UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (RIA Novosti) - While both houses of the US Congress consider legislation to list and cut aid to countries which do not work with Interpol's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database, the organization's Secretary-General Ronald Noble on Friday said Interpol's approach is to bring countries into compliance without the use of sanctions.
"Interpol's approach is to bring countries into compliance without the use of sanctions," Noble told RIA Novosti.
Moves to increase scrutiny of travel documents come after at least two travelers on missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 were determined to be using stolen passports from Italy and Austria. US Senator Ron Kirk, Republican of Illinois, has proposed that the US State Department be required to list countries which do not work with the Interpol database.
Rep. Robert Pittenger, Republican of North Carolina, has gone further and proposed a Safe Skies Act of 2014, H.R. 4448, which would cut off US aid to countries not working with the Interpol database.
After Noble gave the disclaimer that Interpol is not allowed to get involved in politics, he responded with opposition to sanctions to force compliance. The question about civil liberties protection and a lawsuit by four Muslims against the UN Federal Bureau of Investigation for putting and keeping them on the US "no-fly list" for refusal to spy on their communities, Noble declined to answer. He said Interpol's database only includes information on documents listed as lost or stolen, not the travelers who might be caught with them.
Unaddressed so far is whether a government could falsely put a person's travel documents into the Interpol database to impose a de facto travel ban. Discusssion will continue in the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee.
