The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) strongly condemns the repeated attacks on public freedoms ahead of the presidential election scheduled on 17 April 2014.
The right to peaceful assembly is severely hindered by a restrictive legal framework as well as by abusive practices repeatedly used by the authorities and police forces, as we highlighted in our last Regional Study: The right to freedom of assembly in the Euro-Mediterranean.
Between February and March, hundreds of demonstrators were detained in Algiers during demonstrations called by various civil society groups, including student groups, independent labour unions, SNAPAP’s Committee on Pre-employment, families of the disappeared, right-to-work activists, and Barakat, a pacifist group created in March 2014. Since mid-March, the authorities have stopped using excessive force to break up protests and several demonstrations have been tolerated even in the capital. However, public demonstrations are systematically surrounded by a disproportionate number of police officers, more to deter would-be participants than to protect the demonstrators or to maintain public order. On 5 April, a sit-in planned by an opponent whose candidacy had been invalidated by the Constitutional Council could not be held due to a large police presence deployed around the meeting venue where a meeting in support of the candidacy of Mr. Bouteflika was taking place.
Houari Djelouli, member of the National Committee for the Defence of the Rights of the Unemployed (CNDDC) appeared before the Appeal Court of Ouargla on 9 April “for having distributed leaflets likely to undermine national interest” under article 96 of the Algerian criminal code. He is liable to a jail sentence of up to 3 years and a fine of 36 000 Algerian dinars (about 360 €) for having distributed leaflets in which the CNDDC called for a sit-in before the wilaya of Ouargla on 11 April 2013 to demonstrate in favour of the right to work in a city affected by a high unemployment rate, in particular youth and graduate unemployment. The verdict is expected on 16 April.
EMHRN therefore calls upon the Algerian government to:
– guarantee the right of all Algerian citizens to assemble and to demonstrate peacefully in Algiers and elsewhere in the country, in particular during the election period, in accordance with the International Covenant on civil and political rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights ratified by Algeria;
– repeal the government decision of June 2001 that prohibits demonstrations in Algiers, in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression he made after his visit to Algeria in 2011;
– put an end to the judicial harassment of citizens who want to exercise their right to peaceful assembly as well as to all repressive measures and arbitrary arrests during public demonstrations.
In its latest progress report on Algeria, the European Union (EU) reported a deterioration of the situation of freedoms of assembly and association as well as the lack of implementation of the recommendations of the EU Election Observation Mission in 2012. As the EU is sending an election expert mission to Algeria, EMHRN calls upon it to take a firm stand amid a deterioration of the situation of human rights in Algeria and to call upon Algerian authorities to stop hindering the exercise of the freedoms of peaceful assembly, association and expression.
Context:
In the run-up to the presidential elections on April 17th, the Algerian authorities have set additional restrictions. In a circular dated 8 January 2014, the Ministry of the Interior listed 19 associations, including the the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), which will be required to obtain prior authorisation from the Ministry before holding public meetings. In addition, on 28 January 2014, Interior Minister Tayeb Belaïz announced before the Senate severe restrictions to the freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly that applied to both individuals and political parties and declared that “during the campaign, authorisations and public meeting rooms will be granted only to candidates whose status has been validated by the Constitutional Council”.
These wide-ranging limitations decreed by the government contravene Law 91-19 on public meetings and demonstrations which states that public meetings and demonstrations are merely subject to a declaration procedure, and that any restriction must be decided on a case by case basis taking into account the objective threat posed by a particular event.
As the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association said in his first report of 2013, dissension « is a legitimate part of the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, especially in the context of elections, as it is a unique opportunity for pluralist expression through peaceful means ».