An Interpol Red Notice refers to the red alert Interpol issued by Interpol’s General Secretariat following a request from a member country. The requesting country could be seeking assistance to locate, arrest or extradite an individual scheduled to face a criminal investigation or charges.
The Interpol Red Notice serves as a crucial tool in the global fight against transnational crime and fugitives. As an international alert, it enables law enforcement agencies across the world to collaborate and apprehend criminals evading justice in their home countries, making the world a safer place. Issued by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), this powerful instrument has proven its effectiveness by facilitating the identification, location, and eventual extradition or surrender of high-profile criminals to the authorities of countries seeking to prosecute or sentence them. With increasing connectivity and improved intelligence sharing among nations, the Interpol Red Notice continues to fortify global security by closing the net around fugitives and ensuring they face the consequences of their actions.
Interpol red notice contains the following information:
The legitimacy of Red Notices Interpol depends on whether they have complied with Interpol’s set rules and regulations. Once the Interpol Red Notice has met the set requirements, the fugitive can be arrested at any time and in any member state. This can happen when crossing the border, traveling, or in their home.
However, Interpol cannot coerce its member states to arrest individuals appearing on the Red Notice list Interpol. Every member has the legal power to accept or decline Red Notice requests within its borders.
According to INTERPOL, the objective of a Red Notice is to “seek the location and arrest of wanted people with a view to extradition or comparable legitimate action.”
A Red Notice is frequently referred to as an “international arrest warrant.” This is untrue. According to INTERPOL, a Red Notice “is not an international arrest order.” A Red Notice, on the other hand, “merely informs other member nations that the individual is sought based on an arrest warrant or comparable court judgment issued by a country or an international tribunal.” Red Notices must adhere to strict guidelines outlined in INTERPOL’s constitution. They must include significant ordinary-law offenses that are not related to behavioral or cultural standards, family or private affairs, or private conflicts that are not serious or unrelated to organized crime, and they must reach a sentence threshold. To learn more about what a Red Notice is and isn’t, go to https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we-work/Notices/Red-Notices.
When the issuing country is looking for an individual, it means the person is suspected of committing a serious crime such as murder, rape, or genocide in a given country. However, it does not necessarily have to be a home country; it may be the foreign country where the wanted person committed the crime. Technically, the individual being sought is considered innocent until proven guilty.
Interpol has a specialized task force that checks all Red Notices to ensure they comply with Interpol rules and regulations. This task force weighs the case’s civil, political, and human rights aspects against criminal aspects (ordinary law) to determine the predominant aspect. This way, it is able to know whether an Interpol Red Notice list is valid or not based on the set guidelines in its Constitution.
A Red Notice (also known as a “Red Corner Notice”) is essentially a request by Interpol to all other member nations on behalf of one member state to identify a suspect or convicted individual and take steps to expedite their surrender to the requesting state, often through extradition procedures. A Red Notice’s legal effect varies by the member state, and not every country will accept it as a valid arrest order. The practical impact, however, will usually be the same: international travel becomes exceedingly perilous and, if undertaken, will almost certainly result in the subject being detained and the requesting state being alerted of their whereabouts. An extradition request will very certainly follow. A Red Notice is also likely to cause reputational harm, particularly if details are made public on Interpol’s website, and may result in the closure of bank accounts.
Interpol’s Red Notice List is a prominent tool utilized by the global law enforcement community to track and locate fugitives, criminals, and persons of interest across international borders. This internationally recognized database serves as a powerful resource for assisting in the apprehension of individuals who have committed egregious offenses, including but not limited to terrorism, human trafficking, and various crimes against humanity. Compiled through the cooperation of nearly 200 member countries, this list operates around the clock, evolving in response to new developments and intelligence. As such, Interpol’s Red Notice List exemplifies a critical, multinational effort to maintain global safety and security, fostering international collaboration in the relentless pursuit of justice.
The standard validity of an Interpol Red Notice is five years. However, this period may vary depending on specific circumstances. For instance, an Interpol Red Notice can be withdrawn earlier following a request of the member state who asked for its issuance or following an Interpol Red Notice removal decision of the General Secretary.
The validity of a Red Notice can also be extended for specific reasons. For example, the General Secretary can extend its expiry period if the wanted person is not arrested yet.
Sometimes Red Notices remain for months or years, even after charges have been dropped or after the wanted individual from the red notice wanted list has been arrested. This may be because the requesting member has failed to request Interpol to remove a Red Notice. Specialists of Interpol red notice investigation law firms will help to explain, how Interpol red notice work, and file a request with Interpol Interpol Red Notice Removal Advice to remove your information from the Interpol red list.
It is usually hard to know if you are in Interpol’s Red Notice target. Usually, red notice people become aware of it during extreme instances such as an arrest warrant. In most cases, most of the information concerning prominent Red Notices remains confidential until they are executed.
However, some local regulations in certain countries allow people to access their Red Notice information. You can also contact the CCF and request access to the Red Note data Interpol. Red note Interpol that the request must be admissible for the CCF to check Interpol red notice whether you have an outstanding Interpol Red Notice. Interpol red notice investigation lawyers can help you find information about you on the lists and provide Interpol red notice investigation defense.
It is not always simple to determine if you are subject to a Red Notice/Diffusion. There are three primary approaches to this:
Check the INTERPOL website’s ‘wanted individuals’ section.
This page includes excerpts from some, but not all, Red Notices. If your name does show on this page, it will also offer a very general indication of what type of offense you are sought for, for example, ‘stealing’. You will need to pursue one of the other steps outlined below to receive more precise information.
Even if your name is not on this list, you may still be subject to a Red Notice because only some Red Notices are displayed on this website. The rest are only accessible through INTERPOL’s restricted networks, which are only accessible to national law enforcement authorities.
Diffusions are never shown on INTERPOL’s website, thus you will not be included on this page if you are the victim of one.
Several persons Fair Trials has dealt with have been able to acquire information simply by asking authorities in their own country. Although there is no legal mechanism in place for this, people have gotten replies in certain circumstances on an informal basis.
You should be aware, however, that the police may not be permitted to check INTERPOL data and provide information to you. Even if the police say there is no information on file on you, this is not conclusive since they may not have access to the appropriate INTERPOL database.
You may also be eligible to submit a request under your country’s data protection legislation. Countries in the European Union, for example, are supposed to have mechanisms in place that allow a person to obtain access to information on them maintained on government files. But, these rules often provide exceptions for law enforcement officials, which may limit your access to the material. You should discuss this with a lawyer in your nation.
You can request access to your file through the Requests Chamber of the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (‘CCF’). The CCF is the entity in charge of verifying that data processing at INTERPOL adheres to its own guidelines. The CCF is divided into two chambers: The special Advisory Chamber and the Requests Chamber. The Requests Chamber is in charge of processing requests for access to, modifications to, or deletion of information stored in INTERPOL’s databases. It has five members, all of whom are attorneys. One lawyer must have recognized worldwide experience in police affairs, and the other must now or formerly occupy a top judicial or prosecutorial post. The other three must be knowledgeable in data security, international criminal law, and human rights.
Each request to the CCF must fulfill the ‘admissibility conditions’ (see below).
The Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF) is located at 200 Quai Charles de Gaulle 69006 Lyon, France.
It is critical to include the Requests Chamber of the CCF as the recipient on your envelope. Mail addressed to INTERPOL (with the same address) may be opened by the General Secretariat, and the information you supply may be utilized for police cooperation. In other words, it may be logged in databases and made available to NCBs.
It is important to contact an Interpol red notice lawyer if you find yourself on the red list Interpol. Rules surrounding Interpol alerts are complex, and the organization doesn’t provide legal aid when challenging a Red Notice.
As noted above, you may still be at risk even if Interpol has removed you from the Red Notice alert or has informed the member countries that the Interpol notice has been deleted. The information remains in local police computers for some time, which may lead to your arrest in specific circumstances. For example, you can be arrested by Red Notice police officers after providing a passport when crossing a border.
Therefore, ensure you always carry a copy of the letter indicating that you have been removed from Interpol records. You can request this red notice letter from the CCF to prove that you are no longer in Interpol’s systems. Finally, you can contact Interpol’s red notice removal lawyers in the country you intend to visit so that the local law enforcement officers can remove your name from their national police databases. Our Interpol red notice lawyers will explain what red notice means, and help you and provide Interpol red notice explanation.