Amnesty International: “Situation in Algeria is Stable, But Needs Some Change”

Amnesty International organization expressed some reservations about the new constitution, which was ratified by Algeria recently, calling for the enactment of laws that correspond to the official discourse of the power regarding the promotion of individual freedoms, press freedom and the independence of justice.

General Manager of Amnesty Internationale Algeria, Hassina Ouseddik, said during the presentation of the annual report on the human rights situation in the world and Algeria, on Wednesday at a press conference in Algiers Sofitel Hotel, that the amendment of the constitution, which was waiting for years, is granted through the official discourse, hoping to promote human rights and individual rights, especially those that are relating to the freedom of the press, and the organization of associations, and the independence of justice, but  -she said- these principles remain just ink on paper, if they are not applied with ground laws.

For his part, the head of Amnesty International, Younes Saadi, revealed on the overall abuses and violations of human rights that characterized 2015 in Algeria, and he summed it in the continuation to prevent peaceful protests in the capital, and what he called the arbitrary practices against trade unionists, as well as preventing the creation of associations, and the fight against internauts through social media, pointing to the continued death penalty sentences, although it represents a violation of human rights.

Amnesty International described the situation in Algeria compared to the neighbouring countries, as stable, referring to the registration of a development in the file of human rights, despite the reservations that it made in this case, as Hassina Ouseddik, mentioned the importance of Algeria’s steps, through the enactment of laws to protect women, and the amendments that touched the Criminal Procedure Code regarding the temporary detention, and the right to get a lawyer in the police stations for immediate defence but it drew attention to these laws which need decisive mechanisms to implement their goals, asking for the need to involve associations that are active in the field of human rights to get out with effective laws, especially for the part about the protection of women from violence.

With regard to the follow-up of generals, and jailing some of them, she said: “I felt, through the correspondence of lawyers, the existence of breaches in their trials. I consider that a fair trial is a right that is guaranteed by the Constitution without exception. An investigation into the issue of missing persons during the black decade should be conducted as well.