The escalating episodes of violence against civilians in Algeria have prompted high-level expressions of concern and also revived calls for inquiries to ascertain responsibility for these crimes against humanity, to recommend steps to prevent such atrocities, and to afford the protection of international scrutiny to the country's traumatized civilian population
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The reason such a step is necessary is because the Algerian government has manifestly failed to meet its responsibilities in this area. The government has not initiated any form of credible, independent and transparent inquiry mechanism on its own. This pertains not only to the massive bloodletting of the last six months, in which hundreds of women, children and men have been slaughtered in single incidents, and where the security forces have failed to intervene despite their proximity. The authorities have been similarly negligent with regard to the high-profile assassinations of public figures, journalists,
intellectuals and activists that typified the violence in earlier years. When alleged perpetrators are prosecuted, trials are often not public and do not meet basic fair trial standards. This is a government that heavily censors independent reporting of attacks by armed opposition groups and often refuses even to issue its own findings or estimates regarding casualties from such attacks and from clashes between security forces and armed groups.
Human Rights Watch fully supports efforts by Algerians to conduct impartial investigations of the massacres and other atrocities. Such initiatives could be launched by the executive branch, the National Assembly, or non-governmental groups. To date, however, no thorough or credible investigation has been carried out, and none appears imminent. Meanwhile, the crisis continues to escalate, claiming hundreds upon hundreds of innocent victims by acts of unspeakable brutality.
The adamant refusal of the Algerian government to cooperate with proposals for an international inquiry, or to meet its own responsibility to conduct independent and transparent investigations and make such an international effort unnecessary, should not be allowed to sustain international inaction. Disregard for human rights has become the norm in Algeria, exacerbating the breakdown in law and order and leaving civilians vulnerable and unprotected. The Algerian authorities have built a wall of silence around the complex reality of violence and counter-violence, of mass killings by armed opposition groups and gross abuses by government forces, insisting that the problem is simply one of "residual terrorism."
The crisis in Algeria is of such scale and duration as to make a mockery of the government's insistence that it is strictly an "internal affair." The escalating mass killings of women, children, and other civilians make it imperative that the international community reject the idea that human rights protection is limited by national sovereignty. The need for international scrutiny in Algeria is more pressing than ever. Human Rights Watch therefore makes the following recommendations:
To the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights
Human Rights Watch supports the efforts of High Commissioner Mary Robinson to arrange for missions to Algeria of the Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial execution and on torture. We urge the High Commissioner to continue her efforts to bring the resources of her office and of the U.N. system to bear on the Algerian crisis.
To the European Union and Member States
The E.U. and member states should without delay urge the Algerian government to facilitate immediately a mission by the U.N. Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions and on torture, as requested by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. These missions by the U.N. special mechanisms should not be contingent on the results of any E.U. missions to Algeria. Nor should discussion of these missions be delayed until the meetings of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in March, as the Algerian government is proposing.
The E.U. member states should co-sponsor a resolution at the upcoming Human Rights Commission session in Geneva finding that the severity and scale of the human rights crisis in Algeria requires the appointment of a Special Rapporteur for the country.
Any E.U. ministerial visit, such as a visit by the foreign ministers of Luxembourg, Britain, and Austria (the troika) as proposed by Germany, should not be limited to discussing humanitarian aid or support for the government's campaign to suppress the armed opposition groups. It is crucial that the mission should also have the following priorities:
- Impress upon the Algerian authorities their responsibilities, under international law and human rights treaties to which Algeria is party, to afford protection of life, liberty and security of its citizens, and to bring to justice those responsible for violating those rights in timely public and fair trials.
- Stress the need for the Algerian government to take credible steps to halt abuses committed by government forces, including torture, extrajudicial execution, arbitrary detention, and "disappearances," to investigate complaints of such abuses promptly and meaningfully, and to punish appropriately those responsible for committing or condoning such abuses.
- Urge the Algerian authorities to end censorship and pressures on the media that aim to enforce a state monopoly on information related to the internal security situation, including human rights violations, or that aim to restrict coverage that displeases government officials.
- Request credible explanations from government and security officials for the apparent failure of security forces to intervene in recent large scale massacres, notably those in Rais and Bentalha in August and September 1997.
- Request credible explanations for the apparent failure of the government to investigate credibly the killings of public figures, or to indict or prosecute those cases in courts of law.
- Meet with leaders and spokespeople of opposition parties, including those represented in the National Assembly and those outside of the Assembly which have repudiated and condemned armed violence.
- Meet with human rights activists and lawyers, including women's rights activists, and commit some meaningful proportion of any material aid package to support the work of these groups and efforts.
- Impress upon Algerian authorities the importance of cooperating with international investigators, including those under U.N. auspices, to examine allegations of responsibility and to make recommendations with respect to human rights abuses by all parties.
- Make clear to the Algerian government that the ministerial mission is not intended to supplant an international investigation into the country's human rights crisis, avoid any appearance of supporting the government's refusal to cooperate with such an investigation, and publicly dispute any effort by the Algerian authorities to impute such support to the ministers' visit.
The proposed European Parliament delegation should adopt similar priorities. The delegation should include as consultants experienced human rights field workers, and should take advantage of its larger size and lesser protocol to request unmonitored meetings with human rights lawyers, community activists, opposition political forces, journalists and others who have had access to massacre sites and survivors. The delegation should seek to visit Rais, Bentalha, Relizane and other mass killing sites, and should request meetings with security officials responsible for those areas at the times of the massacres. At the same time, the delegation should make absolutely clear that it is not and does not consider itself to be a substitute for an international committee of inquiry, which is how it has been represented by the Algerian media.
To the Clinton Administration
The U.S. government should continue to urge the government of Algeria to welcome investigations into the human rights crisis by international human rights organizations. In addition, Washington should use the means at its disposal to persuade the government of Algeria to cooperate with the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights and to facilitate without further delay official visits to the country by the Special Rapporteurs on summary executions and on torture.
In particular, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright should use the occasion of the late January release of the State Department's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices to highlight U.S. concern with the situation in Algeria. Secretary Albright should at this time convey U.S. support for the recommendations of the U.N. High Commissioner, Mary Robinson. Finally, the U.S. should declare that it will co-sponsor a resolution at the Human Rights Commission meetings in Geneva establishing the position of a Special Rapporteur for Algeria.
