ALGERIA PRESENTS REPORT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS TO UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

HR/CT/98/14
20 July 1998

The Committee on Human Rights this morning started its consideration of the second periodic report on the status of civil and political rights in Algeria.

Mohamed-Salah Dembri, the Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva, led the 14-member delegation and presented his country's report, saying that despite terrorist activities in his country, the Government was determined to build democratic pluralism.

The Algerian delegation is also made up of Amar Abba, Director-General of Multilateral Relations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mohamed Hassaine, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Algeria; Farida Aiouaze, Counsellor; Saïd Zerrouki, Director of Elections and the Elected at the Ministry of Interior, Local Community and Environment; Fatiha Akeb, Director of Press at the Ministry of Communications and Culture; and Hamed Abdelwahab of the Ministry of Justice.

It also includes Nadia Bouabdellah of the Ministry of Justice; Leila Zerrouki of the Ministry of Justice; Fatma Zohra Chaeib of the Ministry of Health and Population; Abdel Nacer Almas of the Ministry of National Solidarity and of the Family; Lazhar Soualem, Deputy Director for Humanitarian Affairs and Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Smail Hellab, Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Fatima Zohra Karadja, a member of the National Observatory for Human Rights.

As one of the 140 States parties to the Intentional Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Algeria is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee on measures it has undertaken to implement the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will continue its consideration of the Algerian report.

Report of Algeria

The second periodic report of Algeria (document CCPR/C/101/Add.1) lists the measures undertaken by the Government to put into effect the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The report says that the state of emergency proclaimed in February 1992 did not relieve the State of its obligations regarding guarantees for the exercise of the fundamental freedoms of the citizen provided by the Constitution and by various international human rights instruments. At the same time, the authorities have conducted an anti-terrorist campaign within the framework of national law and in accordance with Algerian international undertakings.

There is no legal provision either in civil or penal law that discriminates against women, the report says. However, just as in other societies in Arabic and Muslim countries, women in Algeria enjoyed equal status constitutionally while their personal status was governed by the Islamic Sharia law.

The report says that Islam is the State religion; freedom of religion is given constitutional guarantees; and the 1996 Constitution has recognized the components of Algerian identity as "Islam, Arabism and Amazighiteism".

Presentation of Report

MOHAMED-SALAH DEMBRI, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva, introducing his country's second periodic report, said that the democratic and economic changes initiated in 1992 had been confronted by criminal action by subversive groups which opposed the resolute march towards political modernization. They attempted to impose a society which was a return to an authoritarian and totalitarian administration.

Terrorism had already appeared in the 1980's to attack the new political institutions and had created the conditions which led the Government to suspend the electoral process but not the democratic one, Mr. Dembri went on to state.

Mr. Dembri said that international opinion was marked by the savagery and barbaric acts of the terrorist groups which denied human rights like the right to life and spared no social category including intellectuals, senior officials, magistrates, teachers, workers, peasants, women and children. Nevertheless, the barbaric acts did not alter the conviction and determination of the Algerian people and the Government to pursue the construction of the state of law and the consolidation of democratic pluralism.

Mr. Dembri further said that the President of the Republic, in consultation with the country's political groups and the representatives of civil society, had worked to renovate the political institutions of the country and had restored the electoral process which in 1995 and 1996 had allowed the presidential election and the revision of the Constitution. All these steps towards political modernization were carried out together with those which were attached to the principle of democracy.

Today, Algeria had legitimate republican institutions and the legitimate Government as well as a whole system for political participation working within the constitutional context in order to strengthen and enrich the democratic values of multiparitism, Mr. Dembri said. The Government had also set up mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights like the National Observatory for Human Rights. Algeria regularly presented periodic reports to the various United Nations human rights treaty bodies. In the past two years, the Government had received a delegation from the European Union, various foreign parliamentary delegations, and other officials as well as many journalists from around the world. Algeria, in coordination with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, had invited an eminent panel which would be arriving in two days.

Discussion of Report

In response to written questions prepared by Committee experts in advance, the delegation said that there had been only one suspected case of extrajudicial killing concerning the leader of the Algerian Workers Union who died while in detention. He was injured in a shoot out resisting his arrest. However, this case was still under investigation by the Algerian authorities.

The delegation said that the acts of terrorism in Algeria were flagrant violations of human rights and were committed by non-state agents. In all cases of collective assassinations committed in Algeria, investigations had been carried out by the authorities. In addition, individuals who were involved in such massacres were investigated.

The purpose of the collective massacres by those groups was to take power through terror, the delegation said. In the first stage, the terrorists tried to intimidate politicians and intellectuals. When they failed to do so, they went on to massacre civilians at night in isolated regions. Whenever terrorist groups attacked, people took cover at the nearest police station and no Government agents had failed to defend them.

The Government had endeavoured to assist victims to rebuild their communities as a sign of solidarity, the delegation said. Further, non-governmental organizations had been engaged in helping traumatized families to lead normal lives. The State had also taken measures to reinforce its presence in the community. The Government had arranged psychological assistance to those who survived massacres and it put them in convalescence hospital centres.

The Government had also provided compensation to families who lost relatives and those who received physical injuries from the acts of terrorism, the delegation said. With regard to material damage, the Government had already undertaken measures to help rebuild houses and communities damaged as a result of terrorist bombings.

In the beginning, the Government and people of Algeria were not ready for such terrorist activities, the delegation said, adding that gradually protection systems were developed and put in place in all public domains. The targeted groups, such as the intellectuals, journalists, politicians and other individuals, were advised to protect themselves by changing their habits and movements. In 1993 and 1994, two journalists per week were killed by terrorists, but since a collective protection had been arranged by the Government by grouping around 700 journalists in a compound in 1997, the murder of journalists had ceased. Some of the terrorists involved in murdering journalists were caught and convicted.

As to cases of disappearances, the delegation said that the Government had been collaborating with all groups in charge of investigating disappearances. In 1997, 49 cases of disappearances had been submitted to the Government by the United Nations Working Group on Disappearances and appropriate replies had been sent them. In most cases, disappearances were attributed to persons who disappeared from the public scene to join underground movements.

At present, there were 1,991 persons sentenced to capital punishment, the delegation said, adding that since October 1993, the application of the death penalty had been suspended. Out of the total number of persons on death row, 287 were sentenced in absentia.

The state of emergency in Algeria was still in force but it was not meant to deprive persons of their fundamental rights, the members of the delegation said. Although a curfew was imposed, the emergency law was part of the anti-terrorist struggle undertaken by the Government.

For criminal offences, the maximum preventive detention period did not exceed 12 months, the delegation said, adding that in exceptional cases, it could be extended to 16 months. As to administrative detention, immediate recourse could be filed by a lawyer or family members.

On the question of the legitimate defence groups, the delegation said Algerian citizens themselves demanded the establishment of such groups purely for the purpose of self-defence. Citizens living in remote regions were given the authority to create legitimate defence organizations which were armed by the State. Their activities were limited only to self-defence relating to their lives and properties and they were monitored by the security agents of the Government. The courts had sentenced many members of the defence groups to terms of imprisonment for excesses in the exercise of their functions. The delegation noted that the members of the legitimate defence groups were not sufficiently trained in the proper use of force.

The delegation underlined that there was no crisis of human rights in Algeria. Rather, there was a terrorist phenomenon which violated human rights.

The principle governing the Constitution of Algeria did not contain any regime for incommunicado detention, the delegation confirmed. No individual could be kept in detention without informing relatives or legal counsellors.

Algerian law stipulated that any official inflicting torture for the purpose of obtaining confessions from suspected individuals would be punished, the Algerian officials said. So far, there were no established cases of torture which resulted in deaths. Since November 1992, following allegations of mistreatment reported in the press, the Ministry of Interior had shown its readiness to punish Government officials guilty of practices forbidden by the laws of the Republic.

Committee members, commenting on the report of Algeria, said that the Government should be commended for its prompt response in preparing the report in a very short period. They recalled that they had expressed concern over the Government's measures in suspending the democratic process with the pretext of preventing “unfit” groups from gaining power. The members of the Committee had also expressed concern over the large number of prisoners.

An expert said that the report demonstrated Algeria's legal richness but much information remained scarce. Algeria had continued to restrict observers and investigators from entering the country. The information provided by the delegation with regards to the atrocities committed by terrorist groups in the name of religion was not sufficient. In the areas where the massacres were carried out, it was reported that some police stations were situated in the vicinity. The Algerian delegation did not provide information on how the authorities conducted their investigations. What kind of investigations were carried out by the security forces?

With regards to involuntary disappearances, another expert asked the Algerian delegation if relatives of a disappeared individual could ask the Government to indicate to them the whereabouts of this person.

Several experts who took the floor said that the report did not contain detailed information on the consequences of the state of emergency except to say that it was still in force. One expert said that the status of the members of the legitimate defence force was alarming because of the unlimited extent of their power.

Committee members asked the delegation, among other things, if a national registry of detainees existed; if there was a rule which nullified a confession obtained under coercion; and if there was data on the number of complaints about disappeared persons.

The experts said that contrary to what the delegation believed, they found that there was a very serious crisis of human rights in Algeria. The fact that the people were victims of non-state agents did not relieve the Government of its responsibility to protect the population. The experts also underlined the need to ensure accessibility of international organizations to massacre sites in Algeria.