Switzerland condemned for discriminatory identity checks
Published: Tuesday, Feb 20th 2024, 16:50
Updated At: Tuesday, Feb 20th 2024, 16:50
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg has condemned Switzerland for discrimination. The ECtHR upheld the complaint of a dark-skinned man who had been fined in 2015 for refusing to submit to an identity check.
According to the ECtHR ruling published on Tuesday, there were three violations of the European Convention on Human Rights in the case. The identity checks and the subsequent proceedings before Swiss courts violated the prohibition of discrimination, the right to respect for private and family life and the right to an effective remedy.
He didn't want to show any ID
In 2015, the complainant Mohamed Wa Baile was checked by Zurich city police officers at Zurich main station early in the morning on his way to work. The Swiss national with Kenyan roots, who was working as a librarian at ETH at the time, refused to show his ID or give his personal details.
He accused the police officers of racial profiling, i.e. checking him solely on the basis of his skin color. The police officers searched his rucksack and found an AHV card with his personal details on it. They then let Wa Baile go.
A few weeks later, however, he received a penalty notice for the incident for failing to comply with a police order. He was ordered to pay a fine of 100 francs. With the support of human rights organizations, the person concerned took the penalty order to court. Various Swiss courts, most recently the Federal Supreme Court, upheld the police's actions.
One of the police officers involved claimed that Wa Baile had avoided his gaze and tried to avoid the police patrol. This had seemed suspicious to him and that was why they wanted to check him.
Swiss courts did not examine discrimination
According to the ECtHR ruling, the Swiss courts did not sufficiently examine whether discriminatory reasons may have played a role in the identity check.
In its ruling, however, the court also expressed understanding for the difficult situation of the police officers, who had to decide within a very short space of time whether or not to carry out an identity check.
The ECtHR orders Switzerland to pay Wa Baile compensation of just under 24,000 euros if the judgment becomes final.
The Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism (GRA) welcomed the ECHR's decision in a press release. The ruling shows that the practice of identity checks in Switzerland needs to be improved.
The "Alliance against Racial Profiling", which supported Wa Baile during the trial, spoke at a media conference in Bern this afternoon. Its demands include sociological studies of police forces with recommendations for measures to prevent institutional racism and police violence. In addition, clear regulations are needed at a legal level to prevent racist police checks.
The case had consequences for the Zurich city police even before the ruling from Strasbourg: in 2017, various measures were implemented to prevent discrimination on the basis of skin color, as the city of Zurich announced on Tuesday. For example, the reasons that justify a check were clearly defined.
(Judgments 43868/18 and 25883/21 of February 20, 2024)
©Keystone/SDA
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