UPR: 15 NGOs express serious concerns over gross human rights abuses in Algeria

Fifteen NGOs have expressed serious concerns over the gross violations of human rights in Algeria and denounced the responsibility of the Algerian army in the deterioration of human rights in the Tindouf camps.
In a joint statement released this Monday at the end of a roundtable held at La Maison des Associations in Geneva, NGOS accredited to the Human Rights Council, human rights watchdogs, migration experts, and human rights defenders noted that at the end of Algeria’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), they remain seriously concerned about the gross human rights violations in the country, including the right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, right of association and freedom of the press.

They also voiced concern over the non-compliance by the Algerian human rights council with the Paris Principles, human trafficking and systematic violations of migrants’ rights, all practices that were debated by the States during the UPR of Algeria, held on November 11, 2022.

Likewise, the signatories recalled the recommendations made during Algeria’s UPR, mainly the abrogation of the amendments it brought to its penal code in 2021, which contain a broad definition of terrorism and under which many peaceful dissidents are in jail on bogus terrorism charges; exprtessing in this connection concern over the reprisals suffered by the 250 prisoners of conscience accused of terrorism.

The UPR also urged Algeria to ratify some international instruments, such as the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against torture.

Regarding the treatment reserved by Algeria to Sub-Saharan migrants, they expressed outrage at the mass expulsion of more than 17,000 migrants sub-Saharan, urging the government to end systematic expulsion practices of migrants and their abandoning at “point zero” in the desert.

The joint statement signatories also brought up the situation in the Tindouf Camps, denouncing the recruitment of child soldiers and stressing the need for the host country to cooperate with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for the fate of children in armed conflict.
They urged the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to set up rehabilitation programs for child soldiers in the Tindouf Camps and make them benefit from specific protection measures against their exploitation by terrorist groups operating in the Sahel and Sahara region.

They likewise denounced the devolution of military, administrative and judicial powers in the camps to the polisario front, noting the responsibility of the Algerian army in the increase of serious human rights violations in the Tindouf camps, and calling on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to ensure respect for the civilian nature of the Tindouf camps and ensuring the census of the population.