Human Rights Committee condemns Algeria for enforced disappearance case

Geneva, 11 September 2012

The United Nations Human Rights Committee recently condemned Algeria in a case of enforced disappearance. In May 1996, Mr. Kamel Rakik, 33 years old, was arrested at his home, around 30 km from Algiers, by policemen of Algiers’ wilaya. He was brought to the Chateauneuf Police officers school where he was tortured. He has not been seen since.

The Rakik family left no stone unturned in the quest to discover the whereabouts of their beloved ones. The case has been brought before all relevant judicial and administrative authorities. Yet no investigation has been opened and no one has ever been prosecuted.

In its decision, the Human Rights Committee holds that, because of the disappearance of Kamel Rakiki, Algeria breached several provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (one of the most important international conventions within the United Nations system), including the right to life and the right to be free from torture and other forms of ill-treatment. In doing so, Algeria also inflicted upon the family members of the disappeared person an inadmissible treatment through the severe mental distress and anguish they were forced to endure.

The Committee now requests Algeria “to conduct a deep and rigorous investigation into the disappearance of Kamel Rakik”. Algeria is also requested to “provide the authors with detailed information concerning the results of its investigation”, “to free the victim immediately if he is still being secretly detained” or, “if he is deceased, to return his mortal remains to his family”. Moreover, the Committee insists on Algeria’s obligation to “indict, put on trial and punish those responsible for the violations committed”. Algeria is also required to pay an appropriate compensation to the family of the victim for the violations committed.

The Committee especially points out that, with respect to torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, the Algerian judicial authorities should not apply Ordinance Nr. 06-01 (adopted following the enactment of the “Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation” in 2005) which grants absolute impunity to the authors of the worst violations perpetrated during the conflict.

TRIAL expressed its satisfaction following this latest decision by the Committee condemning Algeria. According to Philip Grant, Director of the organisation, “it is about time that Algeria complied with its human rights international obligations. This decision represents the fifth time that Algeria is condemned by a Committee of the United Nations in a procedure triggered by TRIAL for cases of torture and enforced disappearances. Algerian authorities must enforce the decisions of the UN Committees without further delay by undertaking effective investigations on these human rights violations in order to finally disclose the truth about these tragedies, to try and sanction those responsible for the crimes and grant proper redress to the victims. Impunity for these crimes cannot be the rule any more in Algeria”.

Context

This cases represents the fifth case submitted by TRIAL resulting in a final decision. In May, June and December 2011, the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture had already condemned Algeria for, respectively, enforced disappearances cases and a case of death under torture. Fourteen other cases brought by TRIAL are currently pending before the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture concerning Algeria.

In total, TRIAL has submitted more than 130 cases before different international bodies (European Court of Human Rights, Human Rights Committee, Committee against Torture) related to instances of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and torture in Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, Libya and Nepal.

For further information

• Decision of the Human Rights Committee in the case Rakik v. Algeria
• See the summary of the Rakik case on TRIAL’s website