wr2014_web_0

WORLD REPORT 2014Judicial HarassmentIn 2013, authorities charged several human rights activists and union leaderswith crimes related to the peaceful exercise of their right to assemble or theirvoicing of support for strikes and demonstrations. A court on May 6 sentencedAbdelkader Kherba, a member of the National Committee to Defend the Rightsof the Unemployed (Comité national pour la défense des droits des chômeurs-CNDDC) to two months in prison, and fined him 20,000 dinars (US$250) afterhe distributed leaflets about national unemployment.Rights of UnionsAlgerian authorities in 2013 have increasingly clamped down on workers’efforts to form independent unions and organize and participate in peacefulprotests and strikes. Authorities have blocked union demonstrations, arbitrarilyarrested trade unionists, and prosecuted some on criminal charges, when thereal motive behind their prosecution appears to have been punishment forunion activities.Algerian authorities engage in administrative maneuvers to withhold legal statusfrom independent unions. The law on legalizing new unions requires thesegroups only to notify the authorities that they exist, not to seek their permissionto form. But authorities sometimes refuse to issue a receipt proving they havebeen notified.The Union of Higher Education Teachers in Solidarity (Syndicat des Enseignantsdu Supérieur Solidaires), for example, filed its papers on January 19, 2012. Itreceived no receipt at the time and has yet to receive any response from thegovernment, which means it cannot legally operate.Accountability for Past CrimesThe 2006 Law on Peace and National Reconciliation provides a legal frameworkfor impunity for perpetrators of atrocities during the civil war. The law alsomakes it a crime to denigrate state institutions or security forces for the waythey conducted themselves during the political strife, potentially penalizingpeople who allege that the forces perpetrated human rights violations.Associations of the disappeared, which continue to call for truth and justice,face harassment.524