Dismantling the Tools ofreport Oppression INTERPOL 2018 21. The General Secretariat has explained to Fair Trials that it ‘reviews all Diffusions which request coercive measures, such as arrest’. We understand that Diffusions are not uploaded on to the INTERPOL Information System until they have been reviewed and that if Diffusions are found not to comply with INTERPOL’s rules Member States are accordingly notified. Thus, once it has been reviewed, there is an expectation at the national level that the Diffusion, not unlike a Red Notice, contains a valid request that complies with INTERPOL’s rules. Human Impact 22. INTERPOL alerts can have a considerable impact on the lives of individuals. Individuals subject to INTERPOL alerts are typically at risk of being detained and extradited, given that Red Notices exist for the precise purpose of facilitating such actions. But the impact of INTERPOL alerts can be far broader. They can, for example, severely limit an individual’s ability to travel both because of the risk that they would face arrest at international borders, and because visa issuing authorities may refuse visas because of INTERPOL alerts. Red Notices can also result in serious reputational damage if they are public and their extracts are posted on INTERPOL’s website. Individuals with public Red Notices have had difficulties, for instance, getting jobs, taking out loans, and opening bank accounts because their details have been found on INTERPOL’s website. 23. This is not to suggest that the impact of INTERPOL alerts can never be justified: in many cases, it will be. It is inevitable that police activities, including the sharing of data about wanted persons, will have a significant effect on individuals’ lives. INTERPOL alerts serve an important purpose in the prevention of cross-border crime, so if they are not used properly, the victims of crime and society at large bear the impact. But the significant 10 11 INTERPOL Annual Report 2016 RPD, Article 1(14) human impact of INTERPOL alerts brings into focus the need for INTERPOL. To detect the abuses of its system, to ensure that these effects arise only where they are justified, and to promote an effective redress mechanism. 24. The severe impact of INTERPOL alerts is illustrated by the case of Benny Wenda. Benny is the leader-in-exile of the movement for the independence of West Papua from Indonesia, originally recognised as a refugee by the United Kingdom after he fled imprisonment in Indonesia. In 2011, he found out that he was subject to a public Red Notice, which could be viewed on INTERPOL’s website. The public website featured a picture of Benny photographed with a West Papuan flag, and it was apparent that the Red Notice was being used not only to undermine his reputation, by labelling him as a ‘wanted criminal’, but also to undermine the cause that he was working to promote. Although by this time Benny had been naturalised as a British Citizen, the threat of persecution remained in Indonesia, and if any country had decided to act on the Red Notice, this would have put him at risk of being extradited to the country he had fled fearing for his life. Given the very real risk of being stopped and detained at international borders, the Red Notice prevented Benny from travelling internationally to advocate for the rights of his people. For example, Benny had to appear by video link at a conference in the Australian Parliament, because he could not take the risk of transiting through Dubai where he might be arrested pursuant to the Red Notice. 13