Racial profiling still rife across the EU, Council of Europe says
Law enforcement officials across Europe continue to use racial profiling, the Council of Europe's human rights monitoring body (ECRI) has warned.
In a report published on Wednesday, the ECRI said the practice — which see officials act on ethnic background, skin colour, religion or citizenship rather than objective evidence — persists both in stop-and-search policing and at border controls.
"We've noticed that no member state of the Council of Europe is really immune when it comes to racial profiling," Bertil Cottier, chair of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), told Euronews.
Experts are concerned about law enforcement agencies' plans to make extensive use of facial recognition technology. Adequate safeguards need to be introduced first, they say.
Despite the strict European framework set out in the Artificial Intelligence Act, which came into force in August 2024, practices differ in various member states.
French police, for example, have been routinely using facial recognition on the streets for many years, and Belgium is looking into systematically introducing the controversial technology for "tracking convicted and suspected offenders".
The Council of Europe pointed to research indicating that such technology risks misidentifying individuals.
"It is a concern for us. New technologies are always a problem when it comes to discrimination issues," said Cottier. "We fear that if new technologies are abused then it will enhance the problem."
For this reason, the ECRI watches over emerging technologies.
The Council of Europe has adopted a framework convention on AI and human rights.
"One committee of the Council of Europe is dealing with anti-discrimination issues and is preparing a specific recommendation on the field of AI and discrimination," said Cottier.
The ECRI report does not cite situations in specific countries.
However, in the past, the body has published country-specific reports.
In France, for example, the ECRI has long recommended that authorities introduce an effective system of recording identity checks by law enforcement officers.
Last year, the Council of Europe organised a round table with the French authorities, police forces and NGOs to discuss the recommendation.
"France is one country of concern when it comes to racial profiling," said Cottier.
"But still we noticed a couple of months ago sadly that our recommendation on combating racial profiling — in particular on tracing the police officers who [incorrectly] stopped people — has been ignored so far," Cottier added.
France's highest administrative court ruled in 2023 that the state was failing to deal with the widely documented practice of racial profiling by the police.
NGOs have warned that the practice damages the relationship between the police and the public. So does the ECRI, which said in its report that "racial profiling generates a feeling of humiliation and injustice in society".
"Such practices jeopardise the work of law enforcement officials who comply with the law and police ethics standards, and who are committed to combating racism and racial discrimination," the ECRI experts wrote.
Italy is another country of concern.
"During our visit to Italy we noticed some cases of racial profiling within the police forces. We made a recommendation to the Italian government to take this issue seriously," Cottier noted.
Here, racial profiling by law enforcement especially targets Roma and people of African descent.
An October 2024 report urged Italy to carry out an independent study to assess the level of racial profiling within its police forces.
However, the Italian government hit back against it.
Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy, defended the 'men and women who, every day, work with dedication and self-sacrifice to ensure the safety of all citizens, without distinction".
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called the ECRI 'a useless body".
Cottier regrets this response. "They had the impression that we denounced Italy and the Italian police by saying they committed racial profiling. In fact, we just asked the Italian government to assess the problem."
The ECRI chair acknowledged that it is a delicate issue. "We don't want to counter the police. We know that we need them and we want to trust them. That's why it's sometimes very difficult to make states aware of this issue."
The Council of Europe calls on all member states to take the issue of racial profiling seriously, prohibit it by law, better train police officers and hold police forces accountable.
Heavy flooding in Romania's Harghita County — the worst in the past three decades — has led to critical conditions at the historical Praid salt mine, one of Europe's largest salt reserves and a major tourist attraction in the country, authorities said.
According to County Prefect Petres Sandor, the inflow of water is uncontrollable.
"We lost the fight with nature. The water has started to enter the salt mine again, with a flow that cannot be controlled at the moment," Sandor told local press.
"Authorities will carry out an expertise as soon as possible to establish the condition of the walls, the pillars inside the mine, and to decide what to do next," he added.
The Praid salt mine dates back to Roman times. In recent times, the attraction on the Via Transilvanica long-distance trail also served as a medical centre and a tourist destination, including an adventure park, a cinema, a small museum and other facilities, all located some 120 metres underground.
The authorities are yet to determine the extent of the salt mine emergency and the impact of the flooding.
"The situation is complicated. When water comes into contact with the salt, it immediately melts it and makes a hole," Sorin Rindasu, head of the Emergency Situations department in the Romanian Waters Administration, said.
The flow of the Corund stream increased, resulting in the water further pouring into the mine, he added.
Authorities say that although the situation is critical, the flooding will not destabilise the entire mine.
"it would take quite a while for the water to dissolve so much salt inside to pose a problem of stability, we are talking about months, years, not days, weeks, in any case," Sandor said.
In recent years, water leaks have already posed a problem to the mine, and authorities have carried out works to prevent infiltration.
The Romanian government offered assistance to the region to deal with the emergency situation, and the ministry of economy assured the residents that it would make further investments to reduce the impact of the salt mine's flooding on Romanian tourism and reopen the mine for visitors.
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