{"id":2614,"date":"2026-06-29T11:11:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T15:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/?p=2614"},"modified":"2026-06-29T11:11:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T15:11:38","slug":"closing-canadas-interpol-gap-preventing-red-notice-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/2026\/closing-canadas-interpol-gap-preventing-red-notice-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Closing Canada\u2019s INTERPOL Gap: Preventing Politicized Red Notice Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Closing Canada\u2019s INTERPOL Gap: Preventing Politicized Red Notice Abuse \n <\/h1>\n \n \n\n

By Isaac Steinmeyer, University of Helsinki<\/p>\n\n\n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Executive Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Authoritarian states are increasingly using police organizations to target diaspora communities in democratic countries. This is especially evident in the misuse of Interpol\u2019s Red Notice system to bypass extradition barriers and pursue dissidents abroad. When politically motivated notices are dispersed through Canadian policing systems, they risk compromising the integrity of international law enforcement cooperation, increasing the likelihood of refoulement which violates Canada\u2019s legal obligations, and exacerbates a chilling effect among diaspora communities. In doing so, these notices expose the vulnerabilities in Canada\u2019s domestic protections by allowing foreign states the ability to project coercive influence through Canadian political institutions.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this brief focuses on the misuse of INTERPOL mechanisms as a specific form of Transnational Repression (TR), it sits within a broader context of state-led repression ranging from the People\u2019s Republic of China to India. It uses Tajikistan as a case study to highlight vulnerabilities in INTERPOL\u2019s vetting process, including insufficient pre-screening and the burden placed on victims to prove their innocence. These weaknesses enable states to exploit Canadian institutions to harass and deport political refugees, a practice known as Transnational Repression (TR).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR has occurred in Canada, demonstrating the urgent need for a governmental response.  The focus of this policy brief is on the use of INTERPOL to target dissidents. To address these challenges, this brief proposes specific procedural enhancements to protect the asylum process and strengthen pre-existing domestic protections to protect Canada\u2019s diaspora communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To read the full policy brief, use the button below to download the full policy memo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This policy brief explores how INTERPOL’s red notice system is exploited by authoritarian states and argues that without reform, Canada in uniquely susceptible to these abuses. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":2615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[87,84,126,171,1,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disinformation","category-european-security","category-human-rights","category-mentorship","category-news","category-policy-brief"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2614"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2647,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions\/2647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}