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This paper explores the misuse of Interpol mechanisms and databases by its member states, in violation of the organization’s rules, for use as a tool of transnational repression, with a focus on how this abuse works inside the United States and through U.S. police and legal systems. While not all Interpol abuse contributes to the efforts of authoritarian regimes to achieve political objectives by repressing their diaspora populations, much of it does. Interpol abuse works primarily through Interpol’s notice and diffusion systems, as well as through its passport database. The primary consequences of Interpol abuse are to return a person to a country of origin, to harass or persecute a person, or to prevent a person from traveling. While Interpol’s statistics are incomplete, abuse of its systems is either stable or growing, largely because the potential for misuse is inherent in its rules and structure and because a majority of Interpol’s member nations are not free. Free nations can reduce the volume and effect of this abuse by working together to improve its oversight mechanisms and by improving their domestic reporting on, and intervention against, Interpol abuse.
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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not an official policy or position of New Lines Institute.
