The Home Secretary welcomed the Secretary-General back to London and stressed the high priority she places on international law enforcement cooperation – and that she always strives to ensure police and law enforcement have the tools to do so.
The Secretary-General thanked the Home Secretary for her warm welcome and congratulated her on the leadership she has continued to show internationally, particularly at the G7 Home Ministers meeting in London in September 2021 and since. He also wanted to congratulate UK police and the National Crime Agency for their work with European partners over the past few days in the operation to arrest suspected traffickers across Europe.
The interior minister asked for assurances that Russia would not be able to abuse INTERPOL systems after its invasion of Ukraine. The Secretary-General insisted that he was now implementing INTERPOL’s most stringent monitoring process to ensure that there could be no such misuse of INTERPOL systems for political purposes in violation of INTERPOL’s Constitution, and that immediate action was taken in the event of non-compliance would be identified. The Minister of the Interior thanked him for this assurance.
They went on to discuss a variety of issues, including how the partners continue to work together to fight crime in areas such as corruption and online child sexual exploitation and abuse. They agreed on the importance of communicating how INTERPOL can support its members in the fight against international crime and providing assurances that robust mechanisms are in place to prevent abuse of its systems and thus build trust.
They also noted the ongoing globalization of crime, with criminals using new technology for nefarious means, while law enforcement agencies use new technology to detect crime and bring offenders to justice.
The Home Secretary and General Secretary also looked to INTERPOL’s 100th anniversary in 2023 and agreed that this would be an excellent opportunity to further develop its work, noting that in 2024 the UK would then host the annual INTERPOL General Assembly will be.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said:
INTERPOL is a critical pillar of global law enforcement. People need to know that their government is doing everything it can to protect them, and the work we do with INTERPOL is an essential part of that.
INTERPOL – as the global police information center – plays a crucial role in working with our police and law enforcement agencies to keep the UK public safe and our roads safer.
INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock said:
I was pleased to congratulate the Home Secretary on her leadership in fostering cooperation to protect communities and prosecute criminals, and to thank her for her continued support in implementing the G7 commitments and INTERPOL’s work to make the world a safer place to do, especially in preventing the sexual abuse of children on the Internet.
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