Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reports that Russia is using Interpol systems to target political opponents abroad on UK national security.

The Government views any allegation of misuse of INTERPOL’s systems very seriously and works closely with INTERPOL to ensure the legitimacy of the Red Notice system.

Any State that is found to be wilfully abusing and misusing the INTERPOL system should be held to account to the fullest extent. This is even more important for any states that are already under corrective measures.

The Home Office works with INTERPOL and the National Crime Agency (NCA), which acts as the UK’s National Central Bureau (NCB) for INTERPOL, to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards.

We encourage INTERPOL to uphold international human rights obligations and we won’t hesitate to recommend further reforms to INTERPOL as necessary.