The General Assembly is composed of delegates appointed by the governments
of member countries. As INTERPOL's supreme governing body, it meets once a year
and takes all the major decisions affecting general policy, the resources
needed for international cooperation, working methods, finances and programmes
of activities. The General Assembly also elects the Organization's Executive Committee.
Generally speaking, the Assembly takes decisions by a simple majority in the
form of Resolutions. Each member country represented has one vote.
Meng
Hongwei is a Chinese politician, police officer, and the President of
Interpol. A former Communist Party of China official, he once served as
Vice Minister of Public Security, and has 40 years of experience in
criminal justice and policing. Wikipedia
Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Chinese Vice Minister of Public Security Meng Hongwei was elected at Interpol's general assembly meeting
A senior Chinese official has been elected head of global police co-operation agency Interpol.
Vice
Minister of Public Security Meng Hongwei is the first Chinese citizen
to hold the four-year post. His appointment begins immediately. Amnesty International fears the move could help China pursue political dissidents who have fled the country. But Mr Meng said he was ready to do "everything he could towards the cause of policing in the world". "We currently face some of the most serious global public security challenges since World War Two," Mr Meng said in an Interpol statement. His
role will see him become president of Interpol's Executive Committee,
which provides guidance and direction to the organisation.
Human rights fears
"This
[appointment] is extraordinarily worrying given China's long-standing
practice of trying to use Interpol to arrest dissidents and refugees
abroad," said Nicholas Bequelin of Amnesty International. "I think
having this particular person in charge seems to conflict with the
organisation's mandate to work in the spirit of the universal
declaration of human rights." However, Interpol does not
have the power to send officers into countries to arrest individuals,
nor issue arrest warrants. It may issue a red notice, an international
alert for a wanted person. China has in the past worked through
Interpol to bring back people it wants to try. In 2014, Interpol issued
red notices for some 100 Chinese corruption suspects who had fled
overseas. "Interpol does not have strong operational power, but it
does have considerable influence as the world's largest police
organisation," Mr Bequelin told the BBC. "So I think there needs
to be very strong scrutiny of the kind of notices that Interpol is going
to issue in respect to Chinese citizens." China will host Interpol's 86th General Assembly in 2017.
