The ECHR condemned France for identity checks deemed “discriminatory”. But studies have shown that these controls do not necessarily betray racist prejudices in the police: dress or sex is more important than skin color, in terms of police controls.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned France for discriminatory identity control, Thursday, June 26: this is the first time that France has been condemned for this reason. While saying to oneself “Aware of the difficulties for police officers to decide, very quickly and without necessarily having clear internal instructions, if they are faced with a threat”the court concluded about a certain Karim Touil, controlled almost 15 years ago, that there are in his case “A presumption of discriminatory treatment towards him and that the government has failed to refute”. Five other applicants, however, saw their request rejected.
The subject is decidedly at the agenda of human rights bodies, since Tuesday it was in France the defender of rights who published an investigation also claiming to reveal discriminatory practices in the police. The proportion of people who have been the subject of an identity check …