Peter Rodrigues on legal action against the State on ethnic profiling
Two citizens, together with organisations including Amnesty International, antidiscrimination agency RADAR and the Dutch Section of the International Commission of Jurists (NJCM) have brought legal action against the State. They want the court to put an end to the discriminating border controls of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.
It is claimed that when conducting border controls, Dutch border police officers select people based on their appearance, skin colour or origin (ethnicity). This determines in part whether they are taken out of the queue. The case will soon be heard in court and in a livecast on 7 October to which Peter Rodrigues was invited, the summons was examined in more detail.
Using a risk profile that is based on ethnicity is prohibited according to Peter Rodrigues, Professor of Immigration Law at Leiden Law School. He believes that the case can be won in the long term, though the European Court of Human Rights may be required to take the ultimate decision.
More information (in Dutch) is available here.