UAE got the Power: Emirates’ new Governance Committee

The recent election of Lieutenant Colonel Dana Humaid Al Marzouqi as chair of Interpol’s newly formed Committee on Governance marks a significant expansion of UAE influence within Interpol. As widely reported this month, Al Marzouqi secured an impressive 67% of votes from member states at an election for the post, making the UAE the first country to chair this important committee established in late 2024.

This development continues a pattern we’ve documented extensively regarding the UAE’s outsized role at Interpol—a role that appears, at first blush, somewhat disproportionate to the country’s modest footprint on the global stage.

The UAE’s expanding presence in Interpol’s power structures follows the controversial 2021 election of Emirati Major General Ahmed Naser al-Raisi as Interpol President. As readers may recall, the findings of Sir David Calvert-Smith’s report “Undue Influence: the UAE and INTERPOL,” examined the UAE’s extraordinary financial contributions to the organisation.

That report scrutinised the now-disbanded Interpol Foundation for a Safer World, which over its short lifespan appeared to function primarily as a conduit for UAE funding. The UAE’s pledge of €50 million to the Foundation in 2017 represented an unprecedented level of financial support from a single country – raising not a few questions about potential influence.

As Interpol continues to evolve its governance structures, the concentration of influence from any single member state naturally invites scrutiny. For an organisation whose effectiveness depends on maintaining strict political neutrality and broad international trust, the perception of balanced power distribution remains as important as its reality. Time will tell whether this latest appointment strengthens Interpol’s governance or reinforces existing concerns about the UAE’s influence in Lyon.

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Photo by Saj Shafique on Unsplash