23
Part 1
source to the subject of the information (e.g., a close family member) or because
of the environment in which the source lives or works (e.g., in a community with
a history of witness intimidation), the greater the duty is of law enforcement.
However, a failure to take sufficient security measures in all cases is likely to
weigh heavily with any tribunal judging the issue. When protecting the life of
the source, this positive obligation must also be balanced against other human
rights, so as not to violate, for example, the right to a fair trial or the right to private and family life of those suspected of placing the source at risk.
Racial, religious and ethnic profiling in the counter-terrorism context30
Profiling is one method to gather information. It is a permissible policing
activity when profiles are not discriminatory, but narrowly defined on the
basis of factors statistically proven to correlate with certain criminal conduct.
The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection
of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism distinguishes descriptive and predictive profiling:
Descriptive profiling aims at identifying those likely to have committed an
offence on the basis of evidence gathered by the police about a criminal act.
Such profiling may be an effective policing tool.
Predictive profiling is designed to identify those who may be involved in some
future, or as-yet-undiscovered, crime based on stereotypical assumptions that
a person from a certain racial, ethnic or religious background is more likely to
commit a crime. Such profiling contravenes the principle of non-discrimination
and, therefore, violates human rights. It is also counterproductive.30
Resorting to predictive profiling is not only discriminatory but also ineffective. Terrorist groups have proved their ability to circumvent established profiles by recruiting people who are less likely to get searched under predictive
profiles. Recent examples of this ineffectiveness include the extensive identification controls carried out at mosques, large-scale data-mining exercises, as
30
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights
and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin, Report to the
UN Human Rights Council, 29 January 2007, op. cit., note 2, para. 33.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents