Level 8 of 10: The UN and global treaty bodies

Interpol (INTERPOL)

Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, is an inter-governmental organisation of 196 member countries that helps police work together across borders. Its General Assembly, with one vote per member country, sets policy and budget, while a General Secretariat in Lyon runs police databases and issues notices such as Red Notices at member countries' request. Interpol says a Red Notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest a wanted person, not an arrest warrant.

Who leads it

• Secretary General: Valdecy Urquiza (Brazil) (Appointed by the 92nd General Assembly, Glasgow, November 2024) (interpol.int)
• President: Lucas Philippe (France) (Elected November 2025 (93rd General Assembly, Morocco); serves until 2029) (interpol.int)

The UK and the INTERPOL

Interpol says the UK's National Central Bureau is in Manchester and is part of the National Crime Agency, with seven sub-bureaus covering UK Overseas Territories. Interpol's 92nd General Assembly, which appointed the current Secretary General, met in Glasgow in November 2024.

Key figures

What it decides

• The General Assembly is Interpol's supreme governing body: it sets principles and measures, approves the programme of activities and financial policy, and elects the Executive Committee. Each member country has one vote; decisions need a simple or two-thirds majority depending on the subject.
• Each member country pays an obligatory yearly statutory contribution, set by the General Assembly on an adapted UN scale based mainly on economic weight.
• The General Secretariat issues Notices at the request of a member country's National Central Bureau; a Red Notice asks police worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition.
• Article 3 of Interpol's Constitution forbids any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character; Interpol says a Notice will not be published if it breaches Article 3.
• The Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files (CCF) is an independent body that checks personal data processed through Interpol's channels against the organisation's rules.

Records you can check

• View Red Notices (public extracts)
  Public Red Notices for wanted persons, searchable by name and nationality
• General Assembly resolutions
  Interpol says Assembly resolutions are public documents, available from 1960 onwards
• Our funding
  Interpol's revenue, statutory contributions and voluntary funding by year
• Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files
  Independent body handling requests about data held by Interpol, including challenges to notices

Common questions

How many countries are in Interpol?

196 member countries, according to Interpol.

What is an Interpol Red Notice?

Interpol says a Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition or similar legal action. It is based on a national arrest warrant or court order and is not itself an arrest warrant.

Who runs Interpol?

Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza of Brazil runs the General Secretariat; he was appointed in November 2024. The President, Lucas Philippe of France, was elected in November 2025 and serves until 2029.

How is Interpol funded?

Interpol reports total revenue of €224 million in 2025: €105 million in statutory contributions from member countries and €113 million in voluntary funding.

Where is Interpol in the UK?

Interpol says the UK's National Central Bureau is in Manchester and is part of the National Crime Agency.

Other bodies at level 8

• Commonwealth of Nations
• International Court of Justice
• International Criminal Court
• International Labour Organization
• NATO
• UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• United Nations (General Assembly and Security Council)
• United Nations Children's Fund
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
• United Nations Human Rights Council
• United Nations Security Council
• World Food Programme
• World Health Organization
• World Trade Organization

Sources

• What is INTERPOL?, read 20 October 2026
• Member countries, read 16 October 2026
• Secretary General, read 20 October 2026
• President, read 20 October 2026
• Our funding, read 20 October 2026
• About Notices, read 20 October 2026
• Red Notices, read 20 October 2026
• General Assembly, read 20 October 2026
• Executive Committee, read 20 October 2026
• United Kingdom, read 20 October 2026
• Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files (CCF), read 20 October 2026
• Our history, read 20 October 2026