RatanTATA,Interpol

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By Soumitra Bose

It’s unbelievable but true to the core. Interpol Foundation was founded in 1914, its pretty well-known. It celebrated its centenary year in 2014, last year to be precise, perhaps not known. Whats unbelievable is, out of its 100-year existence, India has been its member since 1949, precisely since last 66 years.

Yet, India predictably has been sort-of-passive member, thanks to its alignment with Cold War-perpetuating the then USSR and now Russia. Result : non-internalisation of India, thus, non-interference by the ongoing Modern World thus no-knowledge of latest in the world thus non-interference of any sort of defalcation thus non-interference of Interpol in India even though in India, Interpol is deeply associated with Our Very Own CBI for on-field operational purposes.

Interestingly, ever since India freed itself from shackles of quota, permit, licenses, contracts in post Cold War and partook of happenings in Global World in post-Cold War era, Interpol Foundation’s activities have become intense in India.

(Interpol’s extremely happy to be fully operational in India. If only India realized it earlier, opine security experts, it then would have been global long ago resulting in its global developments/global atmosphere thus, prey of full scale development/s in all sectors unlike now when India is still sort-of-preparing to gear up with the global; trends, strictly speaking.)

 

In this scenario, Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata in Interpol Foundation Board indeed is “Proud Moment” for India. He has been appointed to the board of Interpol Foundation to contribute to its two new global initiatives aimed at combating organised crime and terrorist activities by the international police organisation.

He will be on its board of trustee and contribute to the success of two new global initiatives of Interpol – Protecting Cultural Property and Modernising Channels of International Judicial Cooperation initiatives.

The two initiatives are among the five global initiatives backed by Interpol, aimed at combating organised crime and terrorist activities.

The board of Interpol Foundation will be headed by Prince Albert II of Monacoand, ex-Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Elias Murr. Along with Ratan Tata, HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver, Credit Agricole Chairman Jean-Marie Sander, Abraaj Capital Chairman and CEO Arif Naqvi and Renault-Nissan Alliance Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn will be the members of the board.

The other initiatives taken up by the International foundation are : I-Chekit – for protecting airlines hotels and banks from threats of identity fraud.

 

INVEX – fight against transnational vehicle crime and theft headed by Ghost.

 

Protecting banks and financial institutions.

We need to be acquainted with Interpol: The International Criminal Police Organization, or INTERPOL, is a non-governmental organization facilitating international police cooperation.  The organization’s headquarters is in Lyon, France. It was established as the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) in 1923 and adopted its telegraphic address as its common name in 1956. The idea of Interpol was born in 1914 at the first International Criminal Police Congress that was held in Monaco.

Interpol has an annual budget of around €78 million, most of which is provided through annual contributions by its membership of 190 countries. It is the second largest international organization after the United Nations

 

Interpol is an international criminal police organization. The word ‘Interpol’ is derived from the two words ‘international’ and ‘police’ and stands for the International Criminal Police Commission. Interpol is a strictly non-political, non-religious, non-racial organization in which the police forces of more than hundred different nations cooperate with each other.

Its headquarters are situated in Paris.

The job of the Interpol is to trace criminals. According to international law, police of one country cannot enter the territory of another country to apprehend a criminal who, after committing a crime, has absconded there. Interpol helps in such situations to trace out the criminals. Every country has its representative in Interpol.

After the First World War, crimes increased considerably in Europe, specially in Austria. After committing crimes, criminals used to go to some neighboring country and hide themselves there. In order to arrest such criminals, Johann Scober; the then police chief of Vienna, called a meeting of the police Officials of different countries in 1923. It was in this meeting that twenty countries jointly established Interpol. Its first head office was made in Vienna and Johann became its first president.

In 1938 Germany invaded Austria and with this came the end- of the Interpol. During the Second World War Interpol remained inactive. After this War, Flaurent Lovagay, Inspector General of Belgium police revived it. Due to the unavailability of necessary facilities in Belgium, the head office of Interpol could not be established there. Paris became its new head office. By 1955, fifty-five countries became members of Interpol. In 1956, Interpol was given a new constitution.

Interpol makes Use of the most modern scientific means to catch criminals. To trace and arrest criminals is the only function of this organization. It cannot be used for any political, military or religious activity.

Interpol has International partners :Transnational crime cannot be tackled in isolation; its reach is wider than traditional law enforcement. Partnerships with other organizations and the private and public sectors are essential to tackle challenges in common areas.

Interpol have solidly strengthened its presence on the international stage to support the above cause. They have built more partnerships and developed joint initiatives. From customs to copyright, more than 60 cooperation agreements between them and other international organizations are in force today.

 

 

Interpol’s collaboration with the United Nations, already formalized in 1996 by a cooperation agreement that includes observer status at respective general assemblies, was further boosted by the opening of an INTERPOL special liaison office at the UN in New York in 2004.

 

This facilitated the creation of the INTERPOL-United Nations Security Council Special Notice for individuals and entities subject to UN counter-terrorism sanctions, and led to a landmark ministerial meeting in 2009 on the role of police in UN peacekeeping missions.

 

European Union : To strengthen Interpol’s  relationship with the European Union, a special liaison office in Brussels was opened in 2009, and collaboration with Europol is strengthened continually through an exchange of officers.

Generous funding from the EU has enabled us to implement many projects, such as the expansion of access to our secure global police communications system (I-24/7) at remote sites throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States.

 

 G8 and WHO :The Group of Eight has provided important backing for our initiatives, including the development of the International Child Sexual Exploitation image database, while we have collaborated successfully with the World Health Organization, in particular in leading the enforcement arm of their International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT).

Private sector : Additionally, we have forged partnerships with the private sector in areas such as currency and document security.

BOTTOM LINE : India today is ‘Global’, thus, continually developing  thus, it is in cynosure of constant Interpol observation. It is good, shows, India’s on progress!

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