Our focus here at Red Notice Monitor is, perhaps not surprisingly, on Interpol Red Notices. However, Interpol issues a number of other colour-coded Notices. Blue Notices collect additional information about a person’s identity or location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation, the purpose of Black Notices is to seek information on unidentified bodies. There are also Green, Orange and Purple Notices.
In this issue of our blog, we focus on Interpol Yellow Notices – ‘a global police alert for a missing person’ – according to Interpol . These are primarily used to help locate missing persons, particularly minors, or to identify individuals who are unable to identify themselves. These notices are invaluable in cases of international child abductions, criminal abductions, missing vulnerable adults, or situations where individuals are found but cannot provide their identity due to medical conditions or other circumstances.
The process of issuing a Yellow Notice typically begins when a member country’s law enforcement agency submits a request to Interpol via their National Central Bureau. Once approved, the notice is circulated to all 195 member countries, alerting police forces worldwide to be on the lookout for the missing person or to help identify an individual. In 2023, Interpol issued 2,687 Yellow Notices.
In its Rules on the Processing of Data Article 90, Interpol provides criteria for issuing a Yellow Notice: in the case of any missing person, the police report, the person’s last known location, and the information surrounding the person’s disappearance is the information required to issue a Yellow Notice. While Yellow Notices serve an important humanitarian purpose, they are not without challenges and controversies.