Introduction
Racial profiling – according to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) commonly falls within the violation of Article 14, ‘prohibition of discrimination’, and Article 8, ‘right to respect for private life’, of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which are strictly linked to Article 1 concerning ‘general prohibition of discrimination’ (European Court of Human Rights Press Unit, 2024). According to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), it is defined as:
the use by the police, with no objective and reasonable justification, of grounds such as race, colour, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic origin, in control, surveillance or investigation activities (ECRI, 2007, p.8).
Despite broad recognition at the global level, recent developments and condemnations by the ECtHR, show that ethnic and racial profiling by law enforcement continues to be a widespread problem in Southern Europe.
In June 2025 the Court issued an unprecedented condemnation against France for being unable to provide adequate protections to a French man of African descent who had accused the police forces of racial profiling (ECtHR, 2025). In the same year, ECRI published on May 28th, 2025 an annual report that recommended the Italian government to carry out an internal investigation to verify the presence of racial profiling in the conduct of the police forces, recommendations that were strongly denied by Italy (ECRI, 2025). These cases not only underline the violations committed by individual police officers, the so-called ‘bad apples’, but also serious systemic gaps, aggravated by a lack of appropriately disaggregated data on police stop and account activities, which prevents the authorities from being fully aware of the situation and does not allow a correct implementation of policies, basically ignoring the problem (ECRI, 2025).
This article examines recent developments in France and Italy to explore how racial profiling remains an unresolved human rights issue in Southern Europe, underscoring the urgent need for structural reforms and greater accountability.
Background and Legal Framework of Racial Profiling in Europe
The annual report for 2024 published by ECRI shows racial profiling as a persistent problem specifically afflicting Roma communities and people with migrant backgrounds, identifying it as a key policy challenge for European states (Council of Europe, 2025; ECRI, 2025; FRA, 2010, 2021). At the same time, such practice completely clashes with the values that should be inherent in the member countries of both the European Union (EU) and of those who have signed the ECHR but in particular, it is totally incompatible with the commitment to the protection of human rights (UN, 2019). As reported by the Open Society Institute (OSI), racial profiling is very widespread in Europe but under-researched and underestimated, as also noted by the annual report of the Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU (FRA), which defines it as an important and persistent problem (Hettrich, 2018). The problem is such a pressing human rights issue that the idea has started to spread of the need for a ‘European convention against racial profiling’ seeking to fill a gap in European human rights law (Risser, 2024). The essential role of such a convention would be to provide an obligation for European States “to detect, prevent, and combat racial profiling beyond the scope of individual complaints”, recognising the problem as a form of discrimination and structural injustice (Risser, 2024, p.232).
The situation described at the European level is rather alarming, with particular emphasis by the agency on countries such as France, Italy, and Spain and highlighting the progress implemented by the United Kingdom starting from 2014 through the recording of the ‘stop and search’ scheme with bodycam, with the aim to “achieve greater transparency, community involvement in the use of stop and search powers and to support a more intelligence-led approach” (Hettrich, 2018; United Kingdom Government, 2014; ICERD, 2016).
Moreover, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) considers that racial profiling is widespread and should be strongly combated, highlighting a similarly negative situation also in Greece, especially regarding the conditions to which Roma communities are subjected, suffering frequent identity checks, arbitrary arrests, and a serious lack of accountability for the misconduct of law enforcement officials (Hettrich, 2018; ICERD, 2016). The impact of such practices is devastating and has serious systemic repercussions on the attitudes and well-being of the affected communities (UN, 2019). The use of racial profiling, according to many studies highlighted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations, is ineffective and counterproductive since it leads the targeted communities to have less trust in law enforcement, deteriorating the relationship and making it less collaborative (UN, 2019). Stigmatisation and negative stereotyping of the targeted groups are just some of the serious repercussions of racial profiling, which can result in lesser social and economic opportunities, creating a greater possibility that such individuals become involved in criminal activities (UN, 2019).
Despite the existing legal framework not providing a specific fundamental right or principle that expressly refers to racial profiling at the international and European levels, regional and international institutions, together with various civil society organisations, are progressively using the tools at their disposal to explicitly highlight the conduct of racial profiling as a direct violation of international human rights norms (Hettrich, 2018; UN, 2019). Racial profiling can be, through universal international law, directly linked to the violation of the articles concerning the obligation to protect rights and freedoms against discrimination contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which offer a legislative framework at a general level, placing obligations on the signatory States regarding the elimination of discrimination (Hettrich, 2018; UN, 2019). At the same time, at the European level, Articles 1, 8, and 14, to which the ECtHR refers, create a legislative framework at the regional level enabling the Court itself to offer landmark condemnations, such as the recent one against France, for not having been able, as a signatory state of the ECHR, to provide the necessary tools to avoid racial profiling (Hettrich, 2018; ECtHR, 2025). Moreover, the ECRI, for the combating of racism and racial discrimination, in its Policy Recommendations No. 11 directly aims to combat racism and racial discrimination in police forces, condemning racial profiling (UN, 2019; European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, 2007).
As regards the European continent, an important role is played by the EU, which, in its founding treaty through Article 13, places a strong and firm emphasis on the fight against discrimination based “on racial or ethnic origin and religion” (Hettrich, 2018, p.123). Moreover, Article 21 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights makes direct reference to the prohibition of any form of discrimination, binding the signatory states to the implementation of EU law (Hattrich, 2018). Despite this, it has been harshly criticised by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) for the lack of an explicit mention of the practice of racial profiling, defining it as a “dramatic deficiency” (Council of the European Union, 2000).
Case Study 1: France – ECtHR Condemnation and Civil Society Reports on Racial Profiling
Through the condemnation by the ECtHR against France on June 26th, 2025 the spotlight was once again placed on the issue of racial profiling, widely documented by human rights groups, academics, and independent bodies such as the Human Rights Defender and the Council of Europe’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (Human Rights Watch, 2023). The French state is, in fact, accused of not being able to implement appropriate measures to counter this phenomenon (Human Rights Watch, 2023, 2024; ECtHR, 2025; Amnesty International, 2024).
Firstly, the ECtHR, on June 26th, 2025 issued a judgement condemning France for being unable to provide adequate protections to a French man of African descent who had accused the police forces of racial profiling (Jimoh, 2025; France 24, 2025; Global Post, 2025; Le Monde, 2025; Reuters, 2025). The Court analysed the applications of six people who believed that the identity checks carried out by the police against them were racial profiling, but among these, only in the case of Karim Touil was it possible to observe a violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 for discriminatory treatment of the ECtHR (European Court of Human Rights, 2025).
The case was strongly supported by the analysis of official reports and statistics on cases of racial profiling during identity checks in France, blaming the institutions for not being able to stop the systemic discrimination carried out by this type of practice (ECtHR, 2025; Human Rights Watch, 2024; Amnesty International, 2024). In October 2024, the lack of action led Human Rights Watch to take steps by directly addressing the United Nations Committee that monitors compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination after, already in 2021, together with six other organisations, including Amnesty International, they had done the same before the Council of State, which had confirmed that racial profiling was evidently not limited to isolated cases, but without taking further measures (Human Rights Watch, 2023, 2024; Amnesty International, 2024). As can be seen, the French state and authorities continue to perpetuate a climate of total denial of systemic problems, which increases the systemic manifestation of racism despite reports by ECRI, class actions, the judgement of the Council of State, and the most recent condemnation by the ECtHR (Amnesty International, 2024).
Case Study 2: Italy – Government Backlash to ECRI’s Racial Profiling Report
In the same way, the controversy that erupted following the publication of the annual report of ECRI, published on May 28th, saw the Italian government strongly reject the recommendation to launch an internal investigation into the likely disproportionate racist conduct towards immigrants and minorities within its law enforcement departments (ANSA, 2025; Centro di Ateneo per i Diritti Umani, 2024, 2025; Euronews, 2025; Il Sole 24 Ore, 2025; Reuters, 2025). The Commission detected, through numerous testimonies collected in the field, that the Roma community, along with individuals of African descent, is subjected daily to racial profiling based on ethnicity in Italy (ECRI, 2025).
This situation is further exasperated by the lack of properly disaggregated data on police stop and account activities, which prevents the authorities from being fully aware of the situation (ECRI, 2024). The reaction of the Italian government was to condemn the criticisms; in particular, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described them as ‘simply shameful’ (ANSA, 2025; Centro di Ateneo per i Diritti Umani, 2024, 2025; Euronews, 2025; Il Sole 24 Ore, 2025; Reuters, 2025). What should instead be considered shameful is the lack of transparency and accountability that is too often observed in the Italian State when law enforcement is involved.
In this context, the defensive reaction of the Italian government not only weakens the credibility of the country’s police forces but also risks worsening the conditions of marginalised communities and ethnic minorities, hindering any possibility of progress and concrete efforts to combat racism. The refusal to engage in dialogue with independent international bodies also means ignoring the perspectives of victims and the data provided by civil society organisations, thereby revealing serious concerns regarding fundamental rights and public trust.
Conclusion
In both case studies highlighted, it is possible to observe some common elements caused by the lack of a precise and shared legislative framework at the European level and of institutions external to national ones able to hold states accountable for this discriminatory practice. At the same time, it is important to observe how the denial or minimisation of racial profiling at the level of state authorities, both in France and in Italy, poses a serious obstacle to resolution of the problem and the implementation of targeted policies to change the systematic nature of the phenomenon (Amnesty International, 2024; ECRI, 2024). Moreover, the lack of support for transparency and the collection of data relating to the use of racial profiling in the law enforcement of the countries analysed, leads to a progressive worsening since in this way the institutions are not aware of the real situation that afflicts specific minorities and categories such as migrants, individuals with migrant backgrounds, and Roma communities. At the moment, in fact, in France it is not explicitly required that the police forces justify the use of their power for identity checks, together with the lack of obligation to record the stops carried out and collect statistics (Amnesty International, 2024). Despite, therefore, a possible adaptation of existing measures at the international level, they are not sufficient to push institutional reforms at the internal level. Numerous studies, reports, and civil society organisations propose some fundamental elements for overcoming this phenomenon: monitoring of police forces and the provision of guidance and training on appropriate conduct, the creation of a better legal framework able to prohibit racial profiling effectively, implementation of systems for the collection of data on identity checks and mechanisms for internal and external accountability, and finally, but not less important, community engagement to improve communication between the actors involved (Hettrich, 2018; UN, 2019; Amnesty International, 2024; Risser, 2024; Vermeulen, 2013).
In conclusion, addressing racial profiling requires strong collaboration, currently lacking, between supranational and national institutions for the implementation of strategies, which, although difficult to apply and devise, can reduce the phenomenon. Also essential in this case is the role played by civil society organisations which continue through the highlighting of cases such as those described above, regarding the condemnation of the ECtHR towards France and the ECRI report on Italy, continue to shed a light on the discriminatory practices carried out by the police forces, which are in clear contrast with the values that such countries should seek to uphold.
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