Dubai: Police chiefs from around the world gathered in Dubai on Sunday for Interpol's general assembly to select a new president after the agency's former leader was detained in China.
Meng Hongwei who was China's vice minister of public security while also leading Interpol went missing while on a trip to China in September. It later emerged that the long-time Communist Party insider with decades of experience in China's security apparatus was detained as part of a sweeping purge against allegedly corrupt or disloyal officials under President Xi Jinping's authoritarian administration.
Interpol member-states will also be deciding whether to accept Kosovo as a full member, which would allow officials there to file red notices for Serbian officials that Kosovo considers war criminals.
The red notices are alerts circulated by Interpol to all member countries that identify a person wanted for arrest by another country. Interpol says there are 57,289 active red notices around the world.
Interpol acts as a clearinghouse for national police services that want to hunt down suspects outside their borders.
The body, however, has faced criticism that governments have abused the "red notice" system to go after political enemies and dissidents, even though its charter explicitly proclaims its neutrality and prohibits the use of police notices for political reasons.
Two years ago, Interpol introduced new measures aimed at strengthening the legal framework around the red notice system. As part of the changes, an international team of lawyers and experts first check a notice's compliance with Interpol rules and regulations before it goes out.
Interpol also introduced an appeals body for those targeted with red notices. Chinese authorities say Meng is being lawfully investigated for taking bribes and other crimes.
China's beleaguered rights activists point out that as someone with a seat atop the country's powerful public security apparatus, Meng helped build the opaque system of largely unchecked power wielded by the ruling Communist Party to which he's now fallen
victim.