On December 10, 2022, the world observes the 74th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It commemorates the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
As the world celebrates human rights day, serious human rights violations continue to be reported in Algeria and the struggle against oppression and repression continues to this day. Algerian authorities continue to arrest and imprison peaceful activists, human rights defenders, and journalists for their critical expression.
Torture and other ill-treatment continue to be used systematically by the “Military Security” and Courts increasingly resort to terrorism-related charges to prosecute and detain activists and journalists for their alleged ties with unregistered political organisations. The crackdown on civil society organisations and political parties connected to the “Hirak” pro-reform protest movement has intensified since December 2019.
SHOAA launched a 10-day online “advocacy campaign”, from December 1st to December 10th, to raise awareness of the human rights situation in Algeria, to pressure the Algerian government to accept the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights held in November 2022 without reservation, take constructive recommendations seriously, and actively work on their implementation in order to carry out reforms that guarantee all basic human rights.
The “advocacy campaign” focused on harassment, threats, arrests, detention and torture that human rights defenders and female defenders experience and the terrorism-related charges filed against them, for their legitimate activism or speech. The campaign has also focused on using Article 87 bis of the Penal Code, which doesn’t have a concise definition of terrorist acts, as a crackdown on human rights defenders and activists in Algeria. The campaign stressed restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of the press which are unjustified and broad, especially as more than 300 people have been arrested for exercising their right to free expression, peaceful assembly or association.
The campaign also focused on violence exercised against female human rights defenders through arrests of dozens of women and the imprisonment of more than 20 women, three of whom remain in prison. The campaign also highlighted the Algerian authorities’ crackdown on associations who they perceived as organizing activities that did not conform with the law, violation of Algerians’ right to freedom of peaceful demonstration and assembly and the abusive practices repeatedly used to restrict associations and freedom of civil society and association.
SHOAA advocacy campaign has addressed the file of the political prisoners since the 1990s, and of those abducted by the police and military and remain missing to this day.
As we commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we are well aware that the tasks ahead of us as human rights defenders are significant and immense. But we always look forward to the future with great optimism and hope that freedom, dignity and social justice will prevail in Algeria; especially as the concept of human rights has increasingly gained importance from Algerian people.
On this occasion, we call on the Algerian authorities to implement all the recommendations aimed at improving human rights situation in Algeria; therefore, we urge the Algerian authorities to:
- Stop the intimidation of human rights defenders so that they can carry out their legitimate right to expression without fear or harassment, and to release all human rights defenders immediately and unconditionally.
- Stop all persecution, arbitrary and unjust imprisonment and prosecution of female activists and to adopt the necessary legislative and policy measures to prevent any form of discrimination against women in Algeria.
- Repeal the broad provisions of the Penal Code that are widely used to criminalize freedom of expression.
- Ensure that the right to freedom of expression is exercised without fear or unlawful interference.
- Allow for peaceful protests without resorting to force and other unnecessary punitive measures and immediately release all those detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association or peaceful assembly.
- Remove all unjustified restrictions on civil society organisations’ ability to receive funding, end the arbitrary shutdown of those organisations, ensure freedom of association and release the new law on associations.
- Abolition of security regulations on travel bans to and from Algeria.
- Compliance with international instruments criminalising torture and the need to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and exclude the evidence of confessions or statements extracted under torture in courts.
- Abide by international treaties and not to delay the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
SHOAA for Human Rights
