INTERPOL proposes a new international anti-terror strategy

In an article published on the INTERPOL website and in the International Herald Tribune newspaper, INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble has said that a new international approach is needed to tackle the problem of Al Qaeda inspired terrorism.

Mr. Noble points out the weaknesses of the current approach, highlighting the following:

- Terrorists can travel throughout Europe and elsewhere with little fear that border control officers will check their passports against an existing global database of stolen and lost travel documents containing 15 million entries.

- INTERPOL and several of its member countries have identified organized crime networks smuggling Iraqis through Europe to the United States. Terrorists can and will take advantage of these same networks and of governments' failure to systematically follow up on the thousands of people caught in possession of fraudulent identification documents each week.

- The world still does not have a global database of convicted terrorists, nor is there a protocol for reporting to police worldwide when international terrorists have escaped from prison.

- Few, if any, of the thousands of non-nationals arrested and jailed worldwide have their fingerprints checked against global databases to ascertain their true identity or to verify if they are wanted or known by other countries. But try to carry a bottle of spring water onto a plane and you will be stopped in your tracks.

- Although the world supposedly realizes that Al Qaeda's willingness and ability to strike at a time, day and city of its choosing requires a sustained and coordinated global response, the fact remains that we have not devoted the kinds of resources to the needs of law enforcement if this threat is to be reduced in any meaningful way.

“It is time to act decisively,” says Mr. Noble. “The world needs a strong, multinational, multilingual antiterrorist task force, operational 24 hours a day/7 days a week to identify more of the holes in the world's collective antiterrorist efforts and to find practical ways to fill these gaps. Staffed by hundreds of skilled experts and analysts from around the world, this task force could provide instant global investigative support before, during and after terrorist attacks.

•Date: 4th July 2007• Region: World •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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