France Condemned by European Court Over ‘Racial Profiling’

In a ruling likely to fuel debate over national sovereignty and judicial overreach, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Thursday found France guilty of racial profiling during police identity checks—the first such ruling against the country.

The case centred on Karim Touil, who was stopped three times in ten days by police in the eastern city of Besançon in 2011. The court said the French government had failed to provide “objective and reasonable justification” for the repeated checks and awarded Touil €3,000 in damages.

While the court rejected the claims of five other French plaintiffs, it presumed “discriminatory treatment” in Touil’s case—despite acknowledging the difficulties police face in assessing threats quickly and without clear instructions. It also concluded that the legal and administrative framework for identity checks in France did not reveal any “structural failure.”

{snip}