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Title: Algeria Human Rights Practices, 1995
Author: U.S. Department of State
Date: March 1996
ALGERIA
Since shortly after independence in 1962, political power has been
controlled by Algeria's military leadership, supported by the
bureaucracy and remnants of the National Liberation Front (FLN), the
former ruling party. The Constitution, adopted in 1989, provided for a
transition from this military-based, one-party Socialist state to a
multiparty parliamentary system. However, democratization was suspended
in 1992 when the Army intervened, forced the president to resign,
canceled the second round of parliamentary elections which the Islamic
Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win, and installed a five-man High
State Committee. Subsequently, this ruling Committee imposed a state of
emergency, banned the FIS as a political organization, and jailed most
of its leaders. Since 1992, fighting has continued between the security
forces and armed Islamist groups seeking the overthrow of the Government
and the imposition of a fundamentalist Islamic state.
In 1994 the Army leadership replaced the High Committee with Liamine
Zeroual, a former general, who became president of a "transitional"
government. Zeroual tried to find a political solution with the major
legal parties and the FIS, and undertook some limited confidence-
building measures. He conditioned release of FIS leaders from prison,
and their inclusion in multiparty discussions, on their calling for an
end to political violence. Late in 1994, Zeroual announced that a
national dialog for a political resolution to the crisis had failed, and
that presidential elections would be held in 1995. He rejected "totally
and in detail" the "national compact," a proposal for negotiating a
political solution, adopted by opposition parties at a meeting in Italy
sponsored by the Sant'Egidio Society in January. These parties included
representatives of the FIS and FLN, the Socialist Forces Front (FFS),
which is supported mainly by Berbers, as well as several smaller
parties.
The Government tried without success to convince the Sant'Egidio parties
to participate in the presidential election. Four candidates officially
received the 75,000 signatures needed to appear on the ballot of the
country's first pluralist presidential election. After an intense and
widely-publicized campaign lasting 3 weeks, nearly 75 percent of the
electorate voted on November 16. President Zeroual obtained over 60
percent of the votes, according to government figures. While there
appears to have been little coercion of the 12 million voters, losing
candidates claimed that there were instances of localized election
fraud, but insufficient to alter the outcome. In his inaugural address,
President Zeroual called for legislative elections and promised to move
toward full democracy in the future.
The Government's security apparatus is composed of the newly formed
Communal Guards (a local police), the police, the gendarmerie, and the
army, air force, and navy, all of which are involved in efforts to
repress the Islamist insurgency and combat terrorism. The security
forces were implicated in torture, arbitrary arrest, and extrajudicial
killing.
Spurred by government reforms, the economy is evolving slowly from a
centrally planned system to a more market-oriented system. However,
government-owned industry still dominates the economy. In 1995 the
state-owned hydrocarbon industry alone constituted about one-fourth of
gross domestic product and earned 97 percent of the country's export
revenues. The Government's contractionary fiscal and monetary policies
in 1995 hit the state sector hard, as the Government reduced its
financial support to debt-ridden firms. Some of these companies laid
off excess workers and limited salary increases during the year.
Algeria is a middle-income country, with an annual per capita income of
about $1,700. Unemployment rose in 1995, especially among younger
workers. About 70 percent of persons under 30 could not find adequate
employment. Some of them made a living from petty smuggling or peddling
goods on the street.
A broadly accepted estimate is that an average of 10,000 people have
been killed every year since the beginning of the unrest. One estimate
indicates that nearly 50,000 Algerians had been killed by the fall of
1995.
There is convincing evidence that the security forces carried out dozens
of extrajudicial killings and often tortured and otherwise abused
detainees. While the Government continues to use its emergency law
powers to detain hundreds of suspected Islamists, it closed the last
remaining detention camp in November and released the 641 prisoners held
there. The Government continues to restrict freedoms of assembly,
religion, press, and movement, and the Family Code discriminates against
women. The Government has promised legislative and local elections, but
has not yet set a date. In contrast to previous years, there was only
one report of anti-Islamist vigilante groups killing Islamists and their
sympathizers. Domestic violence against women remains a serious
problem.
Terrorists carried out widespread attacks on civilians. They
assassinated political figures, journalists, academics, and thousands of
other civilians as well as 20 foreigners. According to press reports,
they kidnaped and raped young women, forcing them to become mistresses
of group leaders. Insurgents used car bombs and other devices to attack
electric pylons, telephone exchanges, schools, bridges, police and
military headquarters, local government offices, and railroad trains and
tracks. Car bombs caused hundreds of civilian deaths. In addition,
some armed groups are composed of ordinary criminals who have exploited
the general breakdown in law and order.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There is credible evidence that security forces continued to commit
extrajudicial killings of persons involved in, or suspected of,
terrorism. In February the Minister of Justice announced that 96
prisoners were killed and 10 wounded during a disturbance at the
Serkadji Jail, a facility which houses prisoners condemned to death for
terrorism. The prisoners killed four guards during the disturbance.
The Government has not made public a list of those killed, nor has it
released the report of a special committee which investigated events at
Serkadji. However, the National Observatory for Human Rights (ONDH), a
government body which reports on human rights issues to the President,
released a report in May which supported the Minister's version that the
security forces quelled a prison riot.
Nevertheless, lawyers for the victims and their families issued a report
in July claiming that the Government had spurned a peaceful settlement
during the disturbance, and that the security forces deliberately killed
over 100 prisoners even after the disturbance was quelled. The lawyers
also claimed that prison authorities systematically removed or destroyed
evidence. The Government has not responded to the lawyers' charges or
to calls by Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch for an
independent investigation. An AI medical delegation visiting Algeria in
March requested permission to visit Serkadji Prison and interview
surviving detainees, but was denied access to Algerian jails.
The Government maintains that the security forces resort to lethal force
only in the context of armed clashes with terrorists. Nonetheless, ONDH
claims that during the year it provided President Zeroual with
information on "some tens" of cases of possible extrajudicial killings.
In other cases, ONDH was unable to determine the identity of the
perpetrators.
In July ONDH stated that a detainee in the Ain M'guel detention camp had
been killed and an investigation was underway.
In September Saghir Bouhadida, a former journalist, died under
suspicious circumstances while in police custody. Bouhadida was
arrested on June 11 on suspicion of membership in a terrorist group.
While in detention he reportedly gave the police information about a
terrorist cell, and in September led the police to a terrorist hideout.
The Government claims that Bouhadida was killed there in an exchange of
fire.
In 1994 ONDH provided the Ministry of Justice with information on 12
suspected extrajudicial killings. The Ministry responded to only one
case in 1995. In that case, a military tribunal found three security
officials guilty of the extrajudicial killing of several people and gave
them long jail sentences. ONDH did not receive information on the other
cases, despite President Zeroual's publicly stated assurances that human
rights violators would be punished.
The anti-Islamist, independent daily Liberte reported in October that
the self-defense committee in a village in eastern Algeria had
apprehended three men who allegedly participated in a terrorist attack
on the village. The committee executed the three without a trial.
Armed groups, most notably the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), killed
hundreds--perhaps thousands--of persons, including members of the
security forces and ordinary citizens. Terrorists attacked civilians
whom they regarded as instruments of the state or whose life styles they
considered in conflict with Islamic values.
Victims included politicians, teachers, tax collectors, entertainers,
government-appointed Islamic preachers, veterans of the war of
independence, journalists, intellectuals, the families of security
service personnel, and foreigners. The throats of many victims were cut
or their bodies were mutilated after death. Sometimes the victims'
severed heads would be discovered in one location and the bodies in
another. There were numerous reports of armed bands taking over
villages, destroying government buildings, raping women, and killing
inhabitants, including children.
During the year, armed groups killed a minor presidential candidate; the
president of the National Football Association; two members of the
Finance Committee of the National Transition Council (Algeria's
appointed parliament); a professor of Islamic law; the president of a
women's association; a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official; a professor
(a female) at the National Institute of Agronomy; the Director of
Training at the National School of Administration; a well-known sports
figure; active members of political parties; the imam of the Sidi-
Abderrahman Mosque; and a trade union leader who was also a member of
the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH).
In November terrorists killed a member of the Executive Committee of the
Socialist Forces Front, as well as workers in the election campaigns of
President Zeroual and Said Sadi, the candidate of the RCD party. The
president of the Algiers
Association of Private Practitioners was assassinated in his office on
November 26.
Armed groups intensified their attacks on journalists, killing at least
25 in 1995. Five of the victims worked for the state television company
and three for the state radio company. In March a gunman shot and
critically wounded a television journalist and her sister while the two
were waiting for a company car to take them to work. The journalist
died of her wounds 10 days later. A week after her death, the chief
editor of the Government's French language daily El Moudjahid was killed
on his way to work. Three journalists were killed within 48 hours on
September 3-4, and a television reporter and his wife were killed on
September 8. After these killings, independent newspapers suspended
publication for 3 days to protest the killings of journalists and demand
better police protection. Throughout the year, some journalists lived a
transient life, to avoid staying 2 nights in the same place. Since
1993, 54 Algerian journalists reportedly have been killed.
Terrorist groups killed 20 foreigners in 1995, compared to 74 in 1994.
Victims included Roman Catholic priests and nuns, businessmen, a
university professor, and construction workers. Terrorists attacked two
French nuns, both longtime residents of a violence-prone suburb of
Algiers, on November 10, killing one and critically injuring the other.
Terrorists also killed two Latvian sailors on November 30 and wounded a
third.
In addition to targeted killings, terrorist groups resorted to
indiscriminate violence, making greater use of bombs and car bombs in
1995 than in previous years. In January a suicide car bomb exploded in
a busy street in central Algiers, killing 42 and wounding 286. In March
a car bomb wounded 83 persons and destroyed 60 apartments in a building
housing police families. The GIA claimed responsibility for that
attack. A car bomb in May at Bachdjara, also directed at a housing area
for police, wounded 37 people. In August a car bomb aimed at the
Gendarmerie headquarters in central Algiers killed nine and wounded 104.
In September a bomb exploded under a locomotive near Algiers, killing 5
and injuring 11. In October gunmen opened fire on a crowded country
bus, killing 18 passengers, including three children, and wounding 15.
Also in October, car bombs exploded in the towns of Barki and Relizane,
and another exploded near a gendarmerie barracks in Rouiba, killing 6
and injuring 83. In November a car bomb exploded near a police station
in Souk El-Tenine, in the Kabylie region, killing 3 and wounding 7.
Fourteen people were killed in December by a car bomb in Ain Nadja. A
communique issued by the FIS condemnend that bombing.
b. Disappearance
The ONDH claimed that it received significantly more complaints about
disappearances in 1995 than in 1994 when it documented 116 cases of
disappearances allegedly caused by security force personnel. It
submitted information on all of these cases to the Ministries of Justice
and Interior; in some cases the Government responded to the ONDH
queries, but in others it did not. In many cases it was impossible to
determine whether the security forces or armed groups were responsible.
In July ONDH said that the security forces denied holding Djamal
Fahassi, a radio journalist, who disappeared on May 6. Fahassi was
reportedly a militant supporter of the FIS who had been fired from his
job at a state radio station. ONDH assumed that Fahassi was kidnaped by
armed groups; but many journalists believe he was arrested by the
security forces. Hadj Abdelkader Benaamane, an Algerian press service
reporter who disappeared in February, reappeared in July at his trial
before a military tribunal (see Section 1.e.).
Terrorist groups kidnaped hundreds of civilians. Sometimes their bodies
were found later, but often the victims disappeared and their families
have no information about their whereabouts.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment
Knowledgeable sources, including Amnesty International (AI) and all
three major Algerian human rights organizations--ONDH, LADDH, and the
Algerian League for Human Rights (LADH)--reported that the security
forces frequently used torture on detainees, especially suspected
Islamists, to extract confessions or to obtain information about the
activities of terrorist groups. The ONDH claimed that it provided the
Ministry of Justice with information on "tens" of cases of torture.
Evidence suggests that many alleged torture victims decline to press
charges against security officials for fear of reprisal against
themselves or their families.
In July the political parties that participated in the Sant'Egidio
conference charged that torture had become an integral part of police
investigations. The Government denies that torture is a matter of
policy or an accepted practice, but acknowledges that individual
security officials may commit "excesses." In January President Zeroual
ordered the prosecution of any official charged with using torture.
However, the Government has failed to condemn the use of torture
publicly, nor has it demonstrated that it investigates torture
allegations seriously. ONDH claimed that it submitted 17 torture cases
to the Ministry of Justice in 1994, of which
5 had been transferred to judicial proceedings. The
Government has not revealed whether torturers have been punished.
A commonly reported torture method is the use of the "chiffon," a cloth
stuffed into the victims mouth and saturated with dirty water. Other
torture techniques reportedly include electric shocks, beatings, the
pulling out of fingernails, burning with cigarettes or a blowtorch, and
the insertion of objects into the anus.
Hamas party officials complained to the media that security forces
arrested a party worker during the presidential election campaign and
tortured him to death. An autopsy reportedly revealed evidence of
torture. The Government did not deny the Hamas charges.
Terrorist groups have also abused persons under their control. For
example, the media reported that armed Islamist groups often raped women
when they took over control of towns and rural villages.
Prisons are overcrowded, but there is no reliable information to assess
other conditions. The Government does not permit independent monitoring
of prisons or detention centers by such humanitarian organizations as
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention. It
stipulates that incommunicado detention in criminal cases prior to
arraignment may not exceed 48 hours, after which the suspect must be
charged or released. However, under the state of emergency, the
security forces have arrested and detained thousands of persons.
According to the Antiterrorist Decree of 1992, the police may hold
detainees in prearraignment detention for 12 days and must inform them
of the charges against them. In practice, the security forces routinely
exceed the lawful detention limit.
In January ONDH announced that it had received 327 complaints in 1994
that detainees were held in prearraignment detention longer than 12
days.
When making arrests the security forces do not obtain warrants and
allegedly often refuse to identify themselves or to provide detainees'
relatives and lawyers with information about their whereabouts or well-
being. These practices are apparently permitted under the state of
emergency.
Under the state of emergency, the Minister of Interior is authorized to
detain suspects in special camps administered by the Army. The
Government announced on November 29 that it had closed Ain M'guel, the
last of these camps, and released the 641 men who were held there (see
Section 1.a.).
Exile is not a legal form of punishment and is not known to be
practiced.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, and in December,
President Zeroual promised new efforts to ensure that independence. The
judiciary is composed of the civil courts, which try misdemeanors and
felonies, and military courts, which have been known to try civilians
for terrorism offenses. There is also a Constitutional Council which
reviews the constitutionality of treaties, laws, and regulations, and
elections. Although the Council is not part of the judiciary, this
independent body has the power to nullify laws, etc., if they are found
unconstitutional.
Islamic law, or Shari'a, provides much of the basis for civil court
rulings in matters involving personal status, such as divorce or
inheritance.
Under the state of emergency, military courts are authorized to try
civilians accused of terrorism. The only known example of such a trial
this year occurred in July when a military court in Tamanrasset
sentenced Hadj Abdelkader Benaamane, a journalist, and at least two
other defendants, to 2 to 4 years in prison for publishing the place of
detention of the Vice President of the FIS, Ali Benhadj.
In February the Government abolished three special courts established to
try terrorism and subversion cases. Their jurisdiction was transferred
to the ordinary criminal courts. The President appoints civilian judges
on recommendations from the Higher Magistrate's Council, composed of the
President, the Minister of Justice, and various members of the
judiciary.
According to the Constitution of 1989, defendants are presumed innocent
until proven guilty. They have the right to legal counsel, are entitled
to be advised of the charges against them, have the right to confront
their accusers, may appeal the verdict, and trials are public. In
November the Minister of Justice admitted that 18,000 of the country's
34,000 prisoners have not yet been tried. About half of the prison
population is being held for alleged terrorist offenses. The courts
continued to hand down death sentences to those found guilty of
terrorism; however, executions were suspended in 1993.
Police subpoenas are not always delivered to those subpoenaed, and the
Government is unable to ensure their delivery. The law requires that
the Government provide lawyers for indigent defendants. Lawyers
representing Islamists have received death threats.
The former detainees of the Ain M'guel detention might be considered
political prisoners as most were arrested in 1992 for alleged
"subversive activities" and held without trial (see Section 1.d.).
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Although the Constitution provides for the inviolability of the home,
the state of emergency authorizes regional governors to issue
exceptional search warrants at any time. Security forces often enter
residences illegally. The Government fails to ensure that the police
adhere to lawful procedures for entering houses or monitoring
correspondence.
Armed insurgents often enter private homes either to kill or kidnap
residents or to steal weapons, valuables, or food.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press. The
state of emergency and the Antiterrorist Decree of December 1992 gave
the Government broad authority to restrict these freedoms and to take
legal action against what it considered to be threats to the State or
public order. Fear of arrest deters many journalists from reporting on
internal security developments, the Islamist movement, or the military
and security services, unless the information is provided by the
authorities. In February journalists reported that the Government had
assigned newspaper censors to prevent the publication of offending
articles.
Nonetheless, the press continued to report opinions contrary to the
government line. Commentary on the military is usually self-censored,
but some newspapers have published interviews with former military
officers who have criticized the current commanders.
The Government continued to suspend newspapers without providing reasons
for the closures, beyond vague accusations of undermining public order
or the interests of the State. The Government continues to restrict
news about the FIS, unless provided by government sources.
In November 1994, the Ministry of Interior suspended the publication of
the FLN newspaper, El Hiwar, and that newspaper did not resume
publication in 1995. In September, the FLN's Secretary General claimed
that the Ministry still had not provided him with a written suspension
order. Without it, the
FLN was not able to petition for the removal of the suspension order.
The Arabic weekly El Wadj El Akhar, suspended for a month in December
1994, was suspended again in 1995. It has not resumed publication.
In March the Government suspended the independent weekly, La Tribune,
because it did not publish an Arabic-language version as required by
law. After complaints that the law was applied selectively, the
Government lifted the ban.
Also in March, the Government began an investigation of the editors of
El Watan, Algeria's biggest newspaper, and El Khabar on unspecified
charges. The editors were placed under "judicial control," which
requires them to report periodically to their local police station. The
Government did not explain the purpose of the investigation, but the
editors speculated that they ran afoul of the authorities because El
Watan published an article about a scandal in the Public Health Service,
and El Khabar criticized the Ministry of Justice's handling of the
disturbance at Serkadji prison (see Section 1. a.).
In May the Government suspended the publication of the newspaper
Horizon, reportedly for publishing material that overstepped the
Government's news guidance.
In June the Government suspended the French-language El Ouma for 15
days, and the weekly La Nation and the monthly El Houria, each for a
month, allegedly for printing an announcement signed, inter alia, by the
FIS, of a public meeting of the Sant'Egidio parties. El Ouma reported
in June that in its 8 months of existence, the Government had suspended
its publication for 81 days.
Also in June, the Government suspended the publication of the newspaper
El Hadith, for 6 months reportedly because it had published a letter by
FIS Vice President Ali Benhadj, after the Government had denied the
existence of the letter.
In July the police arrested Sheikh Hocine Slimani, purportedly because
El Watan had published a description of his alleged role in facilitating
behind the scenes talks between the Government and the FIS in June.
Slimani was released after 24 hours but reportedly was placed under
judicial control.
In August the Government placed the managing editor of La Nation under
judicial control, after it published an interview with a senior FIS
official. The Interior Ministry prevented La Nation's October 18 issue
from appearing on news stands without explanation. Shortly thereafter,
the Ministry suspended two other issues of La Nation, again without
explanation. Observers speculated that the suspensions were ordered
because La Nation supported the Sant'Egidio parties' call for a boycott
of the November presidential election.
In December the authorities arrested the editor and a reporter at the
French-language newspaper, Liberte, apparently for discussing a possible
government appointment for one of the country's top generals in a gossip
column. They received suspended sentences of 4 months and 2 months,
respectively, and the newspaper was suspended for 15 days, even after it
apologized for reporting erroneous information about the general.
The Government further controls the press by its monopoly on newsprint,
printing presses, advertising, and newspaper distribution services.
Several newspapers ceased publication for financial reasons, which they
attributed to the government monopolies. Their problems were
exacerbated by shortages of newsprint and cuts in electricity.
The Government continued to curtail the public expression of views
supportive of the FIS. Two FIS publications banned in 1992 remain
suspended. However, communiques and bulletins from various Islamist
organizations, including the FIS and its armed wing, the Islamic
Salvation Army (AIS), circulated clandestinely. Islamist communiques
sometimes appear on the walls of mosques.
The press may report news related to the FIS only after the Government
has issued a news release about the FIS, as in the case of a series of
letters from FIS leaders to the Government. The press may also publish
without harassment when the news reports police successes against the
armed groups, or, in selected cases, when the news has already appeared
in print abroad.
Radio and television remained under government control, with coverage
biased in favor of the Government's policies. However, the state radio
and television allowed opposition presidential candidates to present
their views prior to the November presidential election. Because of the
widespread accessibility of satellite dish antennas, millions of
citizens have access to European broadcasts.
The terrorist campaign against journalists and academics continued to
constrain freedom of speech and press. In January the GIA reiterated
its threats against all journalists. Assailants murdered 25 journalists
in 1995. Many journalists received death threats and took security
precautions.
In April an unidentified group of armed Islamists seized a state
television relay station in western Algeria and broadcast their own
hour-long tape of Koranic verses before destroying the station's
transmitting equipment.
The exodus abroad of intellectuals and university educators to escape
threats continued throughout the year. As a result, there were few
academic seminars and colloquia.
According to the Government's latest figures, in 1994 terrorists
destroyed 915 primary and secondary school classrooms, 7 institutes of
research and development, 9 centers for professional training and 3
university administration buildings. Terrorists continued to target
schools in 1995.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Although the 1989 Constitution provides for the rights of assembly and
association, the Government has sharply curtailed these freedoms under
the Emergency Law.
In July the Government forbade two officials of the FIS to make any
public statements. A month earlier, the Government had ordered them not
to engage in further political activities after they had appeared on a
public platform with other figures of the Sant'Egidio parties.
Citizens and organizations must obtain a permit from the local
governor's office before holding public demonstrations. After review by
the Ministry of Interior, such permits are generally granted for
demonstrations against terrorism or in support of the Government. Legal
parties are not required to obtain permits to hold private meetings, but
in July and September the Government refused several parties permission
to hold a series of public meetings on human rights.
The Government allows Berber organizations to hold demonstrations only
in the Kabylie region, which has a large Berber population. In January
and February, it denied permission for two demonstrations sponsored by
the Berber Cultural Movement in the Algiers area.
The Ministry of Interior licenses all nongovernmental associations, and
regards all associations as illegal unless they have licenses. It may
deny a license to, or dissolve, any group regarded as a threat to the
existing political order.
After the Government suspended the parliamentary election in 1992, it
dissolved the FIS as a political party, and the social and charitable
groups associated with it. Membership in the FIS is illegal. However,
the Government itself has continued to meet periodically with FIS
leaders who are in detention.
According to a 1989 law, all citizens have the right to join political
organizations, except judges, army and security service personnel, and
members of the Constitutional Council. Most political groups, except
the banned FIS, conduct activities freely. Over 55 parties, including
some centrist Islamist parties such as Hamas, were active in 1995.
Other associations include specialized groups such as human rights and
women's rights groups, social welfare groups, and regionally based
cultural organizations.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution declares Islam to be the state religion but prohibits
discrimination based on religious belief. The Government respects this
right in practice. It permits the small Christian and Jewish
populations (numbering approximately 1,000 and 200 respectively) to
practice their faiths without interference.
In 1994 the GIA declared its intention to eliminate "Jews, Christians,
and Polytheists" from Algeria. The Christian community, composed mostly
of foreigners, curtailed its activities and evacuated some church
workers because of death threats. During the year, extremists killed
two Roman Catholic priests and three nuns, and wounded another nun.
Conversions from Islam to Christianity are rare. The Family Code
prohibits Muslim women from marrying non-Muslims, although Muslim men
may marry non-Muslim women. Because of legal problems and social
stigma, Muslim converts to Christianity practice their new faith
clandestinely. The Ministry of Religious Affairs appoints Islamic
preachers in both state and private mosques. It also proposes themes
for and monitors sermons.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation
The law provides for freedom of domestic and foreign travel and freedom
to emigrate. The Government generally respects these provisions,
although it imposes some restrictions on men of military age. Under the
Family Code, women under 19 years of age need their husband's or
father's permission to obtain a passport or travel abroad.
Under the state of emergency, the Minister of Interior and the
provincial governors may deny residency in certain districts to persons
regarded as threats to public order. A curfew first imposed in 1992
prohibits people from traveling in Algiers and the surrounding provinces
between midnight and 4 a.m.
In April the Government restricted travel by non-residents to four
southern provinces where much of the oil industry and many foreign
workers are located. Police checkpoints in the cities and countryside
routinely stop vehicles to inspect identification papers and search for
evidence of terrorist activity. Armed groups establish comparable false
checkpoints to rob travellers of cash and vehicles, or to kill them.
The Constitution provides for the right of political asylum, and the
Government has granted asylum in a few cases. The Government cooperates
with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugee Sahrawis, the former residents of
Western Sahara who left that territory after it was occupied by Morocco
in the 1970s, and Tuaregs, a nomadic people of southern Algeria and
neighboring countries. Some came from Mali to escape fighting in the
northern part of that country. There were no reports of forced
expulsion of those having a valid claim to refugee status.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Army's cancellation of the electoral process in 1992 effectively
denied citizens the right to change their government by legislative
election. Power remains in the hands of the military leadership,
supported by the bureaucracy, and some officials of the FLN, the former
ruling party. The military appointed all the members of the National
Transition Council, which functions as a quasi-parliament.
In November President Liamine Zeroual was elected to a 5-year term in
office, after obtaining over 60 percent of the vote in a multiparty
presidential election. Nearly 75 percent of the electorate cast their
ballots in an election that was generally considered to be free and
fair. In his inaugural address, President Zeroual pledged that Algeria
would continue to move toward full democracy, and announced his
intention to hold legislative and local elections.
Prior to the election, the Government clamped down on opposition parties
which called for their supporters to boycott it. When the FLN was
denied permission to hold a large party meeting, it complained that the
Government had impinged on its constitutional liberties. The Government
also clamped down on the media which supported the Sant'Egidio parties
(see Section 2.a.).
Few women hold high government positions. There are no women in the
Cabinet, but the highest government official responsible for family
matters is a woman. Fewer than 1 percent of the candidates for
parliamentary elections in the 1991 parliamentary election were women.
However, the head of the Labor Party is a woman, and the major political
parties have women's divisions. The Government changed the electoral
law to ensure that women cast their own ballots, rather than to permit
their husbands or fathers to do so for them, as frequently happened in
previous elections.
The Berbers, an important indigenous minority group, participate freely
and actively in the political process. Berbers hold influential
positions in the Government and the army. The Tuaregs, a people of
Berber origin, do not play as important a role in politics, due in large
part to their small numbers, estimated in the tens of thousands, and
their nomadic existence. Systemic or government-sanctioned barriers to
political participation do not exist against any minority group.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
There are two independent human rights groups: the Algerian League for
the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), whose president was spokesman of
the parties at the Sant'Egidio Conference, and the Algerian League of
Human Rights (LADH), which is largely moribund. Neither group issues
annual reports of its findings. A governmental body, the National
Observatory of Human Rights (ONDH), established in 1992, is charged with
reporting human rights developments directly to the President. The ONDH
submitted its first annual report to the President in 1994, but the
Government has not made it public.
Although the Government does not permit independent monitoring of
prisons or detention centers (see Section 1.c.), it allowed
representatives from AI to visit Algeria twice.
The Government claimed that AI has preconceived ideas about the conflict
in Algeria, and lacks evidence to support its allegations of human
rights abuses. The Government did not respond to calls by AI and other
international human rights groups for an independent investigation into
the disturbance at the Serkadji Prison (see Section 1.a.).
The Government's public interest in human rights increased in January
after the Sant'Egidio Conference. At that meeting, several political
parties and the FIS issued a "national compact" to end civil unrest, and
called for respect for human rights. Shortly afterwards, President
Zeroual ordered state entities to cooperate with investigations
conducted by ONDH, and indicated that the Government would prosecute any
official accused of violating unspecified "human rights." In June the
ONDH held a 2-day seminar to educate the public about human rights.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disablility,
Language, or Social Status
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on birth, race, sex,
belief, or any other personal or social condition. However, women
continue to face legal and social discrimination.
Women
Women's rights advocates assert that spousal violence is common,
although there are no reliable studies on the problem. Battered women
may file criminal charges or sue for divorce, but women's rights
advocates maintain that legal actions are rare because the courts are
generally lenient with abusive husbands.
Some aspects of the law and many traditional practices discriminate
against women. Women's rights advocates argue that the 1984 Family Code
violates the Constitution. Based on Islamic law, or Shari'a, it regards
women as minors under the legal guardianship of a husband or father.
Women do not have full legal responsibility for their children because
the father must sign all official documents. A woman's testimony in a
court of law does not equal a man's.
The Family Code also confirms the Islamic practice of allowing a man to
marry four wives--a rare occurrence. However, a wife may sue for
divorce if her husband does not inform her of his intent to marry
another wife. Only males are able to confer citizenship on their
children. In cases of divorce, the Code awards guardianship of the
children to the father, even though the mother is usually expected to
care for them until a son is 13 and a daughter is married.
Women may own businesses and enter into contracts. Women constitute
about 8 percent of the work force and pursue opportunities in
government, medicine, law, education, the media, and even in the armed
forces. Nonetheless, social pressure against women pursuing a career is
strong. According to government figures, women constitute 53 percent of
illiterates.
During the year, Islamists continued to pressure women to adopt Islamic
fundamentalist social norms. According to the Government, unidentified
assailants killed over 160 women in 1995. The GIA announced in March
that it would attack families of members of the security forces. They
have carried out that threat (see Section 1.a.). Extremists have also
killed those who own and operate hair salons and their clients.
Islamist groups reportedly raped women and forced some to serve as
mistresses of group leaders.
Children
The Government is committed in principle to protecting children's human
rights. It provides free education for children ages 6 to 15 and free
medical care for all citizens. The Ministry of Youth and Sports has
many programs for children, but those programs face serious funding
problems. Legal experts maintain that the Penal and Family Codes do not
offer children sufficient protection. Hospitals treat dozens of cases
of child abuse every year, but many cases are unreported. Laws against
child abuse have not led to notable prosecutions against offenders.
People with Disabilities
The Government does not mandate accessibility to buildings or government
services for people with disabilities. Public enterprises generally
ignore a law which requires that they reserve 1 percent of their jobs
for people with disabilities. The independent newspaper La Tribune
reported in May that the Government has ignored international standards
for treatment of people with disabilities. The ONDH is charged with
developing programs to provide unspecified "help" for people with
disabilities, but the project has not been given a high priority. The
Government also provides limited financial support to several
nongovernmental organizations that assist people with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The Berbers were the original inhabitants of Algeria, and many citizens
claim to be of mixed Berber and Arab ancestry. Berbers have sought to
maintain their own cultural identity and language in the face of the
Government's emphasis on the development of an Arab identity. In May
the Government created the High Commission for Berber Affairs. The move
followed a year-long school boycott in Berber areas, because there was
no instruction in Berber language and culture. The Commission has begun
implementing its mandate to promote Berber culture, and to introduce the
Berber language into the education and media. There have been
professorships in Berber language and culture at the University of Tizi
Ouzou for years.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Workers have the right to establish trade unions of their choice. About
two-thirds of the labor force belongs to unions. Workers are required
to obtain government approval to establish a union. After a labor union
receives its license, it must wait 6 months before it can start its
organizing activities. The Government limits some union activities. As
part of its crackdown on the FIS, the Government abolished an Islamist
union affiliated with the FIS, because it had never been licensed.
The law prohibits unions from associating with political parties. The
law also prohibits unions from receiving funds from foreign sources.
The courts are empowered to dissolve unions that engage in illegal
activities.
Under the state of emergency, the Government is empowered to require
workers in both the public and private sectors to stay at their jobs in
the event of an unauthorized or illegal strike. According to the 1990
Law on Industrial Relations, workers may strike only after 14 days of
mandatory conciliation, mediation, or arbitration. This law states that
arbitration decisions are binding on both parties. If no agreement is
reached in arbitration, the workers may legally strike after they vote
by secret ballot to do so. A minimum level of public services must be
maintained during public sector service strikes.
There were numerous local strikes and work stoppages by public-sector
workers, such as a strike in June and July by oil-sector workers. Most
ended quickly following mediation efforts involving government officials
and labor unions. The Government did not invoke the state of emergency
to block strikes; it only rarely retaliated against workers involved in
the stoppages.
Unions may form and join federations or confederations, affiliate with
international labor bodies, and develop relations with foreign labor
groups. The UGTA, for example, has contacts with French unions and the
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The law provides for collective bargaining for all unions. The
Government permits this right to be practiced.
The law prohibits discrimination by employers against union members and
organizers and provides mechanisms for resolving trade union complaints
of antiunion practices by employers. It further permits unions to
recruit members at the workplace.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Forced or compulsory labor is incompatible with the Constitution's
provisions on individual rights. The Penal Code prohibits compulsory
labor, and the Government effectively enforces the ban.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The minimum age for employment is 16 years. Inspectors from the
Ministry of Labor enforce the minimum employment age by periodic or
unannounced inspection visits to public sector enterprises, but do not
effectively enforce it in the agricultural or private sectors. Many
children are driven by economic necessity into informal employment, such
as street vending.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The law defines the overall framework for acceptable conditions of work,
but leaves specific agreements on wages, hours, and conditions of
employment to the discretion of employers in consultation with
employees. The Government fixes by decree a guaranteed monthly minimum
wage for all sectors. The minimum wage is $80 per month (4,000 dinars).
Ministry of Labor inspectors are responsible for ensuring compliance
with the minimum wage regulations, although they enforce these
provisions inconsistently.
Algeria has a 44-hour workweek and well developed occupation and health
regulations codified in a decree issued in 1991. However, government
inspectors do not enforce these regulations effectively.
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