Brussels, 24/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 22 January, the European Parliament's civil liberties committee (LIBE) decided to draw up a report on the subject of “profiling” in counter terrorism, policing and border control. This committee decision was made just when ministers of the interior are expected to examine the European Commission's controversial proposals, “European PNR” (EUROPE 9586) on Friday 25 January. The EP report will be drafted by Sarah Ludford (ALDE, United Kingdom), who last December openly complained to the director general of DG Justice-Freedom-Security, Jonathan Faull, about the ambiguity of the Commission proposal. In a press release Ludford indicated: “The danger of targeting people on the basis of race or religion is especially acute…We need to ensue that all our citizens feel and are treated equally under the law”. Profiling is a regularly used technique in criminal investigations and examines what physical, psychological and behavioural indicators can be identified for people who may correspond to a certain kind of crime. Law enforcement agencies find them useful, given that they can help them with their enquiries. Last year, the commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg declared: “In principle, profiling should, therefore, be considered as a legitimate tool” in law enforcement. He said that the technique had been used in a very problematic way in the fight against terrorism - “the indicators used included characteristics that were as general as they were broad, like race, ethnic group, nationality and religion”. His opinion is available on the Commissioner's website: (http://www.commissioner.coe.int ). (B.C.)