Secretary General Ronald K. Noble (left) meets with Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations at UN Headquarters in New York. (UN Photo/Mark Garten)

NEW YORK – Furthering co-operation between the United Nations and INTERPOL was a key part of discussions when Ban Ki-moon and Ronald K. Noble, the Secretaries General of the two organizations, met in New York today.

While collaboration between the two organizations has led to the creation of the INTERPOL – UN Security Council Special Notice aimed at groups and individuals associated with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, a lack of information sharing on escaped prisoners, especially terrorists, remains a serious gap in international security.

In 2006 alone, 38 countries from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas reported prison escapes to INTERPOL, some of which included suspected or convicted Al Qaeda members and other terrorists and dangerous individuals.

'Unfortunately, there are no established protocols at national levels to alert the international police community when a prison break occurs. Consequently, identifying information for the vast majority of these escapees is not available to police worldwide, creating an unnecessary danger to citizens and police every where,' said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

'When these prison escapes involve suspected and convicted terrorists the urgency of addressing this need cannot be overstated. We must now explore ways to further develop international efforts to ensure that these and other terrorists are not given the chance to freely plan or carry out their deadly attacks.'

The 75th INTERPOL General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for immediate action on an international level to help global law enforcement identify, locate and apprehend escaped prisoners.

INTERPOL’s Special Representative to the United Nations, Dr Ulrich Kersten will now meet with the UN Under Secretary General for Safety and Security Sir David Veness to further discuss ways in which the security gap posed by escaped prisoners can be addressed by the two organizations and their member countries.