Selectie aan de grens: over etnische profilering, algoritmes en het recht op non-discriminatie

Abstract

In 2021, the District Court of The Hague ruled that the use of ethnicity by the Dutch Royal Police (KMar) in the context of Mobile Security Surveillance (MTV) did not violate the right to non-discrimination as protected in Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Two months after the ruling, the KMar announced that it no longer would use ethnicity as a selection criterion. Although this decision is to be welcomed, existing questions about ethnic profiling in border and migration policies have not been resolved. This contribution examines whether the use of ethnicity as a selection criterion should not always be regarded as discriminatory. In addition, it will be examined what the KMar's announcement to stop ethnic profiling means in practice in view of the increasing use of automated risk assessments at the border. This contribution, which also addresses relevant case law from the European courts, offers non-lawyers an insight into the scope of the right to non-discrimination, especially with regard to the increasing use of border technologies in Europe.