NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE
In Act 1 of Shakespeare's `Hamlet' Marcellus says Something is rotten in the State of Denmark. The saying has become to epitomise situations which do not seem quite right and it could, in the light of recent Celtic League enquiries into the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL), be applied to that body.
In February we directed some fairly innocuous queries to both the British and Irish governments about their involvement with the International body. We asked about its finances (and the government's contributions to same) and details of any audit procedure. We also asked about its records and specifically minutes of its meetings.
Several months past and there was no reply. A further follow-up to both governments has elicited a limited response (from the Irish Justice Department) to our queries which evades most of the detail of that which we sought.
What is clear is that these two States (Britain and Ireland) are not willing to provide detail of their funding and participation in ICPO.
Also and most bizarrely for a longstanding International body the ICPO seems to only hold closed sessions and not publish the minutes of it's so called `General Assembly'.
In a world where transparency is increasingly the norm this is a body that conceals detail about how it functions. It also seems unaccountable to anyone least of all the citizens of member States who fund it.
It is past time this International body came in for greater scrutiny.
It is after all a body with global reach and funding and it also deals with all manner of world governments some of which are also not noted for their transparency!
J B Moffatt (Mr)
Director of Information
15/06/13
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General Secretary, Celtic League:
gensec@celticleague.net
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The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on socio-economic issues
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