INTERPOL's 91st General Assembly has ended
The 91st General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization - INTERPOL was held in Austria from 28 November to 1 December 2023. The Polish Police was represented at this annual event by the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Police, general Jarosław Szymczyk.
Each year, the INTERPOL General Assembly is organised in one of the member countries associated with the Organisation. The Polish Police has been present since the very beginning, i.e. since 1923, which is worth emphasising, as one of the founding countries. The Assembly is the most important decision-making body of the International Criminal Police Organisation INTERPOL. The Assembly provides an opportunity to discuss in a broad, international body the issues, matters and challenges that will define the roadmap for the functioning of law enforcement agencies for years to come.
The recently concluded Assembly had a special character - it was exactly 100 years ago that the International Criminal Police Organisation INTERPOL was established in Vienna. Hence, the agenda of the meeting could not lack a place to celebrate this historic event. Participants had the opportunity to view a photo exhibition depicting the work of INTERPOL National Central Bureaus, including the Warsaw Bureau, both historically and in the present day. It is worth noticing that at the time of its inception, the organisation had 20 countries, including Poland, and currently has 196 countries, including a new member, the Republic of Palau.
To meet modern trends, the delegates of INTERPOL National Central Bureaus adopted a proposal to amend the Statutes of the Organisation, including allowing meetings to be conducted virtually. The impulse for the implementation of this change was the coronavirus pandemic, which brought with it a number of impediments to the possibility of organising international meetings in the traditional form.
An important step towards increasing the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies in recovering criminal assets was the adoption of a resolution committing the INTERPOL Recovery Expert Working Group to develop and pilot the implementation of, so-called, INTERPOL Silver Notice and Diffusion, dedicated to identifying and recovering assets from illegal sources. Another resolution was also adopted stressing the importance of the quality of information and its prompt sharing with national law enforcement authorities in the context of the effective use of the INTERPOL Red Notice (concerning wanted persons).
Mention should also be made of the adoption of a resolution streamlining the exchange of information between INTERPOL and the private sector, which is expected to contribute to greater effectiveness in combating the sexual exploitation of minors.
The Polish Police delegation supported the above-mentioned resolutions.
The INTERPOL General Assembly also means a number of discussion panels during which invited experts address topics such as: illegal drug trafficking, challenges for the police in the digital age, including emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, mathematical and quantum computing, and shaping the skills and attitudes of the police officer of the future, as well as the role of INTERPOL initiatives in facing emerging new challenges.
Next year, the 92nd Session of the General Assembly will be hosted by the United Kingdom.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that Poland had the opportunity to host more than 170 participants from 50 member states of the European region on 29-31 May 2019 in Katowice, Poland, as part of the 47th INTERPOL European Regional Conference. This undertaking was the result of an agreement and cooperation between the Polish Police Commander-in-Chief, general Jarosław Szymczyk, and the INTERPOL General Secretariat.
