WASHINGTON: The practice of profiling by race, religion, and national origin on the part of US law-enforcement agencies not only violates the human rights of its targets, but is also often counter-productive , according to a new report released here on Monday by Amnesty International.

Heralding a public campaign against profiling, the 50-page report, 'Threat and Humiliation,' charges that the practice has actually grown since the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon despite a pledge by President George W. Bush to end it. Amnesty is urging Congress to enact the End Racial Profiling Act of 2004 that has been endorsed by a bipartisan group of 140 lawmakers.

"The government's reliance on racial profiling has grown dramatically since the September 11th attacks," said Curt Goering, the senior deputy executive director of the US section of Amnesty.

"Amnesty International's review of existing data shows that an estimated 32 million Americans - a number equivalent to the population of Canada - have been subjected to profiling and that 87 million Americans - almost one of every three people - are at high risk for such abuse," he said.

Moreover, the practice may be counter-productive, as the recent cases of the so-called 'American Taliban', John Walker Lindh, and British 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid illustrate. Neither individual fit the profile used by programmes like the NSEERS and US-VISIT that target Arab, Muslim, and South Asian men and boys.

The report also points to the case of Timothy McVeigh, who eluded arrest while law enforcement agencies searched for Arab suspects after the 1993 Oklahoma City federal building bombing.

Similarly, investigators lost valuable time in tracking down the 'Washington sniper' responsible for a dozen shootings in 2002 in part because the two black men convicted of the attacks failed to fit the profile of a serial killer - an anti-social white male.

Since 9/11, however, observers say US Customs, now under the control of the Department of Homeland Security, "is slowly going back to its old ways" with the targeting of Arab and Muslim citizens and travellers. -Dawn/ The Inter Press News Service.