“It’s a time for diversity”, says Brazilian delegate candidate for head of Interpol

Federal Police (PF) delegate Valdecy Urquiza, director of international cooperation and vice-president of Interpol in the Americas, argues that it is time for the head of the international police organization to be headed by an investigator who is not from Europe or North America. North.

“The organization turns 100 years old and the same five countries have always led the organization. Four from Europe and one from North America. We understand that it is time to bring a little more diversity, from other regions of the world, to contribute to the organization”, he said in an interview with CNN .

In September, Brazil launched Urquiza’s official candidacy for secretary general of Interpol, who is, in practice, who commands the institution. It is the first time that a Brazilian name has been put forward in the election. And the process is long.

“It is a candidacy that has been worked on by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, in addition to the PF. It is a long process because the final decision regarding the chosen one will only be decided at the end of next year, during the Interpol assembly. There is a very important stage that takes place in June next year, when the countries that make up the organization’s executive committee (13 countries) meet to evaluate among all the candidates that were presented the name that the committee believes is the most appropriate to lead the organization for the next five years. Once this process is complete, this name is taken to the general assembly and the 195 countries that make it up can validate or not that name indicated by the executive committee”, explains the delegate

The investigator also detailed what the secretary general of Interpol does: “the organization’s model somewhat copied the model of a publicly traded private company. So you have a general assembly, which is made up of the organization’s member countries, and each country has one vote, and the organization’s strategic decisions are made there. At the same time, it established an executive committee, which would be the equivalent of a board of directors, which, among the various functions it performs, also has the responsibility of appointing the general secretary. This general secretary exercises this operational role from the headquarters in Lyon and has the mission of executing those strategies that are defined by the executive committee and the general assembly of the organization and taking care of day-to-day operations, directing resources and activities. A kind of CEO of a company.”

International cooperation

Interpol’s objective, according to Urquiza, is to bring police forces from around the world into cooperation. Interpol does not have a police staff, it depends on the countries’ police forces to carry out its activities.

“You will not see an Interpol agent walking the streets and carrying out police duties in any of the countries, they do not have weapons and are obliged to depend on the countries’ police forces”, he says.

Each country has its sovereignty and its laws and police agencies. It is a task of coordinating activities.

Red diffusion

Interpol has 19 databases and some of them have a color nomenclature. The red diffuser, the best known, is a database where countries ask the organization for the names of people who are wanted for committing a crime in their countries.

According to delegate Valdecy Urquiza, it is necessary to have an arrest order issued by the judge in that country and once this data has been sent to the organization, it is included in the database.

At this moment, this information becomes available to all 195 countries that make up the organization and they can act in different ways with this information, cross-referencing their own databases with migration control, passenger lists, in an attempt to locate a possible future extradition.

The yellow diffusions are for missing persons and the black diffusion for remains.

“We have been working hard on the campaign and publicizing the Brazilian candidacy for the post of secretary general. We are confident. We recently had relevant support from all the ministers of interior and justice of the countries that make up our region. They signed a joint declaration, a manifesto in favor of the Brazilian candidacy, demonstrating that this candidacy is important not only for Brazil but also for our entire region as an effective instrument to combat crime here in South America”, he told CNN delegate Urquiza, confident in the campaign.