UK barristers recognize right of Kabylia people to independence from Algeria

Leading UK barristers issued a legal opinion recognizing the right of the Kabylia people to self-determination, giving a push to the region’s independence quest.

The nearly 10 million strong Kabyle people have protested against discrimination and economic marginalization by the central Algerian state. The region’s independence movement MAK has a government in exile struggling peacefully for an independent state.

“[T]he people of Kabylia are ‘people’ under international law. As a consequence, the people of Kabylia have the human right to self-determination under international law,” Professor Robert McCorquodale of Brick Court Chambers and Ms. Penelope Nevill of Twenty Essex Chambers in London, said in the legal opinion.

This is the first independent legal acknowledgment of the Kabyle people’s status as a distinct group entitled to self-determination under international law.

It provides a credible and authoritative basis for the Kabyle movement’s claims and could influence future discussions in international legal and political forums.

The opinion is submitted amid intensifying crackdown in Algeria ahead of a presidential vote. Hundreds of MAK peaceful activists and sympathizers have been jailed on bogus charges.

Amnesty International has reported a significant crackdown on human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.

The Movement for Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK) welcomes this Legal Opinion as a historic validation of the Kabyle people’s right to self-determination and urges the international community to support their cause.

“We call on the international community to stand with us and support the Kabyle people’s right to determine their own future,” MAK leader Ferhat Mhenni said in a comment on the legal opinion.