Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights considers report of Algeria

6 May 2010

 

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has considered the combined third and fourth periodic report of Algeria on how that country implements the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Introducing the report of Algeria, Idriss Jazairy, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that sustainable peace was linked to sustainable economic, social and cultural rights and that was the basis of Algeria’s national policy. The Government had taken into account the concerns addressed in 2001 by this Committee and the first part of their report laid out specific measures Algeria had taken to address these issues. The most important progress could be seen in the special programme for economic recovery whose aim was to support economic growth. Thanks to these programmes the Algerian economy had seen growth, despite the global economic crisi,s and this had allowed the Government to respond to the growing demands of the population by reducing poverty and raising the standard of living. They had already reached the first Millennium Development Goal of reducing extreme poverty by half.

Mr. Jazairy told the Committee that access to education was a constitutional right. The goal was to provide each young person from the age of six access to free and compulsory education for nine years as well as free professional training. Equality of access and school enrolment of girls was also an area of achievement; school enrolment had grown to 97 per cent for the 2009-2010 school year and girls represented 49.52 per cent of children in school. A more detailed analysis of the data showed that difficulties still existed relating to school dropouts and so special efforts had been made to keep children in school. These efforts included special bridging programmes between sectors of the educational system which provided a more flexible approach that gave students more opportunities to stay in school and more access to jobs after leaving school.

Among the questions and issues raised by Committee Experts was the lack of laws criminalizing domestic violence against women and the legal rights of women in the areas of divorce and inheritance. The Committee also expressed concern about the access to reproductive health education as well as the legality of polygamy in the country. The Committee asked the delegation to address the issue of corruption in the country. In 2006 an anti-corruption act was passed that called for the establishment of an agency to deal with corruption and the Committee wanted to know why this agency had not yet been created. The law also required public officials to declare their assets, but there appeared to be no sanctions for those who did not so. The Committee also felt insufficient data had been provided on housing, forced evictions, homelessness and access to sanitation and clean water for the population. The delegation was asked to please provide more detailed data and to also respond to the question of how the acute housing shortage impacted corruption as people waiting for housing might be willing to bribe officials to move up the waiting list more quickly. The Committee also raised the issue of cultural rights and participation for the Berber people of Algeria and recognition of the Tamazight language.

In closing remarks, Jaime Marchan Romero, Committee Chairperson, said the Committee’s concluding observations would highlight areas in which Algeria had made progress, but also highlight areas of concern and provide recommendations to overcome these difficulties. The Committee hoped the concluding observations would be taken back to Algeria and presented not only to governmental bodies but also to civil society groups as they were stakeholders as well. It had been a very fruitful dialogue marked by extensive answers from the delegation

Mr. Jazairy said the delegation had enjoyed its engagement with the Committee and that it would take into account the Committee’s recommendation to improve its statistics and data collection in order to provide more thorough information in future reports.

The delegation from Algeria was made up of representatives from a variety of government bodies including the Ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Health, Culture, Education, Labour, Employment and Social Security, Solidarity, Training and Professional Education, the National Consultative Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, and the Permanent Mission of Algeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The next meeting of the Committee will be at 10 a.m. on Friday, 7 May, when it will begin its consideration of the combined second to fourth periodic report of Mauritius. It is scheduled to consider the report of Mauritius over three meetings, concluding on Monday, 10 May at 1 p.m.

Report of Algeria

The combined third and fourth periodic report of Algeria (E./C.12/DZA/4) notes that since the presentation of Algeria’s second report, the public authorities have pursued their task of consolidating the rule of law, pluralist democracy and the promotion and protection of human rights, despite the constraints arising from the aftermath of a decade of terrorist crime. The departments of justice and education and State missions have undergone thorough reforms, carried out by national commissions made up of professionals and independent personalities. Since 1991, Algeria has had to cope with the phenomenon of terrorism against a background of indifference and suspicion. Combating this scourge has required the implementation of special measures, but has always taken place within a legal framework that is respectful of human rights. It was in order to deal with this exceptional situation that the Algerian authorities decided, in accordance with the Constitution, to declare a state of emergency in February 1992. Despite some limitations on the exercise of certain civil rights and liberties, the state of emergency did not relieve the State of its obligations to guarantee the exercise of fundamental freedoms provided for in the domestic constitutional order and in the international treaties ratified by Algeria. When exceptional measures were taken during the state of emergency, every care was taken to ensure the protection of human rights. No restrictions were placed on the non-derogable rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.

In order to broaden the culture of human rights among the judiciary, especially as regards
international treaties in that area, like the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, the training given at the Higher School of the Magistrature to student judges,
who are the future guardians of public and individual liberties, now includes a compulsory
module on human rights. Apart from the effects of the international legal instruments ratified by Algeria, all constitutional provisions, legislation and regulations currently in force advocate the rejection of any form of discrimination against women for whatever reason. The struggle against poverty is one of the most urgent concerns of the public authorities in Algeria. The institutional system has been supplemented with the creation, by decision of the President of the Republic, of the National Observatory of employment and the fight against poverty. Since September 2003, the Algerian Government has been engaged in reform of the education system.

Statement by the Chairperson of the Committee

JAIME MARCHAN ROMERO, Committee Chairperson, said the Committee was delighted to have the esteemed delegation of experts from Algeria, presided over by the Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva. They looked forward to a fluid, constructive and dynamic debate. The Committee’s task was to gain a better understanding of the situation of the economic, social and cultural rights under the Covenant in Algeria. Mr. Romero thanked the delegation for their written reports and replies to the list of issues as they would serve as the basis to focus and guide their dialogue on the issues of concern. The dialogue today would allow the Committee to evaluate the issues and be as targeted as possible in the recommendations that they would formulate based on the report and the conversation and hopefully when the delegation returned to their capital they would be able to implement these recommendations and see that they were suggested in the spirit of goodwill and helpfulness.

Presentation of Report

IDRISS JAZAIRY, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva,
introducing the combined third and fourth periodic report of Algeria, said the high ranking ministers with the delegation represented the importance that Algeria accorded to this meeting. It had always been Algeria’s belief that economic, social and cultural rights should be accorded the same importance as civil and political rights. Algeria was here to honour its commitment to pursue the uninterrupted dialogue that was established in 1995 with presentation of its initial report. This dialogue was constructive and they drew from it to change policies to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights, and the State was sparing no effort to protect and promote human rights. Algeria did not claim to have fulfilled the obligations under the Convention entirely, but they were working tirelessly to meet these goals and harmonize national laws with international treaties. This effort had affected all legislative texts in the framework of justice reform and this work was still being carried out today and would continue in this direction. Justice, education and state missions were undergoing profound reform implemented by national committees. Despite the criminal terrorism and several natural disasters that had stricken the country, they had continued to make progress toward their goals.

Mr. Jazairy said that sustainable peace was linked to sustainable economic, social and cultural rights and that was the basis of national policy. The Government had taken into account the concerns addressed in 2001 by this Committee and the first part of their report laid out specific measures Algeria had taken to address these issues. The most important progress could be seen in the special programme for economic recovery whose aim was to support economic growth. Thanks to these programmes the Algerian economy had seen growth, despite the global economic crisis and this growth had allowed the Government to respond to the growing demands of the population by reducing poverty and raising the standard of living. They had already reached the first Millennium Development Goal of reducing extreme poverty by half.

There had also been progress made in job creation and the reduction of unemployment. According to Mr. Jazairy, the unemployment rate was reduced from 27 per cent in 2001 to 10 per cent in 2009, this despite the economic crisis, and they had created over 3.5 million jobs or 390,000 jobs per year on average. Despite these enormous efforts, levels of unemployment, especially among young people, remained a heavy burden from a social point of view.

Mr. Jazairy told the Committee that access to education was a constitutional right enshrined in article 53. Education was guaranteed and free and the goal was to provide each young person from the age of six access to free and compulsory education for nine years as well as free professional training. Equality of access and school enrolment of girls was also an area of achievement; school enrolment had grown to 97 per cent for the 2009-2010 school year and girls represented 49.52 per cent of children in school. A more detailed analysis of the data showed that difficulties still existed relating to school dropouts and so special efforts had been made to keep children in school. These efforts included special bridging programmes between sectors of the educational system which provided a more flexible approach that gave students more opportunities to stay in school and more access to jobs after leaving school.

The right to heath, like education, was also enshrined in the Constitution. There were 257 established public clinics which had led to improvement in the quality of health services while making sure healthcare was provided free of charge. Maternal and infant mortality had become a special priority for the Government and Algeria, according to a World Health Organization report, was at the top of the list of countries that had reduced the infant mortality rate from 39 per cent to 25 per cent and they were committed to reducing that by half by 2015.

In order to promote the inclusion of the Berber culture, Mr. Jazairy said the Tamazight language was now classified as an official language and education was provided in this language and used by the media. Also two annual festivals devoted to Tamazight music and cinema had been organized and there would be a future event celebrating Tamazight literature. Algeria was a pioneer country in this regard as it was the first in the Maghreb that had created a satellite television station in the Tamazight language. It was also the first to create a high commissioner for Tamazight language via presidential decree. The National Education and Linguistic Centre was created in 2003 for the promotion of the Tamazight language.

Strides had also been made in increasing the representation of women in public life, to establish more equality between men and women before the law, and transmission of nationality through the mother had also been realized.

Mr. Jazairy also told the Committee that in order to provide the best life possible for children through economic, social and cultural rights a number of special rapporteurs had been appointed including ones for the right to education, food, health, adequate housing, clean drinking water and sanitation.
The delegation was looking forward to a constructive dialogue and they hoped to be able to answer any questions the Committee might have. He hoped the recommendations from the Committee would reflect their questions, the delegation’s answers, and the Committee’s conclusions.

Questions by Experts

Experts said the Committee was interested in knowing whether the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had been invoked in the courts and used in any case law. If not, why? Was it because people were not aware of their rights under the Covenant, or was it because there were no remedies available to people who wanted to assert their rights in the courts or because people lacked faith in the judiciary because there was evidence that the judiciary was not independent? Also, to what extent was the legal system willing to apply the Convention to cases and were there any cases in which a law had been overruled because it was not in line with international treaties?

The Committee also addressed the acute problem of corruption at all levels of society. In 2006 an anti-corruption act was passed that called for the establishment of an agency to deal with corruption, so why had the agency not been created yet? This law also required public officials to declare their assets, but there were no sanctions for those who did not so. What had been done to bring them into compliance under this law?

A Committee Expert asked the delegation when the special report on prisons would be made available and what was the position of the Algerian Government on the Optional Protocol to the Convention?

The Committee requested an update on the status of the national advisory commission, which was now known as the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, and also wanted to know what role this Commission had played in the preparation of this report. What was the structure of this Commission, how were Commissioners appointed and what were their powers?

In spite of the wide range of activities that were listed in the report regarding women, the Committee expressed concerns that there was no programme for women’s rights.

In terms of natural resource extraction, the Committee felt the delegation had not fully answered the question of whether communities in which extraction took place received a fair share of these revenues.

An Expert requested more precise information on how the Government guaranteed that no jobs would be lost in the process of economic investments, agreements, and negotiations. The delegation was also asked who provided training to human rights trainers who then trained judges and public officials?

The delegation was asked if it could tell the Committee in plain language whether the obligation of the wife to obey her husband still existed and whether the imbalance in inheritance laws had been addressed. The Committee also wanted to know what was being done to increase participation of women in public life and national bodies and what were the rights of foreigners living in the country? The Committee wanted to know if the delegation could provide concrete examples of the changes in attitude they said had been achieved regarding the rights of women. Also, why was marital rape not a crime?

A Committee Expert asked why Algeria was late in submitting its third periodic report and whether they could provide more concrete examples of how the State’s human rights training of public officials touched specifically on the articles of the Covenant. Regarding the Berber people, what was the difference between the status afforded a national language and an official language?

The Committee also expressed a desire for more detailed information on youth unemployment and unemployment among indigenous groups. There were also reports that 25 per cent of the population in Algeria lived below the poverty line, so if they had already reached that Millennium Development Goal did that mean that 50 per cent of their citizens lived below the poverty line before?

A Committee Expert asked whether the delegation had an opinion on whether the absence of economic, social and cultural rights played a role in fuelling terrorism in the country.

Experts asked the delegation what programmes were being put in place to help and protect the growing number of women who were living on the street and women with disabled children. Also, polygamy was still allowed as a cultural norm in Algeria so how did this impact the equality of women?

A Committee Expert asked the delegation to please explain whether the Algerian State had considered rescinding the state of emergency that the country had been under for 18 years and whether any of the conditions that necessitated the state of emergency had changed at all.

Response by Delegation

IDRISS JAZAIRY, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that mention was made of what was called the “Berber issue” and indigenous populations. The notion of indigenous populations was not a scientific one. The history of Algeria was similar to what happened in the Balkans with an ethnic Slav population, some of which was influenced by the Turkish civilization and Islam and some who were Christian. In Algeria they were all of Arab origin, but through successive waves of military action and pervasiveness of trade routes some took on certain religions and cultural aspects while those in more remote regions did not.

There was a question as to why Tamazight was designated a national language and not an official language. The issue was that they would then have to make all documents available in all the dialects of the language and the three different types of script for graphic support. They had already made great strides in recognizing this language and preserving the culture, but they did not wish to see it used as a political platform. More could be done, but to give the Committee some context, in 1995 there were 30,000 students receiving Tamazight training and in 2010 there were 244,000. This was not just determined by the Government, but families also had to decide how much emphasis they wanted to put on preserving cultural identity or sending their kids to other types of training that would allow them to get a job.

Responding to the Committee’s questions on the issue of displacement, Mr. Jazairy said this was related to the dark decade of the 1990s when the population in remote areas was under attack from terrorist groups. As a result people moved to the cities and they lost their property to the terrorist groups that wreaked havoc in many villages. The State was trying to address the issue with the accelerated building of housing and by providing other forms of assistance to allow affected people to rebuild their lives and to re-launch rural development in regions affected by terrorism.

In terms of reducing the poverty rate, based on the United Nations’ definition of the Millennium Development Goals of reducing extreme poverty by half, Algeria had achieved this goal.

Turning to unemployment, the delegation’s figures differed from those used by the Committee. Unemployment of young people was higher in Algeria in comparison to other countries, but compared to what it was a few years ago there had been great improvement. Female unemployment was about 16 per cent, but more than 1.2 million women were in the work force in various sectors, more than 5,000 women had accessed microcredit and more than 11,000 women had launched their own enterprises, all of which showed that women were fully involved in the workforce. The delegation said that one had to also look at job creation and with the new labour provisions the Government had put into place over 900,000 jobs had been created and this was largely focused on young people. The delegation also said that economic forecasts showed that 3 million jobs would be created between 2010 and 2014.

With regards to the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the delegation attempted to answer the various questions raised by the Committee. This body was created in 2006 by presidential decree during very turbulent times when there was a great deal of terrorist activity that ravaged the country. The purpose of this body was to help align the Government with the Paris Principles, to perform monitoring and early warning activities as well as to provide assessments of the human rights situation in Algeria. It looked at situations where human rights were violated, it suggested steps that could be taken by competent authorities, and the body enjoyed financial autonomy. The central principle that governed the appointment of members was pluralism to ensure diverse representation in terms of experience in human rights and high moral authority. The Commission had 45 members and women make up more than a third of the membership with 16 members. The delegation said the Commission consisted of five sub-commissions including legal affairs, protection on human rights, education, mediation and external relations and cooperation. In terms of reporting mechanisms, periodic reports were presented to the President and these reports were then made public and posted on the organization’s website.

The delegation said that they would try to make their contributions available in writing to the Committee within the next 24 hours. One of the issues that was raised by the Committee and deserved to be addressed was the question of the independence of the judiciary in the Algerian system. The issue of the independence of the judiciary could also be taken as a political slogan, but demonstrations in Algeria, which often had to do with the improvement of relative conditions, should not be taken as an expression or one should not conclude from them that the judiciary was not independent. In an emerging democracy it was evidence of freedom of expression and people who felt comfortable taking to the streets to complain. Demonstrations happened in Europe and other places, so why should they be seen as an expression of a lack of an independent judiciary in Algeria and a sign of freedom in Europe?

The Constitution guaranteed the freedom and independence of the judiciary and protected judges from all forms of pressure and undue influence. The impartiality of judges was guaranteed and they were not permitted to belong to political parties, participate in political activities or own companies as that could present a conflict of interests. Judges were competitively recruited based on competency and they had to have three years of training to become a magistrate. Regarding training in human rights for magistrates and public authorities, this had an important place in the independence of the judiciary. There was a training programme in place through the university and additional training abroad was available as well in countries such as Spain, Belgium and the United States. There had also been a number of experts who had provided short courses and additional training to the judges in areas such as fundamental freedoms, economic, social and cultural freedoms, the right to work, and the rights of the child which was provided by UNICEF.

In terms of equality between men and women, dissolution of marriages, and inheritance rights, the delegation said the Algerian Government had expressed some reservations about laws in the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women that might run counter to Algerian family law. The 2000 decade was marked by certain enhancements of provisions for women and their families. In 2006 for example, they created a National Council for Women and Families with the aim of improving the condition of women at the public and social levels. In 2008 a national strategy was implemented for the integration of women and to combat violence against women and there were also shelters established for victims of abuse and domestic violence. This national strategy represented a coordinated intervention effort across societal sectors.

Concerning corruption in Algeria, the delegation said Algeria was one of the first countries to ratify the Convention against Corruption and combating corruption was a fundamental priority of the Government. Part of the strategy against corruption included implementation of good governance principles, but there was still a need to put in place mechanisms and prevention policies at the national and international level. There were also criminal statutes for public figures who did not declare their assets and if the declaration was incomplete or false they would be in violation of the law. The delegation said it did not have statistics available at the moment on corruption convictions, but they could provide this data at some later point.

Turning to questions surrounding the state of emergency, the delegation explained that the state of emergency was enacted in the context of widespread terrorist crimes in the 1990s and this was done in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It was done to protect the right to life and state stability, not to deprive people of their freedoms. All the measures that were observed under the state of emergency such as curfews, special courts and security camps were eliminated in 1995 so the only measure that was still in place was that certain police functions were still delegated to the army to help combat the pockets of terrorism that remained in the more rural areas of the country.

Algeria had been pursuing a development policy to remove regional disparities that were vestiges of colonialism which had established prosperous regions where the colonialists lived and neglected regions where production was not widespread. There was a special fund for development, which was derived from 3 per cent of the oil income, for the development of neglected regions, incentives for employers and developers in isolated regions such as the south of the country, and programmes for disadvantaged school children. The rural development programme had also provided grants for housing units and there were also major regional transfers to ensure access to clean drinking water. In addition to providing clean drinking water, these water projects had also made it possible to provide irrigation water to increase agricultural production. Four university centres had also been established in the south, one of which supported grant receiving students from sub Saharan Africa and vocational training had been increased.

Regarding the question of whether the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had been invoked in any court rulings, the answer was no and the reason given by the delegation was that major progress has been made in harmonizing national legislation with the provisions of the Covenant, so when people brought court cases there was already a legal basis enshrined in the national laws. The delegation did point out that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights had been invoked by the Supreme Court and following that ruling the laws were amended to bring them in line with the Covenant.

In terms of why Algeria had not ratified the Optional Protocol to the Covenant, the delegation asked the Committee to please be understanding of their capacity as a developing country. Presenting all the various reports and replies posed a challenge to a country with their limited resources.

Questions by Experts

Committee Experts said that it appeared there were still very high levels of youth unemployment and several measures had been taken to combat this, but had there been any evaluation on how effective these measures had been in reducing the unemployment level among young people?

An Expert observed that there seemed to be an inordinately long period required to work before qualifying for unemployment benefits and that many people appeared to be left out of the benefit scheme and wanted to know what sort of protections were these people entitled to and what happened to people once unemployment insurance ran out after 36 months? Also, there were many unemployment applications that seemed to be rejected. Could the delegation clarify why this was the case?

Lastly, the Committee inquired as to whether the minimum wage provided an adequate standard of living in the country, and if so why did so many Algerians immigrate to other countries? The Committee also pointed to the high number of strikes, all of which were related to remuneration. The delegation was also asked why the union participation rate had dropped in the last few years. In addition, an Expert wanted to know when a strike was called whether the authorities had to be informed beforehand and how many unions were there in the country.

Response by Delegation

The delegation said the current minimum wage of 15,000 dinar had been in place since January 2010 and as the name implied it was just that - the minimum. The average income in Algeria was 28,000 dinar so the 15,000 dinar was a benchmark salary for the formal sector. There were about 1 million workers in the informal sector and these were not people they could easily define, thus it was difficult to quantify how much they earned. There was a 1997 decree that regulated working from home and these workers were mainly women who had children, and the law stipulated that these workers had the same protections as other workers such as the right to social security and right to holidays.

In terms of trade unions, the delegation said to date there were 58 registered trade unions that covered over 1.5 million employees and 23 organizations that represented employers. These groups were required to register with the Ministry of Labour and the administration had 30 days to certify the registration and grant the union its certification. If the union did not meet the legal requirements they were informed within a month and given the opportunity to bring their application into compliance with the law. They could then resubmit the application with the requisite paperwork and it would be approved without problem. The Ministry of Labour worked in consultation with trade unions on any decisions that would affect their membership so they also played a consultative role. There had also been issues of intra-union conflict and these issues were settled by the Supreme Court.

The national fund for unemployment benefits was established in the 1990s and around this time there were major staff cuts and thousands of people had to be provided with unemployment benefits. The State managed to provide benefits for people despite the fact that the International Monetary Fund had imposed austerity measures as a precondition for any loans. People had to work for three years as a permanent employee in a company to receive unemployment benefits and people on short term contracts were not entitled to unemployment payments at all.

The delegation addressed the issue of youth unemployment by saying that the Government had implemented various measures to integrate young people into the workforce including incentive programmes for employers to hire young people and micro-financing for young entrepreneurs to help them launch their own businesses, which in turn led to job creation. There were also programmes in rural areas that targeted women in particular to help them transition from welfare to work. Regional and international trade agreements had also been enacted to help boost employment, but the delegation cautioned that this had to be done with a great deal of caution to ensure that they did in fact generate jobs and investment in Algeria and boosted national production, rather than just increase imports and create jobs abroad. Algeria was also attempting to join the World Trade Organization. The Government had taken a gamble with the development of infrastructure in the hopes that it would create an environment at the local level that fostered a more competitive private sector.

A Committee member had asked the delegation what impact the state of emergency had on trade union rights and the delegation said there had been no effect at all and this was evidenced by the numerous strikes in the country.

Questions by Experts
A Committee Expert wanted to know how families of disappeared persons could prove the death of a disappeared family member in order to collect social security benefits.

The delegation was asked what difficulties people faced in trying to form trade unions and what could be done to remove these obstacles.

A Committee Expert pointed out that it was important that everyone, not just members of the judiciary and public officials, be educated on human rights. Was there any human rights education for members of the public about their entitlements under various treaties the State was party to?

The Committee requested that the delegation elaborate on what happened to people whose unemployment benefits ran out after 36 months and they had not found a job, had not started their own business using microfinance, or did not work from home.

Response by Delegation

The delegation said that education on human rights was introduced at the primary school level as a way of educating the citizenry about their rights.

In terms of social security benefits for family members of the disappeared, even if the disappeared bodies had not been found the families concerned could get a decision from the courts recognizing the situation and on that basis the family was entitled to receive a series of compensations. The delegation could provide further details to the Committee.

Looking at the unemployment benefit, it also provided job search assistance to out of work people to increase their chances of finding work within the 36 month unemployment benefit period.

Regarding obstacles to trade union creation, the State was currently in the process of revising the labour law to streamline the administrative process. The law was clear regarding the right to establish unions, but perhaps any barriers that people felt were in place could be addressed by streamlining the administrative process.

Questions by Experts

An Expert wanted to know whether price supports were fixed or flexible, whether they followed the consumer price index and what impact they had on international cooperation agreements.

A Committee Expert pointed out that the delegation had not provided disaggregated figures on poverty broken down by gender, age, and other factors so that they could determine who the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups were. What was the present rate of poverty in Algeria and did the State’s poverty eradication policy integrate economic, social and cultural rights?

The Committee also felt that insufficient data had been provided on housing, forced evictions, homelessness, and access to sanitation and clean water. The delegation was asked to please provide this data and to also to respond to the question of how the acute housing shortage impacted corruption as people waiting for housing might be willing to bribe officials to move up the waiting list more quickly. For those who are forcibly evicted from slums and tenements, what resources were provided to them?

In light of the terrorist violence that had been endured by the country, the Committee wanted to know what concrete rehabilitative steps had been taken in providing psychological and psychiatric help for people suffering as a result of the violence. In addition, what had been done to provide mental health, geriatric health for elderly people, health for marginalized and disadvantaged groups and women? Also, had anything been done to ameliorate the salaries of hospital staff which reports described as substandard?

An Expert pointed out that Algeria’s report said that the rights of people in detention had been improved, but were there concrete figures on how the situation had changed?

The delegation was asked whether there were any plans to outlaw polygamy and how did women have the same rights as men when seeking a divorce? Were there any developments on the minimum legal marriage age and any laws preventing corporal punishment at home?

In terms of public health policies, the Committee wanted to know if there were any public healthcare campaigns to promote healthy lifestyles and any discussion of prohibiting smoking in public places. The Committee was also interested in details on the State’s approach to drug addiction. Was it one of criminalization or treatment?

Looking at the rights of children, the delegation was asked to elaborate on the status of children born out of wedlock or born to nomadic parents and what was being done to raise awareness of child labour and to provide alternatives for families so they did not feel that child labour was their only option. Also, what happened when child labour in a certain sector or area was discovered?

A Committee Expert also asked if the delegation could comment on the disparity between health costs and health reimbursements by social security, as it appeared to pose financial difficulties for families.

Response By Delegation

Concerning the housing occupation rate today, the delegation said everything was relative. Algeria was a developing country and they had had dizzying birth rate growth. The delegation apologized for the lack of data on housing as they had had problems in the past collecting all the requisite statistics.

The delegation addressed the lack of clean drinking water for 15 per cent of inhabitants by saying that the State had increased the number of people linked to public networks to 85 per cent via 100,000 kilometres of water pipelines which carried 60,000 cubic meters per day. The sanitation network had also increased, with 86 per cent of people now linked to the network.

The State was working on demolishing substandard housing and replacing it with adequate housing units. There had been an increase of 1.9 million housing units, a rise of 36 per cent. The situation also had to be understood in the context of the population growth that Algeria had experienced over the last decade. There were 560,000 housing units described as precarious according to the last housing census and a programme had been adopted to address this issue by building more than 300,000 new rental housing units and rehabilitating more than 100,000 existing units which required only refurbishment to be deemed habitable. The delegation wanted to stress that there were no evictions and re-housing was done as newly constructed units were finished. The housing allocation process was fully transparent and there was a regulatory, legal framework in place and strict eligibility criteria to determine how these public rental units were allotted.

The delegation noted that the questions on polygamy, grounds for divorce, minimum age of marriage for girls, corporal punishment, domestic violence and registration of children born out of wedlock or to nomadic parents were asked as a cluster, and the delegation would attempt to answer them together. The family code was changed so that 18 years of age became the age of legal capacity for both men and women. There were also new rules added to the family code regarding polygamy. The husband was now required to obtain permission for a second marriage from the court and their first spouse. The marriage would be annulled if the husband did not get the judge’s permission. In terms of divorce, women could now initiate legal proceedings on any one of nine grounds and judges had been granted more flexibility in terms of ruling on these requests by women.

Regarding children born out of wedlock, the delegation replied that they had the right to proper legal status under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Registration had to be done within five days of birth and if the father’s name was known it would be added to the birth certificate and if not the mother specified the last name. If the parents were unknown, the office of civil service would designate the child’s name. Foster parents or adoptive parents could also give a child their surname. The same rules had to be followed for children born to nomadic families and there were regional offices set up to facilitate the registration process in a timely manner.

With regards to public health, providing mental health and drug addiction treatment were an important dimension of taking care of the population, including provisions for mental health in prisons. The State employed a multi-sector approach because drug abuse went beyond healthcare and was a social and cultural issue as well. There were six intermediary centres for drug addiction and three regional therapy and detoxification centres which would increase to 15 by 2014. In terms of criminalizing drug addiction or treating it, the delegation said that when a drug addict was sentenced they had a choice between jail time and treatment. The State saw it as a disease and treated it as such. The Government was working on banning the use of tobacco in public spaces and there was a draft revision of the labour code that would prohibit the use of tobacco in these areas.

The delegation told the Committee there had been major advances in making healthcare more accessible and increasing coverage of the population. The number of medical specialists in the country had increased as had the number of general practitioners, hospital beds and paramedics. Regarding salaries for medical staff, there had been a pay raise for all civil servants including public health workers.

Question by Experts

The Committee asked if the delegation could please respond to the cost of healthcare and how that was tied to social security.

Response By Delegation

The delegation, responding to questions, said all persons who performed paid work in Algeria were affiliated with the social security system. Social security contributed to the funding of hospital care provided to beneficiaries and their dependents.

On the topic of homelessness, the delegation said the Ministry of Solidarity took care of all people in vulnerable situations. The structure of the Ministry was recently amended to better serve Algerian society so that there was a department dealing with disabled people, one dealing with social cohesion and the family, and one dealing with persons living abroad. The phenomenon of homelessness was one that was steadily growing and 299 centres had been established to take care of these people. These centres were spread across the country and some of them specialized in care for the elderly, disabled, street children and battered women. There were also shelters for women who may have been expelled from their homes or had social problems, but there were some people who were reluctant to go these shelters or refused. Still, there were 2,000 people of all ages per month who went to these shelters. The Government employed doctors, psychologists and sociologists to work with the homeless and to provide care and support and help them with social reintegration. Homeless people could stay in these shelters for up to one week.

Regarding the number of Algerians living abroad, the delegation offered the historical perspective that Algeria had always been an immigration country, but it had now become an emigration country as well, particularly for immigrants from sub Saharan Africa.

In response to a question by a Committee Expert on a programme for debt relief for farmers, the delegation explained that in Algeria, farmers were subjected to climactic fluctuations that farmers in other regions did not face. The rainfall in Algeria and other countries in the region was extremely unpredictable so there had been some measures that had been applied by the Governments of Algeria, Tunisia and other countries when the drought had an adverse impact on farmers. The delegation would attempt to supply more detailed information.

Answering a question on what the International Monetary Fund thought of subsidies for farmers, the delegation said that as Algeria had no external debt, the International Monetary Fund did not have much leverage in terms of influencing subsidy policies. The World Trade Organization however, had asked Algeria to phase out these subsidies.

In terms of compensation of victims of terrorist acts, there was a 2006 presidential decree that covered the needs of victims as well as terrorists’ families. The law also provided for the reintegration or compensation of persons who had lost their employment due to the national tragedy.

Questions by Experts

A Committee Expert asked whether the right to free education applied to all children or only to Algerian nationals? What measures had been taken to close the gap between rural and urban education? Also, why was the dropout rate so high and what was being done about it and why was the enrolment of girls in pre-school so low? The Committee also asked the delegation if they could explain how they allocated money for education and what was the amount of money budgeted for university education? Also, was there still only one television channel in Algeria? With the high rates of illiteracy in the country, what access did people have to information if there was only one television station?

The Committee asked why domestic violence was not seen as an offence despite the fact that it had been recommended to Algeria repeatedly that conjugal violence be made an offence punishable under the law. Also, what was being done in the area of reproductive education?

The delegation was asked what would be the difference if Tamazight was made an official language rather than a national language. Would there be more teachers in the language; would it be on the same level as Arabic in terms of legal recognition?

The Committee inquired if there were measures in place to ensure access to cultural life across the country. Did the Berber people have the right to exercise their cultural rights?

Response By Delegation

Regarding the Berber people, the delegation explained that they were called Tamazight in Algeria. The first to call them Berbers were Romans who said they were barbaric and that’s how the name came about. During the French occupation they lost both the Arabic and Tamazight cultures. The delegation felt that in diversity there was beauty. This was an issue of cultural rights and when one politicized language the result was the Belgian syndrome. After independence from the French there was some reluctance to recognize cultural diversity because there was a fear that this would divide the country and break it apart at a time when it needed to be united. In fact, the key to resistance against the French was making no distinction between any Algerian people. Now they wanted to move forward and use diversity as a source of inspiration for the country and access modernity, not just in French and Arabic, but in English as well. There were many Tamazight speaking courts as there were many regions of the country with large Berber populations. The issue was an administrative one because once you started printing documents in Tamazight you had to do so in all the different dialects and all the different scripts which presented difficulties as they could not afford this as a developing country. The delegation said there were enough problems expressing themselves in Arabic because they were disposed by the French so this would be difficult. The situation was not perfect, but an effort was being made at inclusion. Cultural life was not being hampered, but there were some non-governmental organizations that wanted to transpose this to politics.

In terms of education, it was available to all children not just Algerian children and it was true that the quality of education varied by region. The State recognized this and was trying to address the issue.

The delegation recognised that the dropout rate from schools was high, but there were many factors that led to this, not least of which was the lure of the informal economy. The State offered incentives, including financial ones, for families to keep their children in school, but the informal sector had become very attractive so many children asked why they should complete their education when they could earn money in the grey market, often times making more than doctors and professors. It made economic sense for them even if intellectually it did not make sense for those here discussing these issues. There was also vocational training available as a way of keeping students in school as long as possible. Algeria was currently among the countries to have achieved the Millennium Development Goal of free, universal primary education. Girls represented 47 per cent of children in primary education and 49 per cent across all levels of education and they comprised the majority of university enrolment. Primary school enrolment overall was 97 per cent.

In terms of the education budget, current expenditures were 390 billion dinar compared to 220 billion in 2006 which was higher than the defence budget. The State spent more on the future than guns.

As regards domestic violence, the State was not insensitive to this matter and there were specific strategies to combat violence against women. There were also statutes punishing violence, domestic or otherwise.

In terms of access to culture, this was facilitated by three factors, one of which was the availability of infrastructure such as libraries, cultural houses and theatres. The decentralization of culture also provided access as there were festivals across the country and people were not obliged to travel far to participate in cultural activities, all of which were free. There were several TV channels in the country in Arabic, French and Tamazight and people had free and unfettered access to satellite television and there was complete access to the Internet. On the question of artistic and literary production in Tamazight, virtually one quarter of books published were in Tamazight so there were no obstacles or barriers to cultural production in this language.

Questions by Experts

The Committee posed two follow up questions on education, including what educational programmes were available for sexual and reproductive health and what percentage of the national budget went to the education budget?

Response By Delegation

Responding, the delegation said that in Algeria, health education had been introduced into the school system where children were taught reproductive health. They were 1,400 different diagnostic centres to deal with health and sexual issues of young people, including ones on college campuses. Centres for young people had been established with counselling available as well as emergency contraception and educational resources. The country also had projects in conjunction with the World Health Organization and had quadrupled its spending on healthcare.

In response to the Committee’s request for a percentage of the budget spent on education, the delegation calculated that 28 per cent of the total budget was spent on education.

Responding to a question on why, in light of what the delegation had explained about the Tamazight people, did they insist on portraying themselves as a separate ethnic group, the delegation said there were the cultural aspects and the political aspects to this question and some people preferred to highlight the political aspects. When someone wanted to promote a brand they used what was at their disposal and this was part of freedom of expression.

Closing Remarks

JAIME MARCHAN ROMERO, Committee Chairperson, in closing remarks, said the Committee’s observations would be released on the last Friday of the third week of the session and they would highlight areas in which progress had been made but also highlight areas of concern and recommendations to help the State overcome these difficulties. The Committee hoped the concluding observations would be taken back to Algeria and presented not only to governmental bodies, but also to civil society groups as they were stakeholders as well. All the questions the Committee had asked were to ensure that it received answers in their field of competence. The Chairperson thanked the delegation for recommending ways in which the Committee could improve its working methods and said it had been a very fruitful dialogue marked by extensive answers from the delegation.

IDRISS JAZAIRY, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva,
in closing remarks, said the delegation of Algeria had enjoyed its engagement with the Committee and it would take into account the Committee’s recommendation to improve its data collection in order to provide more thorough information in future reports.

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For use of the information media; not an official record