"When I cancelled my recent trip to the United States, some people said I'd overreacted & I would be fine. Others suggested it was politics, paranoia or fear. The truth is far simpler, and far more troubling. I cancelled because the world has changed, and the systems we once trusted to protect individuals from political persecution are no longer reliable. In some cases, they are being actively manipulated by states that no longer play by the rules."
"A recent BBC investigation exposed one of the clearest examples yet: Russia's systematic abuse of the INTERPOL system to pursue critics, opponents, journalists, activists, and people connected to Ukraine far beyond its borders. For those of us who have confronted the Russian state directly, this wasn't a revelation. It was confirmation, and something extremely difficult to prove for people like me. International legal mechanisms are no longer neutral ground, in many cases, they have quietly become part of the battlefield."
"INTERPOL was created to coordinate policing against ordinary crime, murder, trafficking, fraud. It was never designed to referee geopolitical conflict or act as a long arm of authoritarian repression. Its own constitution explicitly forbids involvement in political or military matters. Yet the evidence shows how Russia has learned to exploit that very restriction. Political enemies are rebranded as criminals. Ukrainian veterans become "terrorists." Foreign volunteers become "mercenaries." Journalists become "extremists." Businesspeople who refuse to support Russia's war effort suddenly face allegations of fraud."
International policing and legal mechanisms are being manipulated to enable cross-border political persecution. States are repackaging political opposition as ordinary criminality, labeling veterans, volunteers, journalists and businessmen with criminal or extremist designations. INTERPOL's mandate and constitution prohibit political or military involvement, but those restrictions are being exploited to push geopolitical repression through law-enforcement channels. The erosion of neutral legal protections makes travel and movement risky for targeted individuals and allows authoritarian states to extend coercion beyond their borders, turning international legal mechanisms into instruments of political contest rather than impartial safeguards.
Read at London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com
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