In 2011, the then Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika lifted a state of emergency that had been in place since the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002, as a result of the Arab Spring protests that had occurred throughout the Arab world.
Serious challenges to human rights in Algeria have included torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, serious restrictions on free expression and media, overly restrictive laws on the organization, funding, or operation of NGOs, restrictions of religious freedom, serious government corruption, people trafficking, significant restrictions on workers' freedom of association and child labor. In 2017, Human Rights Watch reported the Algerian government had increasingly resorted to criminal prosecutions against bloggers, journalists, and media figures for peaceful speech, via articles in the country's penal code criminalising "offending the president", "insulting state officials" and "denigrating Islam", in addition to dismissing peaceful demonstrations as "unauthorised gatherings".
Bouteflika resigned in 2019 after months of protests following the declaration of his intention to run for a fifth term as president. Following an interim period, Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected president, who spoke out in favour of protestors. Despite this, Human Rights Watch reported in 2021 that the Algerian government continued to arrest and imprison protestors, activists, and journalists from the Hirak movement, alongside amending the country's constitution to restrict freedom of speech and further curtail judicial independence.
Historical background
Algeria has been categorized by Freedom House as "not free" since it began publishing such ratings in 1972, with the exception of 1989, 1990, and 1991, when the country was labeled "partly free". To the extent that there is democracy in today's Algeria, it is founded in three pieces of legislation:
The Political Parties Act (1989, amended 1997), which allowed multiple political parties The Associations Act (1987, amended 1990), which permitted establishment of associations The Information Act (1990), which paved the way for independent news media
Free elections were held in the country beginning in 1988, but a victory by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in the 1991 parliamentary ballot sparked a military coup d'état and the imposition, in February 1992, of a state of emergency under which basic human rights were suspended. Freedom of expression, association, and assembly were severely restricted, and many individuals were arrested without charge and held without trial. A civil war raged from 1991 to 1999, and since its end there have been no proper official investigations into the massive human-rights violations that took place during the conflict.
The government's main opponent in the war was the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), an Islamic terrorist organization and Al Qaeda affiliate that was described by John R. Schindler in The National Interest in July 2012 as "supremely violent" and as the perpetrator of "a wave of bombings in Paris in the summer of 1995" that were "Al Qaeda's first attacks on the West". Schindler notes that "Algeria's nightmare years of 1993–1997 were a focus of the international human-rights community" but that "the terrible fratricide [of] the 1990s got little coverage in Western media, despite the fact that it probably claimed twice as many lives as the Bosnian conflict, which ran concurrently and received nonstop Western attention." Schindler added that "Algeria's bloody civil war, which began twenty years ago, never really ended."
December 2010 marked the beginning of a period of frequent and nationwide protests inspired by the so-called "Arab Spring" and sparked by widespread anger over high unemployment, a serious housing shortage, high food prices, extensive corruption, and severe restrictions on freedom of expression and other human rights.
The National Coordination Committee for Change and Democracy (CNCD) is an umbrella group of opposition parties, unions, and human-rights groups that was formed in January 2011 in the wake of the violent suppression of protests in which several people were killed and hundreds injured or arrested.
The CNCD planned a march in Algiers on January 21, 2011, to demand an end to the state of emergency and a restoration of democracy and freedom. The government sought to prevent the demonstration by blocking roads to Algiers, stopping trains to Algiers, setting up checkpoints and barricades within Algiers, refusing visas to representatives of the international media, detaining government opponents and journalists, and shutting down the Internet. Still, the protest went on, with authorities estimating the number of participants at 800 and the organizers estimating the number at 2000. Many protesters were beaten and cameras confiscated.
The state of emergency was lifted in February 2011, but extensive restrictions on human rights remain.
In April 2019, president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had been in the role since 1999, resigned following mass protests after he announced his intention to run for a fifth term. Bouteflika was succeeded by Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who spoke in favour in the protestors.
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria, public health was used by the government to justify the dispersion of ongoing Hirak protests by implementing a lockdown. When the lockdown was lifted in June 2020, protests in major Algerian cities were subsequently repressed, leading to riots in Béjaïa.
The following chart shows Algeria's ratings since 1972 in the Freedom in the World reports, published annually by Freedom House. A rating of 1 is "free"; 7, "not free". Historical ratings YearPolitical RightsCivil LibertiesStatusPresident 197266Not FreeHouari Boumediene 197366Not FreeHouari Boumediene 197466Not FreeHouari Boumediene 197576Not FreeHouari Boumediene 197666Not FreeHouari Boumediene 197766Not FreeHouari Boumediene 197866Not FreeRabah Bitat 197966Not FreeChadli Bendjedid 198066Not FreeChadli Bendjedid 198166Not FreeChadli Bendjedid 198266Not FreeChadli Bendjedid 198366Not FreeChadli Bendjedid 198466Not FreeChadli Bendjedid 198566Not FreeChadli Bendjedid 198666Not FreeChadli Bendjedid 198766Not FreeChadli Bendjedid 198856Not FreeChadli Bendjedid 198964Partly FreeChadli Bendjedid 199044Partly FreeChadli Bendjedid 199144Partly FreeChadli Bendjedid 199276Not FreeAli Kafi 199376Not FreeAli Kafi 199477Not FreeLiamine Zéroual 199566Not FreeLiamine Zéroual 199666Not FreeLiamine Zéroual 199766Not FreeLiamine Zéroual 199865Not FreeLiamine Zéroual 199965Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 200065Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 200165Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 200265Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 200365Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 200465Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 200565Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 200665Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 200765Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 200865Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 200965Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 201065Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 201165Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 201265Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 201365Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 201465Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 201565Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 201665Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 201765Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 201865Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 201965Not FreeAbdelaziz Bouteflika 202065Not FreeAbdelmadjid Tebboune 202165Not FreeAbdelmadjid Tebboune 202265Not FreeAbdelmadjid Tebboune 202365Not FreeAbdelmadjid Tebboune
In 2022, Freedom House rated Algeria's human rights as 32 out of 100 (not free).
Basic rights
Discrimination based on birth, race, gender, and a number of other attributes is illegal, although women, in particular, face considerable and systemic discrimination. Although it is unconstitutional, the government monitors the communications of its political opponents, the news media, human-rights organizations, and terrorist suspects. Homes are searched without warrants. The constitution also guarantees freedom of speech and of the press, but with various caveats. Public comments about the conduct of government forces during the 1990s are illegal, as are criticism of Islam, speech that insults government leaders, or anything that threatens "national unity" or offends against "individual dignity".
Pressure is exerted by the government on the news media, largely by arresting journalists for defamation, which is defined broadly and punished harshly under Algerian law. Self-censorship by some journalists is common, although other journalists do not hesitate to criticize the government openly. Radio and TV, which are entirely state-owned, provide slanted coverage and deny access to opponents of the regime. Most newspapers are printed at government-owned presses, and the regime uses this fact to exert influence on editors and reporters. It also exerts influence by wielding the power of the government-owned advertising company to place or not place ads in various publications.
Internet access is usually not a problem, although the government monitors e-mail accounts and chat rooms. Academic conferences and the like are sometimes subject to governmental interference, with visas sometimes being denied to foreign scholars who have been invited to participate in such events. In the past, Algerian academics have needed official approval before attending conferences abroad, and are often denied that approval.
Though Algeria's constitution guarantees freedom of worship, it also declares Islam the state religion and prohibits activities incompatible with Islamic morals, and in reality religious liberty for non-Muslims is limited by a number of laws and practices. Registering non-Muslim groups is difficult, proselytizing is punishable by up to three years in jail, and Christian groups often have trouble obtaining visas, although this last problem has apparently eased in recent years. The Protestant Church of Algeria has been particularly targeted, with eighteen of their churches shut down between November, 2017 and October, 2019. This casts doubt on the state of religious freedom in Algeria. In general, non-Muslims are socially tolerated, but some discrimination and abuse exists, and many Christians keep a low profile.
Although the rights of assembly and of association are guaranteed by the constitution, they are severely curtailed in practice. Demonstrations have been banned in Algiers since 2000. Permits are required for public meetings, and are often difficult to obtain. Official approval is required in order to form political parties and many other types of organizations, such as NGOs.
While congratulating Algeria for lifting the state of emergency in February 2011, Human Rights Watch urged that the government still needed to "restore basic liberties" by amending "numerous repressive laws and end various arbitrary practices that have no legal basis". Sarah Leah Whitson of HRW said that lifting the state of emergency had had "very little impact on civil liberties because a whole range of laws is on the books that can be just as repressive, or applied in a repressive manner". Freedom of assembly, HRW noted, was "still stifled in Algiers, and inconsistently and selectively observed in the provinces".