This book is a study of the legal aspects of the birth and development of an international organisation, using the example of INTERPOL as a detailed case study. It is not a constitutional manual for INTERPOL, but an organisational study, and does not seek to be exhaustive in terms of its description of INTERPOL's operations. Its main focus is the examination of the question whether an international organisation, in this case INTERPOL, can be created without a solemn and formally celebrated treaty. At the same time the book sets out the legal foundations for extra-judicial international police enforcement cooperation and explains the creation, structure and operation of INTERPOL, the organisation that promotes that cooperation. For practitioners who, for whatever reason, have to deal with INTERPOL, it provides a much-needed explanation of the legal foundations of the Organisation, its legal status and some basic guidance on its operations. It also includes information relevant for lawyers litigating issues with INTERPOL about how their clients can challenge the way the Organisation has processed information concerning them, or has alerted police forces worldwide about them.
The work is to be welcomed not only because of its thorough research and main conclusions, but primarily because it submits known facts about INTERPOL to a rigorous legal analysis from the perspective of public international law...The practical, as well as theoretical importance of the study needs to be underlined. The study provides practitioners who for whatever reason have to deal with INTERPOL, with the much needed explanation about the legal foundation of the Organisation, its legal status and some basic guidance on its operations. Foreword by Ronald K Noble, Secretary General of INTERPOL, July 2009