the IGCI?
6. Is INTERPOL part of the United Nations?
7. What is the difference between INTERPOL and Europol?
8. Does INTERPOL publish crime statistics?
9. How can a person report a crime to INTERPOL?
10. What does CCF stand for?
11. What are advisers’ functions?