French police under fire for racially profiling people of African descent
A top European court ruled on Thursday that France violated the rights of a French citizen.
A top European court ruled on Thursday that France violated the rights of a French citizen who accused the country’s police of racial profiling, citing a failure to uphold proper safeguards.
The court ruled against France after Karim Touil, a French national of African descent, accused the state of subjecting him to three police identity checks within 10 days in 2011.
Six French nationals of African and North African origin, including Mr Touil, applied to the court, claiming that they had been subjected to police identity checks based on their appearance between 2011 and 2012.
The court said it was “very aware of the difficulties for police officers to decide, very quickly and without necessarily having clear internal instructions, whether they are facing a threat to public order or security.”
While the Strasbourg-based court found no evidence of discrimination against five other claimants, it ruled that the French government had failed to provide a valid or reasonable justification for the repeated identity checks carried out on Mr Touil. Subsequently, the court awarded Mr Touil $3,500 (€3,000) in damages.
Last year, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said that racial profiling was 'widespread throughout the country and deeply rooted in police practices'.
HRW stated that young men and boys who were perceived to be black or Arab, some of whom were as young as 10 years old, were frequently subjected to "abusive and illegal identity checks".
Both rights groups lodged a complaint with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
“We welcome the Court’s recognition that what happened to Karim Touil was ethnic profiling,” said James A. Goldston, Executive Director of the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI). OSJI represented the applicants in this case, alongside French lawyers Slim Benachour and Felix de Belloy.
“This is a crucial step toward justice and accountability. At the same time, we regret that the Court failed to seize the full opportunity to address the structural nature of discriminatory stop-and-search practices in France.
“By failing to do so, the ruling risks entrenching the practice of arbitrary stop and searches – common across much of Europe – which stigmatises migrant and other visible minority communities, perpetuates stereotypes, and is an ineffective and counterproductive policing method,” he continued.
The Open Society Justice Initiative, which represented the applicants alongside French lawyers Mr Benachour and Mr Belloy, has warned that the ruling could encourage police practices that have long been criticised by the UN, the Council of Europe and national equality bodies. The French authorities must urgently introduce reforms to ensure transparency and accountability in police stop-and-search practices.
In 2017, France’s rights ombudsman found that a young person perceived as black or Arab was 20 times more likely to face an identity check than the rest of the population.
More than half of those stopped said they were not given a reason. Nearly one in five described inappropriate behaviour by officers, including being spoken to disrespectfully, insulted or physically mistreated.