European Court of Human Rights finds Switzerland guilty of racial profiling

By Timo Kirez

GENEVA (AA) - The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled on Tuesday against Switzerland, saying that an ID check on a Black man was discriminatory and constituted a kind of racial profiling, according to Swiss public broadcaster SFR.

The ruling stems from a 2015 identity check in Zurich, in which a man with Kenyan roots refused to show the police his ID and had to pay a fine.

The man challenged the fine, but three courts all agreed with the reasoning of the police officer responsible that the man had given the impression that he wanted to avoid the check.

However, according to SFR, the European court upheld the complaint and found, among other things, a violation of the ban on discrimination enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The judges were unanimous in their opinion that the ID check was discriminatory and that Swiss courts should have taken this into account when reviewing the fine.

According to SFR, the court was also aware that the situation was difficult for the police officer. He had to make a quick decision and did so without clear legal guidelines, the broadcaster quoted the court as saying.

The court said that the lack of legal provisions on racial profiling in Switzerland could lead to discriminatory ID checks, said the broadcaster.

The court flagged the case as an "impact case," meaning a case of particular importance for the development of human rights protection.

According to the report, the court wanted to take the case as an opportunity to answer some fundamental questions for all member states.

According to Human Rights Watch, racial profiling is a practice in which the police treat people of supposed ethnic origin based on external characteristics such as skin color or presumed religious affiliation as suspects across the board.

In May 2021, marking the first anniversary of the killing of George Floyd by US police officers, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights published a report on the extent of discrimination against ethnic minorities by European police forces.

The report found a general trend of ethnic minorities being stopped and searched more frequently across the continent.

In Austria, for example, almost half of immigrants and descendants of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa were stopped by police in a sample year, compared to 25% of the total population.