Welcome to the United Nations 
OHCHR 
Press releases Treaty bodies
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONCLUDES REVIEW OF ALGERIA'S CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS
21 July 1998
Share
AFTERNOON
HR/CT/98/17
21 July 1998
The Committee on Human Rights this afternoon concluded its consideration of a report by Algeria on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In preliminary concluding observations and recommendations, the Committee said that the Algerian State should not relinquish “protection power” to the civilian Legitimate Defence Groups. It said that such measures indicated that Algerians had no faith in the Government’s protection.
The Committee offered its preliminary oral observations at the end of its two-day dialogue with the Algerian delegation which defended the Government’s report on the status of civil and political rights in the country.
The Committee's experts will issue formal concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Algeria towards the end of the panel's three-week session, which concludes on 31 July.
Algeria, as one of 140 States parties to the International Covenant, must submit periodic reports to the panel on how it implements the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes on Wednesday, 22 July, at 10 a.m., it will take up the initial report of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Discussion of Report
In response to the remaining written questions prepared by Committee members in advance, the Algerian delegation said that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had been disseminated throughout the country in Arabic, French and Berber languages. The rights recognized in the Covenant had also been publicized, and copies of the second periodic report had been made available to non-governmental organizations through the National Observatory on Human Rights.
Through the mass media, the Algerian public had learned that the Human Rights Committee was examining a report on civil and political rights in Algeria, the delegation said.
The Algerian Government was asked if it was ready to withdraw its reservations on article 23 of the Covenant on the taking of appropriate steps to ensure equality of rights and responsibility of spouses as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. The delegation said that the Government interpreted the provisions of article 23 as in no case impairing the essential foundations of the Algerian legal system. However, the delegation had wished to explain how traditional and religious laws differed from the article.
Following the exhaustion of the second set of written questions, Committee experts posed further oral questions pertaining to the lack of information on sexual harassment; discrimination against children born out of wedlock; equal pay for the same quality of work; non-recognition of minorities; and the high rate of suicide among young girls.
One expert wondered why the delegation minimized the impact of the "Arabization" process which had started recently. That process meant that everything would be converted into Arabic. The implication of "Arabization totale et définitive" was clearly a total and definitive Arabization of the Algerian society. At the beginning of this month, Berber minorities had demonstrated in Tizi Ouzou opposing the introduction of the Arabization process in Algeria.
The attack last Saturday against a military barrack in the south-western part of Algeria which killed 15 soldiers and which was reported in Neue Zürcher Zeitung of 20 July was a very grave and serious incident, an expert said. The fact that the army could not defend even itself was an indication of the seriousness of the situation in Algeria.
Responding to numerous questions and comments by Committee experts, the head of the delegation and Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mohamed-Salah Dembri, said that his country’s report had been submitted in accordance with the Committee's guidelines and within the time limit. The progress made by Algeria between the 1992 initial report and second one in 1998 had been reflected and the delegation had also used the opportunity to explain the situation to the members of the Committee.
Mr. Dembri said that the Arabic language had been promoted since Algeria's independence in 1962. The recent measures adopted by the Government were simply to resurrect the language, to give it new impetus and to develop the language for administrative purposes. Foreign languages could also be used in scientific research. The Arabization process was not detrimental to Berber which had five different languages in a given region.
The attitude of some non-governmental organizations towards the free choice of Algerians and Algerian national interests was amazing, Mr. Dembri said. Some of them advocated the interests of the colonialists instead of the Algerians. In 1938, the Arabic language had been replaced by French as the national language of Algeria. Today, it was not astonishing to resurrect the Arabic language and to develop it as the national language of Algeria.
The delegation said that it was not easy to manage information under the emergency situation in Algeria. However, the freedom of expression for journalists continued to be reflected in the press. The Government had also taken measures to provide protection facilities for journalists at risk of being attacked by terrorists.
Children born out of wedlock were treated as equal to other children and many of them were under State guardianship, the delegation said. Some of the children had been born following acts of rape by terrorists. In addition, cases of suicide by raped and depressed women had been registered.
The Algerian delegation said it would submit additional written replies to the members of the Committee on the questions still pending.
Preliminary Concluding Observations
In its preliminary concluding observations, the Committee expressed its appreciation to the delegation of Algeria for its cooperation during the dialogue. It also thanked the Government of Algeria for sending the 14-member delegation.
The Committee said that the dialogue would create a renewed atmosphere of cooperation between the Government and members of the Committee. However, it regretted that the annual reports of the Algerian National Observatory on Human Rights were not attached to the report. Many details on the specific internal problems that Algeria was facing did not figure in the report.
The Committee said that Algeria was undergoing a painful situation. Its people had paid with their flesh and blood for independence, but now they were facing another challenge from terrorism. In the present situation, women had suffered extremely, simply because of their sex. Committee experts said the Algerian Government should not undermine or underestimate the terrorists’ acts and atrocities. In addition, the Government had the obligation to protect its citizens from any harm and delegating this responsibility to a the civilian Legitimate Defence Groups was not a good idea. The demand by citizens to operate a Legitimate Defence Group was in fact a lack of confidence in the protection offered by the Government.
The Committee said that there were numerous sources of information, not only allegations, that said torture, disappearances and summary executions occurred in Algeria. The State was obliged under the Covenant to protect the right to life and other rights.
The Committee regretted that many questions put to the delegation were not answered.
In a brief concluding remark, Mr. Dembri said that the exchange of views with the Committee was helpful and noted with satisfaction the spirit of solidarity expressed by the members of the Committee. He noted that the experts had unreservedly condemned the barbaric acts perpetrated by terrorists.
HR/CT/98/17
21 July 1998
The Committee on Human Rights this afternoon concluded its consideration of a report by Algeria on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In preliminary concluding observations and recommendations, the Committee said that the Algerian State should not relinquish “protection power” to the civilian Legitimate Defence Groups. It said that such measures indicated that Algerians had no faith in the Government’s protection.
The Committee offered its preliminary oral observations at the end of its two-day dialogue with the Algerian delegation which defended the Government’s report on the status of civil and political rights in the country.
The Committee's experts will issue formal concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Algeria towards the end of the panel's three-week session, which concludes on 31 July.
Algeria, as one of 140 States parties to the International Covenant, must submit periodic reports to the panel on how it implements the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes on Wednesday, 22 July, at 10 a.m., it will take up the initial report of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Discussion of Report
In response to the remaining written questions prepared by Committee members in advance, the Algerian delegation said that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had been disseminated throughout the country in Arabic, French and Berber languages. The rights recognized in the Covenant had also been publicized, and copies of the second periodic report had been made available to non-governmental organizations through the National Observatory on Human Rights.
Through the mass media, the Algerian public had learned that the Human Rights Committee was examining a report on civil and political rights in Algeria, the delegation said.
The Algerian Government was asked if it was ready to withdraw its reservations on article 23 of the Covenant on the taking of appropriate steps to ensure equality of rights and responsibility of spouses as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. The delegation said that the Government interpreted the provisions of article 23 as in no case impairing the essential foundations of the Algerian legal system. However, the delegation had wished to explain how traditional and religious laws differed from the article.
Following the exhaustion of the second set of written questions, Committee experts posed further oral questions pertaining to the lack of information on sexual harassment; discrimination against children born out of wedlock; equal pay for the same quality of work; non-recognition of minorities; and the high rate of suicide among young girls.
One expert wondered why the delegation minimized the impact of the "Arabization" process which had started recently. That process meant that everything would be converted into Arabic. The implication of "Arabization totale et définitive" was clearly a total and definitive Arabization of the Algerian society. At the beginning of this month, Berber minorities had demonstrated in Tizi Ouzou opposing the introduction of the Arabization process in Algeria.
The attack last Saturday against a military barrack in the south-western part of Algeria which killed 15 soldiers and which was reported in Neue Zürcher Zeitung of 20 July was a very grave and serious incident, an expert said. The fact that the army could not defend even itself was an indication of the seriousness of the situation in Algeria.
Responding to numerous questions and comments by Committee experts, the head of the delegation and Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mohamed-Salah Dembri, said that his country’s report had been submitted in accordance with the Committee's guidelines and within the time limit. The progress made by Algeria between the 1992 initial report and second one in 1998 had been reflected and the delegation had also used the opportunity to explain the situation to the members of the Committee.
Mr. Dembri said that the Arabic language had been promoted since Algeria's independence in 1962. The recent measures adopted by the Government were simply to resurrect the language, to give it new impetus and to develop the language for administrative purposes. Foreign languages could also be used in scientific research. The Arabization process was not detrimental to Berber which had five different languages in a given region.
The attitude of some non-governmental organizations towards the free choice of Algerians and Algerian national interests was amazing, Mr. Dembri said. Some of them advocated the interests of the colonialists instead of the Algerians. In 1938, the Arabic language had been replaced by French as the national language of Algeria. Today, it was not astonishing to resurrect the Arabic language and to develop it as the national language of Algeria.
The delegation said that it was not easy to manage information under the emergency situation in Algeria. However, the freedom of expression for journalists continued to be reflected in the press. The Government had also taken measures to provide protection facilities for journalists at risk of being attacked by terrorists.
Children born out of wedlock were treated as equal to other children and many of them were under State guardianship, the delegation said. Some of the children had been born following acts of rape by terrorists. In addition, cases of suicide by raped and depressed women had been registered.
The Algerian delegation said it would submit additional written replies to the members of the Committee on the questions still pending.
Preliminary Concluding Observations
In its preliminary concluding observations, the Committee expressed its appreciation to the delegation of Algeria for its cooperation during the dialogue. It also thanked the Government of Algeria for sending the 14-member delegation.
The Committee said that the dialogue would create a renewed atmosphere of cooperation between the Government and members of the Committee. However, it regretted that the annual reports of the Algerian National Observatory on Human Rights were not attached to the report. Many details on the specific internal problems that Algeria was facing did not figure in the report.
The Committee said that Algeria was undergoing a painful situation. Its people had paid with their flesh and blood for independence, but now they were facing another challenge from terrorism. In the present situation, women had suffered extremely, simply because of their sex. Committee experts said the Algerian Government should not undermine or underestimate the terrorists’ acts and atrocities. In addition, the Government had the obligation to protect its citizens from any harm and delegating this responsibility to a the civilian Legitimate Defence Groups was not a good idea. The demand by citizens to operate a Legitimate Defence Group was in fact a lack of confidence in the protection offered by the Government.
The Committee said that there were numerous sources of information, not only allegations, that said torture, disappearances and summary executions occurred in Algeria. The State was obliged under the Covenant to protect the right to life and other rights.
The Committee regretted that many questions put to the delegation were not answered.
In a brief concluding remark, Mr. Dembri said that the exchange of views with the Committee was helpful and noted with satisfaction the spirit of solidarity expressed by the members of the Committee. He noted that the experts had unreservedly condemned the barbaric acts perpetrated by terrorists.