Cooperation Between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol)

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 127y Cooperation between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), published in 2022.

What other versions does this mandate have?

5 versions · 2016–2024

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/79/136

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2024	A/RES/79/136	Cooperation between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)	4,051	82%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/20	Cooperation between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)	3,648	71%Compare
2020	A/RES/75/10	Cooperation between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)	2,754	74%Compare
2018	A/RES/73/11	Cooperation between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)	2,038	38%Compare
2016	A/RES/71/19	Cooperation between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)	977	–

What subjects does this mandate have?

1 subject

Cooperation Between Organizations

What’s in this document?

25 operative paragraphs

Calls for the strengthening of cooperation between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), within their respective mandates, in accordance with applicable international law, in (a) preventing and combating transnational crime, including illicit maritime activities, in particular transnational organized crime, including the smuggling of migrants, trafficking in persons, drug trafficking, piracy, the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in small arms and light weapons and ammunitions, illicit trafficking in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials, the criminal misuse of information and communications technologies, including the Internet and social media, corruption and money-laundering, trafficking in illicit and counterfeit goods and crimes that affect the environment, including illicit trafficking in endangered and, where applicable, protected species of wild flora and fauna; and (b) preventing and countering terrorism, including through preventing and disrupting terrorist travel, countering the use of information and communications technologies, including the Internet and social media, for terrorist purposes, while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, preventing and interdicting access to weapons necessary for terrorist activities, including small arms and light weapons and improvised explosive devices, as well as to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials, countering the financing of terrorism, including financing through the use of new and emerging technologies and methods, preventing and disrupting financial support for foreign terrorist fighters and preventing and combating the intentional and unlawful destruction and looting of cultural heritage and trafficking in cultural property perpetrated by criminal and terrorist groups;

Emphasizes the importance of optimal coordination and cooperation between the United Nations and INTERPOL in countering terrorism, with particular regard to the threat posed by the travel of foreign terrorist fighters, including those who return or relocate, and in strengthening international efforts to ensure that refugee status is not abused by the perpetrators, organizers and facilitators of terrorist acts, consistent with the obligations of Member States under international law, and in this context stresses the importance of information-sharing, as appropriate, including biometric data, which could encompass fingerprints and photographs, in order to increase the chances of the positive identification of terrorists and their affiliates, in addition to information from battlefields, counter-terrorism military operations and national prison systems, while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, and also stresses the importance of Member States making full use of INTERPOL capabilities in this regard, notably the Stolen and Lost Travel Document Database, the Nominal Database, the Foreign Terrorist Fighter Criminal Analysis File, the Fingerprint Database, the DNA Profile Database and the facial recognition system, and of promoting international cooperation efforts to assist Member States, upon their request, in strengthening cooperation between their law enforcement agencies in order to bring suspected terrorists to justice;

Recognizes the potential for strengthening the cooperation between INTERPOL and the Department of Peace Operations of the Secretariat to provide timely capacity-building and technical assistance, including by organizing training activities, to enhance the capacity of national police services and other law enforcement organizations, upon request, and in accordance with their respective mandates;

Encourages the United Nations and INTERPOL to deepen their cooperation to advance gender equality in law enforcement, including through the mainstreaming of a gender perspective, including in capacity-building programmes, as well as equal opportunities for employment, leadership positions and decision-making at all levels of law enforcement agencies, with a view to the empowerment of women and their full enjoyment of all human rights;

Emphasizes the importance of optimal coordination and cooperation between the United Nations and INTERPOL to create synergies within their respective mandates in the fight against transnational crime, in particular transnational organized crime;

Reaffirms the importance of close cooperation between the United Nations and INTERPOL in the global fight against trafficking in persons, including through the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons, as well as any sexual exploitation, including of women and children, and in this context stresses the importance of Member States making use of readily available INTERPOL capabilities, such as the International Child Sexual Exploitation Database, the Stolen and Lost Travel Document Database, the I-Familia database, the Travel Documents Associated with Notices system and the Nominal Database, as well as the INTERPOL Human Trafficking Expert Group, and also stresses the importance of Member States enhancing their capability to fight such crimes using the training curricula facilitated by INTERPOL;

Also reaffirms the importance of close cooperation between the United Nations and INTERPOL to combat the smuggling of migrants, and in this context stresses the importance of Member States making use of readily available INTERPOL capabilities, including the Stolen and Lost Travel Document Database and the Nominal Database, as well as the INTERPOL Human Trafficking Expert Group;

Emphasizes the importance of optimal cooperation between the United Nations and INTERPOL to provide, upon request, complementary support to peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts in accordance with existing mandates, including in assisting Member States in strengthening the national central bureaux of INTERPOL through training and technical assistance in order to fight transnational organized crime more effectively, and supporting the reinforcement of national police and other law enforcement agencies, as demonstrated by joint Department of Peace Operations and INTERPOL projects at United Nations peacekeeping missions;

Encourages the United Nations to take full advantage of the benefits of cooperation with INTERPOL, in accordance with their respective mandates and consistent with the national priorities of Member States, to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons and to implement the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects⁸ and its International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons, including through making use of the readily available INTERPOL capabilities to facilitate the tracing of weapons, notably the INTERPOL Illicit Arms Records and Tracing Management System, the INTERPOL Ballistic Information Network and the INTERPOL Firearms Reference Table;

⁸Report of the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, New York, 9–20 July 2001 (A/CONF.192/15), chap. IV, para. 24.

Encourages further cooperation between the United Nations, in particular the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and INTERPOL in addressing the challenges faced by Member States in combating cybercrime and the criminal misuse of information and communications technologies, including through technical assistance and capacity-building activities made available by INTERPOL and relevant United Nations entities, upon request and based on national needs, taking into account specific challenges faced by developing countries;

Calls upon the United Nations system, in particular the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and INTERPOL, as appropriate and within their existing mandates, to continue to strengthen cooperation and synergies in order to assist Member States in their efforts to prevent and counter the unlawful destruction and looting of cultural heritage and the trafficking in cultural property in all forms, including through the INTERPOL Stolen Works of Art Database and ID-Art mobile application;

Welcomes the steps that INTERPOL and the United Nations, in particular the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, have taken to analyse and respond to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on crime, encourages relevant United Nations agencies to make use of resources and expertise provided by INTERPOL to enhance international law enforcement cooperation to address these effects, including the COVID-19 global threat assessment and recommended health protocols for police officers, and calls upon the two organizations to collaborate on and coordinate their analysis and responses, within their respective mandates, to make use of lessons learned to address future public health challenges and to build mechanisms to detect and disrupt the sale and supply of illicit and counterfeit pharmaceuticals and medical products;

Emphasizes the importance of enhanced cooperation between the United Nations system, in particular the World Health Organization, and INTERPOL, including through capacity-building and training activities, with a view to strengthening collaboration between health and security sectors, and further seizes the opportunity to encourage Member States to make full use of the secure communication channels of INTERPOL, including BioTracker, to exchange information on biological incidents of natural, accidental or deliberate origin;

Calls upon the United Nations, in particular the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and INTERPOL, as appropriate and within their existing mandates, to enhance coordination and cooperation on matters related to maritime security, and to encourage law enforcement agencies to make full use of capabilities made available by INTERPOL and relevant United Nations entities, including the Global Maritime Security Database, as well as training, equipment and capacity-building, upon request and based on national needs, taking into account specific challenges faced by developing countries;

Recognizes the potential for strengthened collaboration between the United Nations, in particular the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and INTERPOL, as appropriate and within their existing mandates, in order to assist Member States that are also member countries of INTERPOL in preventing and combating transnational financial crime and corruption, and in this regard also stresses the importance of the use of INTERPOL Notices and Diffusions to circulate details of new and existing crime trends related to financial crime, money-laundering and corruption, as well as the INTERPOL global stop-payment mechanism using the I-24/7 global police secure communications system, and accordingly calls on Member States to extend access to I-24/7 to financial intelligence units;

Strongly condemns the continued flow of unmanned aerial systems and their components to, by and between terrorist and organized criminal groups, expresses deep concern at the increasing global use of unmanned aerial systems by terrorists to launch attacks or to traffic drugs and arms, expresses its determination to address this growing threat, and stresses the importance of close cooperation between the United Nations, including the United Nations police, the Office of Counter-Terrorism and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, and INTERPOL to support Member States, upon their request, to design comprehensive policies and guidance to assist law enforcement entities, to effectively prevent and respond to the acquisition and use of unmanned aerial systems and their components and other emerging technologies and methods, such as artificial intelligence and virtual assets, for criminal and terrorist purposes;

Encourages increased cooperation between the United Nations and INTERPOL to assist Member States, upon their request, in effectively using the following resources readily available to Member States that are also member countries of INTERPOL, through their national central bureaux:

The INTERPOL I-24/7 global police secure communications system, which enables authorized users to share sensitive and urgent police information with their counterparts around the globe for the primary purpose of assisting in the prevention, detection and investigation of crime, in accordance with the INTERPOL mandate;

INTERPOL databases, by populating, updating and querying them, as appropriate, with a view to sharing accurate information between Member States in a timely manner in accordance with INTERPOL rules and regulations, in full respect of national sovereignty and operational priorities, through full access to them;

Publication of INTERPOL notices and diffusions to alert, request assistance from and provide assistance to law enforcement agencies of other Member States;

Criminal information analysis, namely, INTERPOL analytical products, to support national operational activities and investigations by sharing information with INTERPOL for inclusion in the INTERPOL Criminal Analysis Files;

INTERPOL support for the operations of the law enforcement agencies of Member States as well as training and capacity-building programmes and initiatives designed to improve national police capabilities;

Acknowledges the importance of extending real-time access to the I-24/7 global police secure communications system from the national central bureaux of Member States that are also member countries of INTERPOL to their other national law enforcement entities at strategic locations, such as border crossings, airports and customs and immigration posts, with a view to increasing the security of their borders by implementing INTERPOL technical solutions, inter alia, by integrating the most recent versions of the Fixed INTERPOL Network Database into border crossing points and systematically and automatically checking all incoming and outgoing travellers and conducting anticipated checks through advance passenger information and passenger name records mechanisms, thereby promoting increased cooperation between the United Nations and INTERPOL, including through the United Nations Countering Terrorist Travel Programme, in which INTERPOL is a partner;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-ninth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-ninth session, under the item entitled “Cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations”, the sub-item entitled “Cooperation between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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