The INTERPOL General Assembly

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About the assembly-

• It is Interpol’s supreme governing body and meets once a year to take key decisions related to its functioning. 
• It comprises representatives from each of our member countries.  
• Each member country may be represented by one or several delegates who are typically chiefs of police and senior ministry officials.
• Its purpose is to ensure that INTERPOL’s activities correspond to the needs of our member countries.
• The General Assembly takes decisions in the form of Resolutions. Each member country represented has one vote. 
• The decision-making process is made by either a simple or two-thirds majority, depending on the subject matter. 
• The Interpol General Assembly meeting took place in India after a gap of about 25 years – it was last held in 1997.
• Delegations from 195 countries have attended the four-day event.

About Interpol-

• The Interpol, or International Criminal Police Organization, is an inter-governmental organisation comprising 195 member countries, which helps police forces in all these countries to better coordinate their actions. 

• Interpol will be celebrating 100 years of its inception in the year 2023. 
• It is run by a secretary general (currently Jurgen Stock of Germany, who has been Interpol’s chief executive since 2014), with its headquarters in Lyon, France, with a global complex for innovation in Singapore, and several satellite offices in different regions.

Interpol’s Structure:

The organisation has four administrative departments: General Assembly, General Secretariat, Executive Committee and National Central Bureaus.

General Assembly: 

• The General Assembly is the governing body of Interpol. 
• It is responsible for taking all important decisions concerned with policies, finances, working methods, resources and other activities and programs. 
• It meets once a year to take key decisions related to its functioning. 
• The meeting is taking place in India after a gap of 25 years since it was last held in 1997. 

General Secretariat: 

The General Secretariat coordinates Interpol’s day-to-day activities to fight a range of crimes. 

Executive Committee:

• The Executive Committee consists of 13 members who are elected by the General Assembly. 
• It has one President, three vice presidents and nine delegates that cover different regions. 
• The Executive Committee is in charge of supervising the execution of the General Assembly’s decisions and the administration and work of the General Secretariat. It meets three times a year.

National Central Bureau (NCB):

• In each country, NCB provides the central point of contact for the General Secretariat and other NCBs. 
• An NCB is run by national police officials and usually sits in the government ministry responsible for policing. 
• Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) special director Praveen Sinha is Interpol’s delegate for Asia.

Functions of Interpol-

• Interpol enables cross-border cooperation between police forces of 195 member countries.
• It enables them to share and access data on crimes and criminals and offers a range of technical and operational support.
• It offers investigative support such as forensics, analysis, and assistance in locating fugitives around the world.
• Interpol also facilitates police to work directly with their counterparts, even between countries which do not have diplomatic relations.
• Interpol supports countries in their efforts in combating three major global issues terrorism, cybercrime and organized crime.

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