INTERPOL is soon to host its 93rd General Assembly (GA) from the 24th to the 27th of November in Marrakech, Morocco.
Each year, a different member country welcomes representatives from all over the world to discuss and vote on varying global law enforcement issues. Often, before an assembly, the Red Notice Law Journal discusses the country hosting, along with possible implications of its leaders’ influence. In this case, Morocco’s presence within INTERPOL appears to be relatively small. While the majority of INTERPOL Red Notices are not publicly available and are circulated for use by law enforcement only, the number of published notices provides some indication of how often a member country utilizes this INTERPOL tool. In the case of Morocco, out of over 6500 publicly listed Red Notices, Morocco currently only has 11. This would seem to indicate a fairly low incidence of requesting Red Notices at all, let alone abusive Red Notices- obviously a good thing.
The country isn’t without its INTERPOL-related controversies, though. In 2022, Amnesty International wrote a call to action regarding Idris Hasan. The organization reported that in July 2021, Moroccan authorities arrested Idris Hasan at Casablanca’s airport based on a request from China. He was accused of terrorism, but in reality, his only “crime” was documenting human rights abuses against Uyghurs. INTERPOL quickly canceled the Red Notice against him, but Morocco still approved his extradition to China—where he would have faced imprisonment, torture, or worse. Despite widespread warnings that returning him to China would violate international law, Moroccan authorities kept him in detention for more than three years until February of 2025. During this time, activists worldwide campaigned to stop his extradition and demand his release.
Human Rights Watch has recently published a report on Morocco’s record of arresting and prosecuting human rights activists, dissidents, and journalists. But that scrutiny has not seemed to affect Morocco’s popularity as a beloved travel destination rich in culture and tradition. It also seems unlikely to affect INTERPOL itself in the near future; none of the candidates for the open seats in the Executive Committee are from the host country this year.
As always, thoughts and comments are welcomed.