European Court Condemns France for ‘Discriminatory Treatment’ 

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday strongly criticized France for “discriminatory treatment” after it racially profiled a Frenchman of North African descent who in 2011 was stopped by police three times in 10 days, France 24 reported. 

The court found that the French government had provided no “objective and reasonable justification” for police stopping Karim Touil multiple times in the eastern city of Besançon. 

The European court noted 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.” 

However, it concluded there was “discriminatory treatment” that the French government was unable to refute. The court ordered France to award Touil around $3,500 in compensation. 

The case, unusual in Europe, included six plaintiffs – all Frenchmen of African and North African descent – who claimed they were also racially profiled during identity checks in 2011 and 2012, Radio France Internationale noted. 

But while the ECHR ruled in favor of Touil, it found against the five other plaintiffs. 

Last year, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International warned that racial profiling was “widespread throughout the country and deeply rooted in police practices.” The groups also said they had filed a complaint with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 

According to HRW, young men who are Black or of Arab or North African origin are often subjected to “abusive and illegal identity checks.” 

In 2017, France’s rights ombudsman – an independent institution that works to defend rights – found that a male “perceived as black or Arab” was 20 times more likely to undergo an identity check than the rest of the population.