Advocates have applauded a Dutch appeal court's decision that military police cannot use race or ethnicity as justification for border checks any longer.
The judges determined that the police had used ethnic profiling.
They discovered that one particularly severe form of discrimination was the use of race "without objective and reasonable justification.".
Mpanzu Bamenga, who was also confronted at the border, claimed that it was a significant case for many people.
He told the BBC, "Really, it's a historic victory, not just for me but for many Dutch people who have been fighting against racism and racial profiling and for equal opportunities.
The Royal Netherlands Marine force is currently reviewing the judgment, according to a spokesman. He did, however, note that the government had just informed the legislature that spot checks on travelers inside of Europe's borderless Schengen region would no longer involve profiling.
Since the Netherlands is a member of Schengen, no checks are required when citizens of the other 27 nations travel by air, rail, or road across internal borders. Police are, however, allowed to conduct spot checks based on knowledge and expertise. The right of people to remain in the Netherlands is also inspected by Dutch police.
The case started when Mr. Bamenga, a lawyer and former councilor, was summoned by the Marechausee in 2018 as he was flying back to Eindhoven from a trip to Italy. He then noticed that two other black people—a black man and a black woman—were also being detained.
When he confronted an officer at the airport, he was informed that the border police were authorized by Dutch law to stop individuals because they were on the lookout for criminals and refugees as well as ensuring that residents' rights were being upheld. After his post went viral on social media, he was informed that police were looking for a well-dressed Nigerian smuggler who did not look Dutch.
Along with him, human rights organizations brought the case before a court in The Hague, which in 2021 exonerated Marechausee of racial profiling and ruled that its practice did not violate discrimination laws. The police then declared that they would no longer base decisions on a person's ethnicity.
The Dutch appeal court overturned the initial legal ruling on Tuesday because the judge claimed the policy had caused people with skin colors other than white to feel inferior to white people.
The European Commission and Council of Europe had been monitoring the case, according to Mr. Bamenga, who also noted that the decision would have implications for other European nations that engage in profiling.
