China and Interpol: A new age of transnational repression
China is abusing the Interpol Red Notice system to silence dissent and opposition all over the world. How can this be stopped?
IHR-Advisors at the House of Lords on 29 March 2023
Repressive regimes are using the Interpol Red Notice system to expand their repression beyond their national borders. China is one of the states that most blatantly abuses this system to silence dissent and opposition against the government anywhere in the world. Why has this been allowed to happen and what can be done to reign in this transnational repression? This event at the UK House of Lords will hear from an expert panel of speakers.
SPEAKERS
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC (Chair)
A leading barrister and expert in human rights law, civil liberties and constitutional issues, Baroness Kennedy KC is a member of the House of Lords and chair of Justice, the British arm of the International Commission of Jurists. In 2020, she co-founded the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international cross-party alliance of parliamentarians focused on relations with the People's Republic of China. In 2021, China imposed sanctions on Baroness Kennedy KC and four other UK parliamentarian members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China for spreading “lies and disinformation” about the country.
https://www.helenakennedy.co.uk/
Bill Browder
Browder was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005 when he was declared “a threat to national security” for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies. In 2009 Browder’s Russian lawyer and anti-corruption whistle blower, Sergei Magnitsky, was killed in a Moscow pretrial detention centre. Ever since, Browder has campaigned for targeted sanctions on human rights abusers and corrupt officials. In 2012 the US passed the Sergei Magnitsky Accountability Act and the UK, the Baltic states, the European Union and Australia have since passed their own versions of the Magnitsky Act.
https://www.billbrowder.com
Ted Bromund
Senior Research Fellow at the Margaret Thatcher for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank based in Washington, DC. Bromund writes on Anglo-American relations, US and British relations with Europe and the European Union, US-Canadian relations, America’s leadership role in the world, and international organisations and treaties.
https://www.heritage.org/staff/ted-r-bromund
Nyrola Elimä
Nyrola is an independent journalist and researcher with extensive expertise in human rights in China. She is currently working with Dr David Tobin of the University of Sheffield on the FCDO-funded project, “Documenting the scale and impact of transnational repression in the Uyghur diaspora.” They have interviewed more than 50 Uyghurs about their personal experiences of transnational repression in the UK, Turkey, and Thailand. Nyrola has written about Uyghur human rights issues for the New Yorker and the Spectator, and contributed to a Pulitzer Prize-winning project for BuzzFeed News. Her powerful reporting and research have also earned her an Emmy nomination and a place on the BBC News Award shortlist.
https://twitter.com/nyrola
Ben Keith
UK barrister specialising in International Criminal law and International Human Rights law. He is an expert on Interpol and the red notice system and subsequent extradition and asylum proceeding. He advises clients based all around the world on these issues. He is a co-author of the influential report “Undue Influence: The UAE and Interpol”.
https://www.5sah.co.uk/barristers/ben-keith
