Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni
Minister of Interior and Local Collectivities
Palais du gouvernement
Algiers, Algeria
Dear Mr. Minister:
Human Rights Watch is writing to express our concern regarding the ban imposed on a demonstration organized in Aïn Benian, a small city in the Wilaya of Algiers, on April 24 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the "Berber Spring."
According to our information, the groups organizing the march, which include the Rassemblement-Actions-Jeunesse (RAJ), the Mouvement Démocratique et Sociale (MDS) and several others, formally applied to the Wilaya to hold the demonstration but officials there told them to direct their application instead to the president of the local town council (Assemblée Populaire Communale, APC). The organizers applied on April 13 to the APC, specifying that the purpose of the march was to demand political liberties and commemorate the "Berber Spring," a term that connotes the season three decades ago when, for the first time since Algerian independence, Berbers protested en masse to demand recognition of their language and culture.
The organizers told us that they never got a response to the application they submitted. On April 24, the day of the planned event, they saw police deployed in large numbers in Aïn Benian. As soon as the would-be demonstrators, about 30 strong, started marching and chanting slogans, the police intervened and began arresting them. A few of the participants sought refuge in a nearby restaurant, but the police followed and arrested them, too. The police transported those they arrested, who included nearly all of the 30 participants, to the police station in nearby Chéraga, where officers questioned them one by one and had each sign a statement before releasing them after having held them for several hours. None has yet been charged, to our knowledge.
The right to assemble peacefully is guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Algeria ratified in 1989. Article 21 states,
The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
Algeria's constitution also guarantees this right in Article 41, which states, "Citizens are guaranteed the freedoms of expression, association and assembly." Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to which Algeria is party, also guarantees the right of everyone "to assemble freely with others."
However, Algeria's domestic legislation and almost two decades of a "state of emergency" undermine this right by placing overbroad, arbitrary restrictions on the right of assembly. Law 91/19 of December 2, 1991 on Public Meetings and Gatherings requires organizers of gatherings, marches and processions in outdoor public spaces and thoroughfares to apply for prior authorization from ministry of interior officials eight days in advance of the event. The law allows those officials to deny authorization if
the meeting or demonstration "opposes the national values (constantes nationales) or ... undermines the symbols of the Revolution of November 1, the public order, or morality."
The country's emergency laws further impede the right of assembly. Under article 7 of the emergency decree (presidential decree no. 92-44 of February 9, 1992), "[t]he minister of interior and local collectivities and the wali of the jurisdiction in question are empowered to ban, by means of an order (arrêté) ... any gathering likely to disturb public order and tranquility." (A decree approved by the council of ministers in 2001 bans all public demonstrations in Algiers until further notice.)
Our research indicates that in practice, authorities ban or break up peaceful demonstrations around the country more frequently than they allow them to proceed, whenever the motive of the demonstration is to convey a message that is deemed critical of the government. This is the case regardless of whether the organizers of the demonstration have notified the authorities in advance of the planned event. Some activists told us that they do not ordinarily request permission to demonstrate because their experience is that they never get a reply; they proceed with the event and hope it will be tolerated. By contrast, authorities do not ordinarily repress or interfere with pro-government and apolitical rallies, such as those organized by soccer fans.
In our view, Algeria's overbroad and content-based restrictions on public demonstrations, as well as the absolute ban on demonstrations in Algiers, violate its obligation under the ICCPR to guarantee the right of assembly. The ICCPR makes clear that restrictions on peaceful demonstrations should be exceptional and narrowly permitted only if found to be "necessary in a democratic society" [italics added] to safeguard "national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others." Furthermore, in respect for the fundamental nature of the right of peaceful assembly, authorities should make public the reason for a decision to forbid a demonstration and provide a mechanism for appealing it.
Human Rights Watch is monitoring the exercise of the right of assembly in Algeria. We would therefore be grateful to receive your observations on this issue generally, as well as your explanation of how the break-up of the demonstration in Aïn Benian on April 24 comports with Algeria's obligations under Article 21 of the ICCPR and Article 11 of the African Charter.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Sarah Leah Whitson
Executive Director
Middle East and North Africa division
