Criminalizing Colonialism Is A Pivotal Shift In Claiming The Rights Of Algerians
Former parliamentarians and legislative initiatives to criminalize French colonialism affirmed that the reintroduction of the proposal in a collective format represents a pivotal shift that reflects a real political will to approve it and restore the moral rights of the Algerian people.
They expressed their readiness to contribute to the enrichment of the project and participate in its drafting, drawing on their previous experience and expertise in this file, to ensure the preparation of a strong legislative text that perpetuates the condemnation of colonialism and its heinous crimes, and embodies an uncompromising national demand.
To complement the efforts of the recently established parliamentary committee aimed at developing a comprehensive legal text to criminalize French colonialism in Algeria, the latter listened on Wednesday to parliamentarians from previous terms, who had previously presented similar initiatives during their term of office.
The meeting came within the framework of benefiting from their experience and familiarizing themselves with the contents of their previous proposals, with the aim of ensuring the drafting of a comprehensive text based on a strong historical and legislative reference, thus enhancing its chances of passing through the legislative process smoothly until its official adoption.
In this context, former MPs who had a role in launching similar legislative initiatives during different parliamentary terms were present, including MP Mohamed Erzki Frad, who launched an initiative to criminalize colonialism in 2002, followed by his colleague Abdessalam Kassal, who presented a bill to criminalize colonialism during the fifth legislative term in 2005, and former MP Moussa Abdi, who proposed a similar initiative in January 2010 to criminalize French colonialism in Algeria from 1830 to 1962.
The committee also listened to former MP Kamel Belaribi, who submitted a bill to criminalize colonialism in 2020, as well as current committee member Belkheir Zakaria, who submitted a proposal to criminalize colonialism and its legal implications in 2021.
This hearing comes within the framework of the committee’s keenness, as previously emphasized by its members to Al-Shorouk, to gather various visions and previous perceptions to ensure the drafting of an integrated legal text based on the accumulation of previous legislative efforts and meet the necessary conditions for its adoption.
In a statement, the council announced the appointment of the four authors of the previous initiatives, not including committee member Belkhiri, as honorary members of the special committee in honor of their efforts and contributions, according to the same source.
As part of the efforts to consolidate national memory and confront attempts to erase and deny historical facts, parliamentarians from previous legislative periods who initiated similar proposals were invited to learn from their experience, the statement said.
“The initiative comes within the framework of the commitment of the legislative institution to defend just historical causes and to achieve the demand for recognition of the colonial crimes suffered by the Algerian people, in order to strengthen national sovereignty and immunize future generations against oblivion,” it added.
The attendees appreciated this gesture, according to the statement, considering it an important step towards deepening awareness and promoting the process of uncovering the historical truth, expressing their aspiration to support and value it as part of the national effort aimed at restoring the moral and historical rights of the Algerian people and uniting efforts to move forward with this project and achieve all its objectives in order to serve the national interest and preserve the trust of the generations that fought for freed
