II. RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Government of Algeria
With respect to state-sponsored "disappearances," authorities should:

· Acknowledge at the highest level that state agents are responsible for large numbers of "disappearances" since 1992;

· Introduce legislation making "disappearance" a criminal offense that is punishable by sanctions commensurate with the gravity of the crime; the statute should apply explicitly to all state agents or those acting on their behalf;

· Commit to providing families information on the fate of the "disappeared" and on the parties responsible for "disappearances," except in those cases where families elect to forego this information;

· Declare that investigations into "disappearances" should continue for as long as the fate of the victim remains unclarified. Toward this end:

Establish a commission to investigate "disappearances" that meets criteria for effectiveness outlined by Amnesty International,¹ among others, including:

· The independence, authority and integrity to obtain information from state agencies, including the security forces, about the "disappeared" - their whereabouts, their status, and who bears responsibility for their plight;

· Working methods that are clearly and publicly defined;

· Structural and operational independence from any government institution;
the financial resources and staff with the necessary expertise and integrity to examine impartially, effectively and speedily, information relating to "disappearances" across the country;

· Investigative powers to search unannounced and unaccompanied military, police and intelligence facilities and archives;

· Full and effective powers to compel the attendance of those implicated in carrying out, ordering or acquiescing in "disappearances," and to compel the disclosure and production of documents, including medical-legal records and existing court files, and other items of evidence.

The country's highest authorities should order all state agencies to cooperate with the commission, and state that officials that obstruct or fail to cooperate with the commission will face penalties.

Algerian authorities should also:

· Provide compensation to victims of state-sponsored "disappearances" or their beneficiaries who elect to receive them, and ensure they have access to counselling and social assistance programs. Compensation, counselling, and social assistance programs must in no way substitute for the provision to families of information, as noted above;

· Declare that the widespread and systematic "disappearances" perpetrated in Algeria over the past decade constitute crimes against humanity whose perpetrators must be brought to justice. They should benefit neither from amnesty laws nor from statutes of limitation. Similarly, members of armed groups who have abducted persons who remain missing or who have been killed or grievously harmed by their abductors should not be eligible under any amnesty and their crimes should not be subject to statutes of limitation;

· Issue a standing invitation to visit Algeria to all mechanisms of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (CHR); as a member of the CHR, it should join the forty-two U.N. member nations that have already done so;

· In particular, grant long-standing requests to visit by the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on Torture and the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions. Algeria should ensure that these thematic mechanisms have full access to regular and ad-hoc detention facilities, sites of mass or makeshift graves, and official documents relevant to their mandates;

· Grant legal status to all Algerian NGOs, such as Somoud, Association of the Families of the Disappeared of Constantine, and the National Association of Families of the Disappeared, that work on "disappearances" and abductions and that apply for legal recognition; and

· Respect the right of freedom of assembly by ending the frequent practice of forcibly dispersing peaceful and non-disruptive public rallies staged by relatives of the "disappeared."

With respect both to state-sponsored "disappearances" and persons abducted by armed groups, Algerian authorities should:

· Instruct Algeria's courts to fulfill their responsibility as guarantors of impartial justice; investigating judges and prosecutors should fully investigate "disappearance" cases by, among other things, identifying and questioning witnesses - including, where warranted, members of the security forces - capable of shedding light on the perpetrators of "disappearances" or "abductions." Plaintiffs who submitted "disappearance" complaints to investigating judges or prosecutors only to have their petitions unfairly dismissed should be encouraged to re-submit them for a proper hearing;

· Establish procedures, in consultation with victims' families, on keeping them informed of progress in investigations into "disappearances" and abductions, as well as about the discovery of mass graves and any work carried out to identify or remove the bodies found;

· Ensure that any information derived from the interrogation of captured or surrendering militants that pertains to the identity and fate of abducted persons is made available upon request to all persons concerned, unless doing so would jeopardize an ongoing criminal investigation; ensure that families are informed of the prosecution of persons in connection with specific abductions, so that relatives can provide relevant testimony or attend or follow any resulting trial; and

· Take steps to ensure that all persons involved in the investigation of "disappearances," including the complainant, counsel, witnesses and those conducting the investigation, are protected against ill-treatment, intimidation or reprisal.

Regarding mass graves:

· Immediately put in place procedures to preserve evidence at all discovered and yet-to-be-discovered unmarked gravesites that are suspected of holding victims of political violence, and inform families of "disappeared" and "abducted" about the procedures in place for exhuming and identifying human remains; and,

· If the state lacks resources or technical means to properly conduct exhumations, it should seek the involvement of qualified domestic and international nongovernmental organizations and other institutions that are able to provide assistance. Qualified independent organizations or individuals should be invited to be present as observers during exhumations.

In order to prevent future "disappearances":

Review all practices of detention that facilitate "disappearances" and implement the following steps when persons are arrested:

· Keep a detention record regarding every detainee, including information on the date, time, and location of detention, the name of the detainee, the reasons for the detention, and the name of the forces effecting the detention; such registers should be readily available to detainees' family, counsel, and other legitimately interested persons;

· Hold all detainees only in officially recognized places of detention, and cease the practice of secret detention even if it takes place on the premises of an officially recognized detention facility;

· Inform detainees immediately of the grounds of arrest and any charges against them, and provide immediate and regular access to lawyers of their own choosing;

· Promptly convey to the family accurate information about a detainee's whereabouts and legal status, and provide them with prompt access to the detainee;

· Ensure that arresting officers always identify themselves to the person arrested and produce official identification showing their names, the agency they work for, and the branch of that agency where they are based;

· Ensure that detainees are taken into custody only on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by a judge (except where genuinely detained en flagrante delicto); and

· Introduce legislation to shorten the maximum duration of garde à vue (pre-arraignment) detention from the twelve-day maximum allowed under 1995 legislation. The proposed amendment should conform to the U.N. Human Rights Committee's determination that a suspect must be brought before a judge or other officer authorized to exercise judicial power within "a few days" (General Comment 8 interpreting Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which requires that detainees be brought "promptly" before a judge).

To Political Parties in Algeria
In the May 30, 2002 elections, two opposition parties that had distinguished themselves in their advocacy on behalf of the families of the "disappeared" made substantial gains in the National Popular Assembly, the lower house of parliament. The Workers Party, led by Louiza Hanoune, and the Movement for National Reform (al-Islah), led by Abdallah Djaballah,² won twenty-one and forty-three seats, respectively, out of a total of 389. Although pro-government parties control a majority of seats and the Assembly's powers are quite limited under the constitution, deputies have the means to publicize issues of concern. Accordingly, they should:

· Initiate a parliamentary inquiry into "disappearances," and summon ministers to reply to formal questions (interpellations) about the issue;

· Use the chamber as a platform to address the nation on the rights and concerns of the families of the "disappeared" via the live and uncensored broadcast on Algerian television of parliamentary debates; and

· Introduce and adopt legislation designed to prevent "disappearances, including, as noted above, statutes incorporating the crime of "disappearance" into the penal code and reducing from twelve days the maximum length of garde à vue detention under the code of penal procedure.

To Armed Groups Implicated in the Abduction of Civilians
Armed groups and their members should:

· Cease immediately and renounce the practice of abducting civilians;

· Free any civilians who are alive and in their custody; and

· Disclose, where known, the name of the victim and location of the body in those cases where an abducted person is no longer alive.

To the European Union and its Member Nations
The European Union for the past three years has submitted names of "disappeared" persons in bilateral meetings with Algerian authorities, without receiving credible information clarifying the whereabouts of any of these missing persons. The European Union should now elevate its bilateral dialogue about "disappearances," in the wake of the signing of the E.U.-Algerian Association Agreement and pursuant to the European Parliament's resolution of October 10, 2002, which states that "respect for human rights, which includes resolving the problem of the 'disappeared'... is an essential element of the new association agreement."

The European Union should declare that the pattern of "disappearances" in Algeria constitutes a crime against humanity; therefore, perpetrators of "disappearances," whether state agents or members of armed groups, should not benefit from any amnesty from prosecution or any statute of limitation.

The European Council, the Commission, and E.U. member states should urge Algerian authorities to implement the above recommendations, in particular, to:

· Provide specific and verifiable information to the families of the "disappeared";

· Establish a body to investigate "disappearances" that has the independence, authority and integrity to obtain information in the possession of state agencies, including the security forces, about the "disappeared" - their whereabouts, their status, and who bears responsibility for their plight;

· Approve standing requests for in-country visits by the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on Torture and the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions;

· Grant long-denied legal status to nongovernmental organizations that work on the plight of the "disappeared" or "abducted" persons; and

· Respect the right of Algerians to freedom of assembly and end the frequent practice of forcibly dispersing peaceful and non-disruptive public rallies staged by relatives of the "disappeared."

1 See Amnesty International, "Fourteen-point program for the prevention of `disappearances,'" online at http://web.amnesty.org/web/aboutai.nsf/
5451236ceac8ca36802567750034ca9a/472772b3583aa3028025677f004c3f00!OpenDocument (retrieved February 19, 2003).

2 Addressing "disappearances" was one of Djaballah's campaign themes. See, for example, Naima Djekhar, "Djaballah à Constantine: Appel à un vote massif et mise en garde contre la fraude," La Tribune, May 4, 2002.