An update to this post: Last year, INTERPOL added two member countries:
- The Solomon Islands
- The State of Palestine
INTERPOL noted in its press release announcing the two new members that each application was approved by a more than two-thirds majority vote at INTERPOL’s General Assembly, where the organization’s member countries meet annually.
(The original post appears below)
Last month, INTERPOL increased its member countries to 190. As of October 31, 2011, the new member countries are:
- Sint Maarten, with its NCB in Phillipsburg
- Curacao, with its NCB in Willemstad
- The Republic of South Sudan, with its NCB in Juba.
South Sudan became a country in July of this year, as noted here. Curacao and Sint Maarten became autonomous countries when the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved in October of 2010.
A search of the publicized Red Notices on INTERPOL’s website shows no Red Notices for Sint Maarten, Curacao, or South Sudan as of today’s date. Whether any one of the new member countries will become an active requesting member country remains to be seen.
It is certain, however, that INTERPOL’s decision to allow member countries to enter their own Red Notices on INTERPOL’s databases will make their membership activity much simpler than it was for longer-standing members of INTERPOL. That ease of entering information will likely add to INTERPOL’s ever-growing list of Red Notice subjects as well.
As always, thoughts and comments are welcomed.