Mr. Chairman,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States on the draft third biennial review of the resolution on “Cooperation between the UN and INTERPOL”, under agenda item 127 (y) of the GA plenary.

The Candidate Countries Türkiye, Montenegro*, Albania, and the Republic of Moldova, as well as potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina align themselves with this statement.

The European Union would like to extend its thanks to the delegations of Canada and the United Arab Emirates for the constructive spirit in which they have led the consultation process on this resolution. Our thanks go also to the Office of the Special Representative of INTERPOL to the United Nations for their expertise and advice provided in support of the negotiation process.

We look forward to the consensual adoption of this resolution for the third time.

Similarly as it was the case in the past years, the resolution continues to fulfill the following objectives: (1) acknowledging and taking stock of the existing institutional relationship between the United Nations and INTERPOL; (2) strengthening this cooperation within the respective mandates of both organizations; (3) raising awareness among Member States about the role of INTERPOL at the United Nations.

This year’s revisions reflect the evolving cooperation between the United Nations and Interpol, its priorities and activities. We share the view that overall it will positively contribute to further development and deepening of this relationship and to strengthening international police cooperation and law enforcement efforts worldwide.     

The current resolution is an improvement in comparison to the one adopted 2020. In spite of the overall gains of the revised resolution, there are, however, a couple of important areas where the final consensus language does not fully reflect positive developments which have occurred since 2020. In particular we were hoping for a more ambitious provisions regarding compliance with human rights and regarding the mainstreaming of a gender perspective and advancing gender equality in law enforcement. It is unfortunate that the resolution does not take into account the recently agreed language, for example in the General Assembly resolution 75/291 the UN Counter-Terrorism Strategy: seventh review.

Nonetheless, we are able to join consensus as we understand that the new reference to strengthening cooperation in accordance with applicable international law includes human rights law, even if not specifically mentioned.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.