Ethnic Profiling in the European Union: Pervasive, Ineffective, and Discriminatory

Ethnic profiling-a longstanding practice that has increased since;9/11-is pervasive in the European Union In France and Italy, raids on homes, businesses, and mosques-often lacking a basis in specific evidence-have targeted Muslims In Germany, police have used preventive powers to conduct mass identity checks outside major mosques and in the United Kingdom, stops and searches of British Asians shot up five-fold after the July 2005 London Underground bomb attacks.

Ethnic Profiling in the European Union examines the scope of ethnic Profiling showing how police officers in the U K , France Italy, Germany and the Netherlands routinely use generalizations about race ethnicity religion or national origin when deciding whom to target for stops, searches raids and surveillance.

The report analyze ethnic profiling both in ordinary policing and in counterterrorism, and finds that it is not just a violation of European laws and international human rights norms-it is also an ineffective use of police resources that leaves the public less safe The damage from ethnic profiling-to the rule of law to effective law enforcement to police community relations and especially to those who are targeted-is considerable.

In addition to providing a comprehensive examination of ethnic profiling and considering the legality of the practice ethnic profiling in the European Union offers effective alternative that increase security advance counterterrorism effort and respect human rights.