The Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) on Wednesday called in the Italian government to look into alleged racism in its police forces.
"Our recommendation to the Italian government is to conduct an independent study on the phenomenon of racial profiling in its police forces as soon as possible, in order to assess the situation," said ECRI President Bertil Cottier as the commission presented its annual report.
ECRI Vice President Tena Simonovic Einwalter said racial profiling by police was on the rise in many European countries.
"Police officers stop people based on the colour of their skin or their presumed identity or religion and all of this goes against European values," she said.
