Amnesty International Algeria: “Calls To Expel Africans Are Shocking, Shameful”

Amnesty International’s Algeria office confirmed on Wednesday that the campaign to expel African refugees from Algeria is “racist and shameful”.

“It is regrettable, shocking and shameful to find, on the occasion of the World Refugee Day, people who are leading a campaign against refugees and migrants from the African Sahel and the Great Sahara, and spreading calls for violence”, said Hassina Ousaddik, head of the organization’s office in Algeria.

“We call upon the Algerian authorities to take all measures and enforce the law, which prevents racial discrimination and calls for violence”.

Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights also appealed to the civil society and the media to intervene in order to convey the message that Algerians are Africans like the refugees, according to its deputy head Said Salehi.

Over the past few hours, calls were circulating to expel African migrants on social networks, claiming that women were raped by African refugees in both Bechar (southern Algeria) and in the capital Algiers.

These calls faced a wave of discontent in the social networks, which they considered racist and inappropriate for people from the African continent.

Two days ago, Interior Minister, Noureddine Badaoui, said African migrants were welcome in Algeria because their countries were in crisis.

He explained that the state will provide them with health care and they can work in occupations that are needed by the Algerian economy, because of the lack of labor, such as building workshops.