INTERPOL and Corruption
| Fighting corruption is a priority for INTERPOL |
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INTERPOL has been actively involved in supporting initiatives to curb corruption since it hosted the First International Conference on Corruption-Related Crimes in 1998 at its General Secretariat in Lyon, France.
As the world’s largest international police organization, INTERPOL is particularly concerned about the role corruption plays in terrorism and other international crimes. The globalisation of crime in general makes it also necessary for law enforcement in different countries to work together to develop various means for fighting corruption.
INTERPOL established the INTERPOL Group of Experts on Corruption (IGEC) in 1998, and is currently in the process of developing the INTERPOL Anti-Corruption Office (IACO) and International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA). These components support anti-corruption activities by establishing policies and standards, as well as conducting or assisting with education, research, training, investigations and asset-recovery operations.
These initiatives are consistent with the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which entered into force on 15 December 2005, as well as the efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to strengthen the implementation of the Convention. |
| Additional resources for anti-corruption professionals |
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In determining anti-corruption strategies and tactics, it is important to take into consideration the unique aspects of this crime. The parties involved in perpetrating it all have an interest in keeping it secret. Because criminals are able to adapt quickly to new strategies developed by law enforcement, anti-corruption professionals also have to be dynamic and flexible, employing a holistic approach in co-operation with all major stakeholders.
INTERPOL’s initiatives to date include:
- adoption of a Declaration of Intent for law enforcement during the INTERPOL General Assembly in Seoul, Korea, in 1999, encompassing a Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct for all law enforcement officers;
- collation of the Library of Best Practice designed to aid corruption investigators. Subjects include corruption strategies and structures, undercover investigations, operatives and techniques, witness protection, anti-corruption legislation, prevention, training and education;
- formulation of Global Standards to Combat Corruption in Police Forces/Services, unanimously adopted by the INTERPOL General Assembly in Cameroon in September 2002, which promote high standards of honesty, integrity and ethics in the world’s law enforcement agencies; provide a framework to improve their resistance to corruption; and promote the development in each member country of measures designed to prevent, detect and eradicate corruption. They contain principles and numerous measures designed to boost the efficiency of law enforcement in preventing corruption, as well as in the investigation of cases of corruption. The Standards are also commensurate with the spirit and content of the UN Convention against Corruption;
- a Police Integrity Survey to benchmark the capacities of INTERPOL’s member countries to combat corruption. Follow-up surveys to track the progress are planned; and
- an international system of ‘national contact points’ through which law enforcement agencies in different countries can quickly initiate co-operation in corruption cases.
In June 2007, leaders of G8 nations resolved to work with INTERPOL to more effectively fight corruption worldwide. The summit declaration released 7 June in Heiligendamm, Germany, called on G8 members to support the activities of INTERPOL and other international bodies in co-ordinating the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
‘I am extremely pleased that the G8 has recognised the role INTERPOL, as the world’s largest international police organization, can play in the global effort to root out corruption at all levels of society and recover funds obtained through corrupt practices,’ said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.
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