Ethnic profiling in Europe: a matter of great concern
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 28 January 2021 (7th Sitting) (see Doc. 15199, report of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination,
rapporteur: Mr Boriss Cilevičs). Text
adopted by the Assembly on 28 January 2021 (7th Sitting).
1. Mass protests
across the world following the killing of George Floyd on 25 May
2020 in Minneapolis have again increased public awareness of the
urgent need to strengthen the fight against racism. For years, institutional
racism, racist violence and abuse have been reported throughout
Europe. The Parliamentary Assembly is concerned about the persistence
of racist behaviour in European societies and stresses that there can
be no impunity for manifestations of racism.
2. Police forces play an important role for the cohesion of society,
by protecting the population from security threats and contributing
to peaceful coexistence. In addition to other important functions,
they play a key role in guiding victims of domestic violence who
need protection and justice. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic,
police forces have also ensured the respect of lockdowns and other
restrictive measures taken to counter the spread of the virus. The
attitude of police officers towards the population, and the methods
they use to carry out their tasks, are of utmost importance in ensuring
the public’s trust and overall support. Police officers should be
exemplary and held accountable for their actions.
3. Activities concerning surveillance, investigation, verification
and identity checks are routinely performed by police forces, border
guards and other law-enforcement officers throughout Europe on a
daily basis. However, some of the methods employed are in contradiction
with international human rights standards. Ethnic or racial profiling
occurs when people are stopped, checked or investigated without
any reasonable or objective grounds, because of their colour, appearance
or perceived nationality, ethnicity, origin or religion. Artificial intelligence
also demonstrates and amplifies this type of partiality and bias.
Ethnic profiling is discriminatory by nature and is therefore illegal,
but despite this it is a widespread and documented phenomenon across
Europe.
4. Ethnic profiling can have a negative impact on both the people
being stopped and on society at large. It promotes a distorted view
of, and stigmatises, parts of the population. It can also reflect
deeply rooted racism. Ethnic profiling is counterproductive as it
reduces the efficiency of investigations, making the work of the
police more predictable and subject to prejudice.
5. The Assembly recalls its
Resolution 1968 (2014) on tackling racism in the police, in which it already stressed
that racist behaviour and practices within the police force against
visible minorities have a negative impact on public opinion and
can increase prejudice. It also recalls its
Resolution 2275 (2019) on the role and responsibilities of political leaders
in combating hate speech and intolerance, in which it stressed that
politicians have both a political obligation and a moral responsibility
to refrain from using hate speech and stigmatising language, and
to condemn promptly and unequivocally its use by others, as silence
may be interpreted as approval or support.
6. The Assembly commends the work of the Council of Europe’s
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), which
has consistently condemned the use of ethnic profiling and called
on member States to prohibit its use. The Assembly, which participates
in ECRI’s work through its representatives, reiterates its full
support for the commission in this context.
7. In the light of these considerations, the Assembly calls on
the Council of Europe member States to take determined action to
tackle ethnic profiling and to:
7.1 clearly
condemn and prohibit ethnic profiling in national legislation, if
this is not yet the case;
7.2 strengthen the fight against racial discrimination, particularly
during crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic;
7.3 ensure the follow-up of relevant ECRI recommendations
and take measures to ensure their full implementation, notably General
Policy Recommendation No. 11 on combating racism and racial discrimination
in policing;
7.4 promote awareness-raising activities on preventing and
combating ethnic profiling, encourage dialogue between law-enforcement
bodies and minority communities at all levels, as well as pertinent non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), and create frameworks for this dialogue if
needed;
7.5 call for the adoption of codes of conduct by police forces
with content aiming at preventing racist behaviours and ethnic profiling,
if this is not yet the case, and ensure their implementation;
7.6 provide adequate resources to police forces to carry out
their tasks, including with regard to the recruitment of staff,
and ensure diversity in the recruitment of police officers so as
to reflect the diversity of the population;
7.7 organise regular training on preventing and combating
racism for all police officers, including specific training on preventing
and combating ethnic profiling, using an intersectional approach;
7.8 set up independent police complaints mechanisms, if they
have not already done so, and ensure that they are sufficiently
staffed and have the means to follow up on imposed sanctions;
7.9 support victims of racial discrimination and victims of
police abuse and misconduct, including in their efforts to seek
justice;
7.10 systematise, where this is not yet the case, the delivery
of receipts following stop-and-search operations and ensure that
police officers can be clearly identified when performing this type
of task;
7.11 launch studies on policing practices at national level
to gain an overview of the use of ethnic profiling, collect disaggregated
data, publish the results of these studies and take relevant follow-up measures;
7.12 support national human rights institutions and equality
bodies which play an essential role in the fight against racism
and discrimination, including ethnic profiling, on any grounds.
8. The Assembly invites national parliaments to:
8.1 hold debates on the need to
prevent and combat ethnic profiling and racism in law-enforcement agencies;
8.2 hold debates on ECRI’s general policy recommendations
and country-specific recommendations and their implementation, and
launch parliamentary initiatives to implement them.
9. The Assembly calls on political leaders, as well as leaders
of law-enforcement and police forces, to firmly condemn the use
of ethnic profiling and call for an end to this practice.
10. The Assembly welcomes the adoption of General Recommendation
No. 36 (2020) on preventing and combating racial profiling by law-enforcement
officials by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination and reaffirms its support for the work of this committee
and for that of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights.
