INTERPOL
Dismantling Strengthening
the Tools of Oppression
of an INTERPOL alert against them.
However, we know of at least one case in
which the notification of refugee status did
not prevent the dissemination of a Red
Notice. In that case, the individual was
stopped at an airport just months after she
had written to the CCF, providing evidence
of her refugee status. The CCF responded
by saying that there was no data regarding
her on INTERPOL’s databases, but the
information provided did not stop her
country of origin from issuing a Red Notice.
This example highlights that the Refugee
Policy needs to be accompanied by
improvements on the procedures that
enable INTERPOL to identify abusive
INTERPOL alerts.
125. On paper, the Refugee Policy applies only
to individuals granted refugee status under
the 1951 Convention. It does not appear
to protect individuals who are in need of
protection from the risk posed by an
INTERPOL alert, but who fall outside
the remit of the 1951 Convention.
These include:
a. people who have not been granted
refugee status but instead a subsidiary
form of protection in recognition of
the risk which they face in the country
which is pursuing them; and
purpose of extraditing an individual with
protective status, irrespective of the
designation of that status, so long as the
status is granted to protect the individual
from refoulement.
127. By contrast, it does not appear from CCF
decisions that individuals who have been
naturalised as a citizen of the country which
granted them refugee status fall within
the Refugee Policy, and they are not
automatically assumed to be at risk of
refoulement. The CCF acknowledges that
individuals who were previously granted
refugee status often continue to be at
risk even after they have lost their status
through naturalisation, but it justifies this
position on the basis that refugees who
have been naturalised as citizens are able
to benefit from the protection of their
newly adopted homelands. However, we
know from our own experience that not all
individuals subject to extradition benefit
from effective assistance or protection from
the authorities of their own countries.
Not all countries prohibit the extradition of
their own nationals, and individuals subject
to extraditions from a third country cannot
always expect to rely on the authorities
of their own country to intervene, even if
there are serious human rights concerns.
b. people who have been naturalised
as citizens of the country in which they
were previously granted asylum.
126. We understand that, although not spelt
out in the Refugee Policy, the CCF applies
the principle of ‘non-refoulement’ more
broadly, recognising that the extradition of
refugees and asylum-seekers is prohibited
under customary international law, not just
in the context of the 1951 Convention.
This means that the CCF would find that
a Red Notice or a Diffusion violates
INTERPOL’s rules if it is issued for the
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