National Coordination of Families of the Disappeared in Algeria received at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva

02 Jul 2013
On 1 July 2013, representatives from the National Coordination of Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CNFD) and from Alkarama met with the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances and members of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth's office at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) headquarters in Geneva.
 
 
This meeting was an opportunity for the CNFD to raise awareness among UN experts of the violence used to repress the demonstration organised in Constantine on the 27th of July 2013, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. During these demonstrations, plain-clothed police officers violently intervened to restrain the participants. They interrupted Farida Ouaghlissi, coordinator of the movement, during her reading of a statement by the families of the disappeared to the peaceful crowds just as she was saying that the absence of justice and of the truth regarding the fate of the victims was an unacceptable form of torture for all members of their families.

The police intervention was particularly violent: demonstrators were beaten with truncheons and five activists were taken to the city police station and beaten further there. The demonstrators' cameras, mobile phones and megaphones were also confiscated.

The meeting with OHCHR staff gave the CNFD representatives the opportunity to highlight the obstacles placed by the Algerian authorities in the way of efforts for the truth and justice for the families of victims of enforced disappearances in Algeria. In particular, Articles 45 and 46 of the Law of National Reconciliation are problematic. The UN experts stated that they were aware that the 2006 Charter restricts the right of families to know the truth about victims of enforced disappearances in Algeria.

At the end of the meeting, UN representatives keenly encouraged the CNFD representative to maintain permanent contact with them and continue to transmit any relevant news regarding activists working in favour of the victims of enforced disappearances and human rights in general in Algeria.

Algeria
Enforced Disappearance