Wicker-Led Effort for Interpol Reform Included in Defense Bill

Statement

U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and ranking member of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, celebrated Senate passage of his amendment to the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense and Authorization Act (NDAA) to prevent the misuse of INTERPOL Red Notice procedures. The legislation, which was also authored by U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., includes provisions from Wicker and Cardin's Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention (TRAP) Act and Menendez's Defending America Security from Kremlin Aggression (DASKA) Act.

"There is no reason for any democracy, especially the United States, to be forced to play a part in authoritarian regimes' blatant abuse of INTERPOL Red Notices," Senator Wicker said. "I am pleased Congress has taken action to name publicly the abusers, such as Russia and China, and prevent American law enforcement from having to do the dirty work of these repressive autocrats."

"Increasing transparency and accountability at INTERPOL underscores the bipartisan commitment of the United States Senate to push back against countries, large or small, seeking to distort legitimate law enforcement cooperation to instead pursue political opponents or personal vendettas," Chairman Menendez said. "This new provision will strengthen protections for human rights defenders, political dissidents, and journalists, and pave the way for the international community to join the United States in pressing for reforms and standing against the abuse of INTERPOL Red Notices by China and Russia, among others."

"By co-opting and undermining the rule of law to harass and intimidate dissidents and political opponents, corrupt regimes threaten our national security," said Senator Cardin. "Our provision will make it U.S. policy to fight exploitation of INTERPOL, including by naming and shaming member states that abuse its mechanisms. This amendment will protect the United States, our allies, and all those fighting or fleeing authoritarian regimes from extraterritorial and extrajudicial abuse."

Wicker has been an outspoken proponent of reforming INTERPOL's Red Notice procedures, which have been used by authoritarian nations seeking to silence and persecute political opponents, human rights defenders, journalists, other dissenting voices.

Red Notices, which function effectively as extradition requests, can be based on trumped-up criminal charges and are often used to detain, harass, or otherwise persecute individuals for their activism or refusal to acquiesce to corrupt schemes.

Countries including China, Russia, and Turkey frequently abuse this system. Untold numbers of innocent people have been designated as international fugitives and extradited to countries where they are likely to face political persecution, torture, or death.

Wicker and Cardin's TRAP Act, which was introduced in 2021, would make fighting abuse of INTERPOL a key goal of the United States, mandate that the United States name the worst abusers of INTERPOL and examine its own strategy to fight INTERPOL abuse, and protect the U.S. judicial system from authoritarian abuse.

Source