A/HRC/4/39 page 8 33. Ms. Lam stated that the draft general policy recommendation contains the following recommendations: to clearly define and prohibit racial profiling; to collect data and carry out research and monitoring on racial profiling; to introduce a reasonable suspicion standard; and to provide police with training on the definition of racial profiling. She clarified that prohibition does not necessarily imply criminal law provisions, as constitutional law, civil and/or administrative law can be more appropriate tools in some cases. Item 6 (d): The human impact of racial profiling 34. Gérôme Topka, secretary-general of the Carrefour de réflexion et d’action contre le racisme anti-noir, Switzerland, made a presentation on racial profiling against people of African descent in Switzerland. Mr. Topka stressed that racism against people of African descent was a specific form of racism. He discussed the current state of affairs in Switzerland with reference to certain high profile cases in the Swiss courts and the attitude of the Swiss media towards racism. He also discussed racial bias against and stereotyping of people of African descent and spoke of the trivialization of racism against people of African descent. He recommended, inter alia, more education on the issue of racism in schools, police forces, the public sector and the justice system; greater racial diversity in police forces; the creation of an anti-discrimination charter; the creation of a racism monitoring body; greater innovation in the fight against racist attitudes towards people of African descent; and for measures to be taken to generate greater awareness in society of the problem of racism against people of African descent. He discussed the positive work the Carrefour had achieved in collaboration with the media and police but stressed that further collaboration was necessary to improve the situation of people of African descent in Switzerland. 35. Joe Frans, member of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, made a presentation on the impact of racial profiling on people of African descent in Europe. He noted that racial profiling is a serious human rights problem affecting millions of people of African descent residing in Europe. In his opinion, there is a sufficient constitutional and legal framework in most European countries to challenge the legality of racial profiling against people of African descent. He stressed that there is incontrovertible proof that racial profiling does not give law enforcement officials an advantage in fighting crime. Profiling is counterproductive insofar as it misdirects law enforcement resources and alienates some of the very people whose cooperation is necessary for effective crime detection. 36. Mr. Frans stressed the psychological, social and economic effects of racial profiling on its victims. Furthermore, it is quite clear that one of the most significant and potentially long-lasting impacts of racial profiling is its effect on children and youth. He pointed out that a possible side effect of the practice of racial profiling is the risk of criminalizing entire communities. He explained that the true extent and nature of racial profiling remains difficult to gauge because of the absence or ineffectiveness of official data collection in several European countries. Many countries do not have adequate official data collection mechanisms in place to record and make information publicly available on racial profiling. The consequences of racial profiling are felt far beyond the law enforcement sector. It impacts unfavourably in an aggregated manner as racial discrimination. 37. Mr. Frans put forward the following recommendations to be considered by the Working Group: the systematic collection of disaggregated data on racist crimes and profiling;