A/HRC/29/46 practice.1 One manifestation is the use of stop and frisk or stop and check mechanisms to target minorities. This practice results in the disproportionate targeting of these often vulnerable populations.2 For example, in one South Pacific State, black males were subject to field contact by police officers at a rate 2.4 times higher than their representation in the general population.3 In Europe, Roma communities are subjected to unequal levels of identity checks, and in some cases, the police stop Roma pedestrians three times more often than non-Roma pedestrians.4 In one North American state, despite accounting for only 24 per cent of the population, persons of African descent were the subject of 63.3 per cent of stops of civilians by the police.5 17. Additionally, the police may disproportionately target certain minority groups for traffic stops. In one North American state, observers have documented police targeting drivers unevenly on the basis of their appearance.6 The observers found no statistically significant difference in driving behaviour, yet 73.2 per cent of those stopped and arrested were persons of African descent even though such persons comprised only 13.5 per cent of all drivers and passengers.7 Another report found that, in a municipality where this group made up 67 per cent of the population, 85 per cent of cars stopped by the police were from this group, as were 90 per cent of those summoned to court and 93 per cent of those arrested; in addition, the use of force by police officers was, in 88 per cent of cases, directed against persons of African descent. Similarly, in the judicial system in the same city, this group accounted for 95 per cent of convictions for pedestrian offences and 92 per cent of offences of disturbing the peace.8 18. A related manifestation of racial and ethnic profiling occurs when officials perform identity checks, ostensibly to address irregular immigration. In these types of stops, police or immigration authorities demand the production of identity documents to verify residence status in the country. Authorities use identity checks to target these persons and to stop and arrest asylum seekers.9 In Europe, authorities are more likely to stop males of African and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 6 Open Society Institute, Ethnic Profiling in the Moscow Metro (New York, 2006), available from http://www.lamberthconsulting.com/uploads/Ethnic_Profiling.pdf; and American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Massachusetts, Black, Brown and Targeted: A Report on Boston Police Department Street Encounters from 2007–2010 (ACLU Racial Justice Program, 2014). Rachel Neild and others, Ethnic Profiling in the European Union: Pervasive, Ineffective, and Discriminatory (New York, Open Society Institute, 2009), available from http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/profiling_20090526.pdf. Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre, summary of Gordon and Henstridge first reports. Open Society Institute, “I Can Stop and Search Whoever I Want”: Police Stops of Ethnic Minorities in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Spain (New York, 2007), available from http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/profiling_20070419.pdf. Rachel Neild and others, Ethnic Profiling in the European Union: Pervasive, Ineffective, and Discriminatory; and American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Massachusetts, Black, Brown and Targeted: A Report on Boston Police Department Street Encounters from 2007–2010. Amy Farrell and others, “Massachusetts racial and gender profiling final report: executive summary”, Institute on Race and Justice (2004), available from http://iris.lib.neu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=race_justice_pubs. John C. Lamberth, “Data collection and benchmarking of the Bias Policing Project” (Lamberth Consulting, 2006). United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, “Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department”, available from www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/ 2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report_1.pdf. Aida Alami, “African migrants in Morocco tell of abuse”, New York Times, 28 November 2012. Available from www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/world/middleeast/african-migrants-in-morocco-tell-ofabuse.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& Nov. 28, 2012.