Agathon Rwasa

Ce site web publie les atrocités des rebelles FNL du Burundi et mène une campagne pour traduire en justice le dirigeant des FNL, Agathon Rwasa. Nous essayons aussi de mettre à nue la question d'impunité en génerale. This website aims to highlight atrocities by the Burundian FNL rebels, and campaigns to see FNL leader Agathon Rwasa brought to justice. We also aim to highlight the issue of impunity worldwide.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Tanzania: Uphold international law and arrest Agathon Rwasa

The Tanzanian government has publicly stated that the FNL leader Agathon Rwasa has been in Dar Es Salaam for more than a week. They are trying to persuade the Burundian authorities, who in 2004 issued an arrest warrant for Rwasa on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity following the August 2004 Gatumba massacre, to enter into negotiations with the FNL and offer them some kind of political deal.

Click here to email Tanzania's President via his press secretary, urging him to stop collaborating with the FNL and bring Agathon Rwasa to justice.

Click here to email the Tanzanian High Commission in London.

Or you can write to them here:

High Commission for the United Republic of Tanzania
3 Stratford Place
London WC1 1AS

Fax: (020) 7495 8817

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Saturday, March 25, 2006

Statement: A "political" killer is still a killer

The Burundian government has released thousands of people classified as "political prisoners" by a new political commission. The prisoners had been charged with taking part in ethnically-motivated murders in the wake of the assassination of Burundi's President Ndadaye in 1993. Following the discourse of post-Apartheid South Africa, murderers who claim that they committed murder for "political" reasons will be entitled to preferential treatment within the judicial system.

South Africa's "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" awarded amnesties to thousands of self-confessed killers, many of them agents of the Apartheid regime who had murdered and tortured opposition activists in the 1970s and 1980s. By admitting what they had done, and by asserting that they had done it for "political" reasons, these self-confessed murderers were able to escape justice for their crimes.

At the time of the TRC's formation, the South African public was assured that suspected criminals who refused to testify before the commission would be prosecuted, as criminals, in a normal criminal court. But more than a decade after the end of minority rule, the vast majority of Apartheid killers remain free.

The Burundian government has, for a number of years, been talking of its intention to create a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" following the South African model, while at the same time promising that the worst of the country's war criminals will face prosecution in a special chamber within the Burundian domestic courts.

Although South Africa's TRC has been aggressively promoted by its proponents as an unmitigated success, the victims of Apartheid have been rather less enthusiastic. Surveys have shown that the vast majority of victims opposed the granting of amnesties to those who had tortured them or murdered their loved ones.

It's clear what the appeal of a TRC is for Burundi's political elite, a great many of whom are themselves guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and, in some instances, genocide. Whether the promise of a "war crimes chamber" is anything more than a political device which will, like the promises made in South Africa, be dropped at a later date, seems less clear. In a statement issued on February 2nd, the Burundian government has asserted that justice will only be done "where a pardon is impossible". This is hardly an encouraging precedent.

If the purpose of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation commission was to achieve justice, then it was an unmitigated failure. Awarding an amnesty to a self-confessed killer, "political" or otherwise, is not justice - it is a denial of justice. We've yet to see what the long-term social consequences of this denial of justice will be.

A wholesale denial of justice in Burundi would, of course, perfectly suit the country's political elite, both Hutu and Tutsi, who have maintained their power through murder, and manipulating others into murder, for the last four decades. This is not a reason for the international community to collaborate with such efforts.

Article eight of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which the United Nations is supposedly committed, states that victims of human rights abuse have an inviolable right "to an effective remedy by a competent tribunal". Seeing the killer of one's mother, father, son or daughter walk free from prison is not an "effective remedy", and knowing that the killer claims that they committed their crime because of a political ideology will be no consolation. A "political" killer is still a killer.

The Nazi elite who oversaw the genocide of millions of European Jews in the 1940s were motivated by a political ideology, but this was never accepted as a valid excuse for their crimes. Neither was this the case in Bosnia, Kosovo, Cambodia or post-1994 Rwanda. If we accept that, in Burundi, political motivations can excuse mass-murder, then we are not only setting a dangerous precent - we are descending into hypocrisy.

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Click here to support the call for a war crimes trial for Aloys Nzabampema and independent investigation into the UN Burundi corruption scandal
click here to email UN Burundi spokesman Penangnini Toure and ask him about the progress of the corruption investigation allegedly under way

AC Genocide Canada condamne la visite du Président du Sénat burundais

AC Genocide: "La visite au Canada du Président du Sénat burundais serait un acte contre le droit et la morale universels"

Une délégation conduite par le Président du sénat burundais aurait demandé l'autorisation de se rendre au Canada en fin du mois de mars 2006. La présente est destinée à éclairer les autorités canadiennes pour qu'elles ne salissent pas leurs mains en serrant celles des représentants du régime raciste, terroriste et génocidaire qui règne sur le Burundi aujourd'hui. Et si malgré tout l'impensable devait se produire, l'opinion est invitée à savoir quelle est la véritable nature du régime que représentera cette délégation.

Un régime raciste, terroriste et génocidaire

Au Burundi, les criminels contre l'humanité ont été promus en toute impunité et insolence, ce sont eux qui animent les institutions, au nom des organisations dont ils défendent les idéologies racistes, terroristes et génocidaires.

Le CNDD FDD au pouvoir au Burundi est une milice raciste et génocidaire. Cette milice a été créée en 1994 par une autre organisation génocidaire FRODEBU (au pouvoir de 1993 à 2005) pour prendre le relais du génocide que venait de commettre le même Frodebu en octobre 1993. Ces deux organisations ont en commun une idéologie des plus fascistes et des plus criminelles très anciennes, celle qui dit que les Tutsi seraient des étrangers au Burundi et devraient retourner en Egypte, pays supposé être celui de leur origine, et de préférence en état de cadavres. C'est au nom de ces enseignements qui font honte à l'humanité que les victimes du génocide sont symboliquement jetées dans les affluents du Nil, et cela sans discontinuer depuis les années 1960.

Les observateurs indépendants et toute la communauté internationale appelèrent les choses par leur nom recommandèrent de dire le droit :

I. LE RAPPORT S/1996/682 DE LA COMMISSION D'ENQUETE DE L'ONU SUR LE BURUNDI http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N96/215/72/IMG/N9621572.pdf?OpenElement

§483. La Commission estime que les éléments de preuve dont elle dispose suffisent à établir que des actes de génocide ont été perpétrés au Burundi contre la minorité tutsie le 21 octobre 1993 et les jours suivants à l'instigation et avec la participation de certains militants et responsables hutus du FRODEBU, y compris au niveau des communes.

§485. La Commission considère que les éléments de preuve dont elle dispose l'autorise à conclure que certains membres haut placés du FRODEBU avaient planifié à l'avance une riposte face à l'éventualité bien réelle d'un coup d'État de l'armée, que cette riposte consistait notamment à barrer les routes et à armer les Hutus, à prendre en otages des hommes et des jeunes hommes tutsis et que ce plan avait été connu d'avance de certains membres locaux du FRODEBU occupant des postes de responsabilité, y compris au niveau des communes.

§496. Ayant conclu que des actes de génocide ont été perpétrés contre la minorité tutsie au Burundi en octobre 1993, la Commission est d'avis qu'une compétence internationale doit s'exercer à l'égard de ces actes.

II. LE RAPPORT S/1998/777 DE LA COMMISSION D'ENQUETE SUR LE RWANDA http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N98/243/03/IMG/N9824303.pdf?OpenElement

§46…il existe une coopération très étroite entre les ex-FAR et deux des groupements rebelles burundais: le CNDD/FDD et le Parti pour la libération du peuple hutu (PALIPEHUTU) et son aile militaire, les Forces nationales de libération (FNL). La collaboration entre les ex-FAR et le CNDD/FDD porte sur des questions politiques et militaires.

Une Convention de coopération a été signée le 22 mai 1995 à Bukavu (République démocratique du Congo), par le haut commandement des FAR et le CNDD, officialisant la coopération entre les deux parties.

Cependant, sous la houlette des négationnistes, les milices génocidaires s'appelèrent mouvements politiques armés, les criminels contre l'humanité furent qualifiés d'acteurs politiques normaux et candidats à des consultations électorales au nom de leurs organisations racistes, terroristes et génocidaires. Pire, ils se définissent comme étant des démocrates.

Mais comment pourrait-on qualifier de démocrates et accueillir officiellement au Canada les représentants d'un pouvoir de terroristes qui ont assassiné froidement un citoyen canadien Arthur Kabunda voyageant à bord du bus Titanic se rendant à Bujumbura ( http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/011_2001-02-12/HAN011-E.htm ) , attenté à la vie et au couvent des missionnaires canadiens, les Filles de la Providence et les Frères de L'Instruction Chrétienne, oeuvrant au Burundi (Kiryama, 1er avril 1997)?

Comment pourrait-on accueillir officiellement au Canada ceux qui ont massacré et brûlé les élèves de Kibimba, les jeunes séminaristes de Buta, les femmes, vieillards et enfants de Bugendana tous rescapés du génocide commis par les agents du Frodebu aujourd'hui convertis en CNDD FDD au pouvoir?

Comment peut-on accueillir au Canada les représentants d'un régime animé au plus haut niveau par les assassins de Monseigneur Ruhuna, Archevêque de Gitega, du Nonce Apostolique Monseigneur De Courtney, du Représentant de l'UNICEF au Burundi Luis Zuniga, des agents du PAM et du CICR, des terroristes ayant tiré sur l'avion civil et les passagers de la Sabena?

Ce serait une insulte contre le Canada qui a extradé vers l'Italie le criminel de guerre nazi d'origine ukrainienne, Michael Seifert, âgé de 79 ans , le Canada qui a expulsé le nazi Ernst Zendel pour être jugé en Allemagne, le Canada qui vient d'arrêter Désiré Munyaneza qui vivait à Toronto, présumé avoir commis des crimes contre l'humanité et des crimes de guerre à Butare, au Rwanda en 1994, le Canada dont l'image de marque serait ternie par la présence sur son sol des représentants d'un régime sanguinaire, terroriste et génocidaire !

Un régime immoral

Contrairement à ce qui est diffusé par une propagande négationniste et complice, le régime de Bujumbura est de la pire espèce. Non seulement les dirigeants actuels sont l'émanation des milices terroristes et génocidaires qui sèment la terreur et la désolation au Burundi depuis plus de dix ans, mais également, ils abusent les représentants de la Communauté Internationale pour que ces derniers ignorent le droit et la morale en vigueur partout ailleurs dans le monde et à la base de toute légitimité démocratique. L'actuel Président de la République, Pierre Nkurunziza, un condamné à mort pour avoir posé de mines sur la voie publique visant des victimes innocentes, a été porté au sommet de l'Etat, il est aujourd'hui animateur des institutions : une honte pour la démocratie. Résultat de la corruption et d'une impunité institutionnalisées, son gouvernement poursuit, au grand mépris des lois et du droit international, la promotion de cette même impunité l'ayant porté au pouvoir. Ainsi, rien que depuis le mois de janvier 2006, il a libéré sans jugement 3299 présumés coupables de génocide, perpétuant une tradition d'impunité et d'immoralité dont ce régime est la consécration. Cependant, tous les observateurs indépendants les plus crédibles ont toujours signalé le danger de cette culture d'impunité.

Dans son rapport du 23 mars 2000, Human Rights Watch prévient que

"Une amnistie au Burundi est précisément ce qu'il faut éviter. Nombre des tueries perpétrés au Burundi, qu'ils aient été commis par des Tutsi ou des Hutu, constituent des crimes contre l'humanité. Une commission de l'ONU a qualifié certains d'entre eux de génocide. Comment pourrait-il y avoir le moindre espoir de justice et d'ordre, si des crimes d'une telle ampleur restaient impunis?" …"Si le Burundi ne parvient qu'à une paix bancale et vide de justice, cela aura des conséquences dans toute la région"…"Etant donné l'importance des tensions ethniques en Afrique centrale, ne pas insister sur la nécessité de juger les crimes perpétrés au Burundi équivaut à encourager les dirigeants peu scrupuleux à choisir le massacre ethnique comme instrument de pouvoir. Par ailleurs, voyant les meurtriers échapper à la justice, la population sera plus encline à se cristalliser sur les différences ethniques" . RAPPORT DE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: New York – 23 mars 2000

Pour sa part, Amnesty International souligne que

Si la vérité sur les atteintes aux droits humains n'est pas établie et si les auteurs ne sont pas amenés à répondre de leurs actes, il ne pourra y avoir de réconciliation véritable, ni, par conséquent, de paix durable. Amnistier en bloc les auteurs de crimes graves, constitutifs d'atteintes aux droits humains, nuirait à l'instauration d'une paix juste et durable. Toute amnistie accordée aux termes d'un accord de paix à des personnes responsables d'homicides, d'actes de mutilation, de viols et d'enlèvements bafoue les normes les plus élémentaires en matière de droits humains et laisse le champ libre à de nouvelles violations du droit international humanitaire et des droits humains. A long terme, une amnistie n'empêchera pas d'autres groupes armés ou d'autres agents du gouvernement de poursuivre leurs objectifs et ne contribuera pas à rétablir le respect de l'Etat de droit.
RAPPORT D'AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (AFR 16/01/00F)

La barbarie institutionnalisée par ce régime qui fait honte à l'humanité ne diffère en rien de celles Hitler (Allemagne Nazi), Habyalimana (Rwanda), Taylor (Liberia), Bokasa (Centrafrique), Pinochet (Chili), Hissein Habré (Tchad) et toutes les dictatures racistes, terroristes et génocidaires qui se sont cachées derrière de fausses élections pour interdire la promotion du droit et de la morale universels.

Au nom de cette morale, au nom du droit internationale, il faut combattre à tout prix le racisme, le terrorisme ainsi que le génocide, et ôter toute légitimité à ceux qui pratiquent ces crimes dont les idéologies et pratiques ne sont pas des opinions mais des crimes contre l'humanité :

Pour que le Canada ne ternisse pas son image de marque de promoteur du droit et des libertés individuelles;

Pour que le Burundi ne puisse continuer de faire exception à l'obligation faite à l'humanité entière de combattre à tout prix le génocide pour ôter toute légitimité à ceux qui le pratiquent.

Toronto branch of AC-Génocide Canada


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HRW: "All the fine words aside, it is only by setting up workable mechanisms that accountability and justice can finally be ensured."

Burundi: Work With U.N. on Justice and Reconciliation
Releases of Detainees Underline Need for Speedy Justice

(New York, March 25, 2006)—Burundian authorities and United Nations experts, due to meet Monday, should ensure the speedy establishment of mechanisms to address grave violations of international law committed in political and ethnic conflicts in this central African nation, Human Rights Watch said today.


A delegation of U.N. legal experts will work with representatives of the Burundian government from March 27 to March 31 to craft the framework for a truth and reconciliation commission and a special judicial chamber within the Burundian judicial system.

"After decades of killing, it is time for the victims to see justice done," said Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to the Africa division at Human Rights Watch. "Burundian and international experts can make that happen by agreeing quickly on how to set up mechanisms to deal with war crimes and other
violations of international law."

The government's release since January 2006 of some 3,000 detainees has increased the urgency of establishing mechanisms to try them and others still detained. The detainees, many of whom were charged with violent crimes during Burundi's 10-year civil war, were released after they were categorized as political prisoners by a government commission created under the 2000 Arusha Accords governing the transitional post-war period. According to Burundian officials, those released have been granted "provisional immunity" but will eventually be held accountable for any crimes they are accused of by the special court or a truth and reconciliation commission.

Some victims have protested the releases, saying those freed may never face either the commission or the court. Other victims have expressed fears that those released could threaten survivors or witnesses to their crimes. The Burundian human rights organization Ligue Iteka and other such groups have challenged the constitutionality of the detainee releases in court.

In a February 2 statement, the Burundian government said that reconciliation
should be the primary objective in efforts at accountability, with justice
called into play only where "pardon is shown to be impossible."

However, Human Rights Watch believes that those most responsible for such grave violations of international law as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity must be prosecuted in fair trials conducted according to international standards of due process. The mandate of the truth and reconciliation commission should make clear that those persons accused of leading roles in such crimes will be dealt with by the special court.

Since 1962, Burundi, where Hutu are in the majority but Tutsi have historically held power, has seen several periods of widespread killing on an ethnic basis. During a decade of civil war following the assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye in October 1993, all parties committed massive war crimes, including the slaughter of more than 100,000 civilians. A United Nations commission of inquiry in 1995 called the massacre of Tutsi following Ndadaye's murder a genocide, but no international court was established to try alleged perpetrators.

"Given the expectations and anxieties about justice and reconciliation in
Burundi, negotiators bear a heavy responsibility to produce a firm timetable for action by the end of the week," said Des Forges. "All the fine words aside, it is only by setting up workable mechanisms that accountability and justice can finally be ensured."


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Monday, March 13, 2006

Tanzania leads PR offensive on behalf of indicted war criminal Agathon Rwasa

The Tanzanian government is again providing a platform for Agathon Rwasa and aggressively promoting his agenda. A few days ago Rwasa held a press conference in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Once again, no attempt was made by the Tanzanian authorities to arrest him over his involvement in the August 2004 Gatumba massacre, and the hundreds of other atrocities for which he is responsible. Once again, the FNL leader made hollow promises about a purported willingness to end the killings and seek the path of peace. And again, Reuters and other news agencies have failed to make any mention of the FNL's ongoing atrocities, presenting Rwasa simply as a political leader.

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Thursday, March 02, 2006

HRW urges donors to help stop war crimes in Burundi

Human Rights Watch - Burundi: Donors Must Press for End to Continuing Abuses

Torture and Killings Persist, While Progress on Justice for War Crimes Stalls

(New York, February 27, 2006) – Donors beginning aid discussions with Burundi’s government on February 28 must press for an end to summary executions, torture and other human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued today.

The 11-page report, “Warning Signs: Continuing Abuses in Burundi,” details recent violations by both the Burundian government and the rebel National Liberation Forces (Forces Nationales de Libération, or FNL), with which the government is still at war. The report calls on both the government and the international community to establish mechanisms to deliver justice for serious past crimes by government and rebel forces.

“In their drive to defeat the FNL, government soldiers, police and intelligence agents use tactics that violate both Burundian and international law,” said Alison des Forges, senior Africa adviser at Human Rights Watch. “And most of them escape punishment for their misconduct.”

After 10 years of civil war, a former rebel group won the elections in June, and its members dominate a government that took power in August 2005. The newly elected president, Pierre Nkurunziza, is also a member of this group, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie, or CNDD-FDD).

The report details how government police and intelligence agents have tortured civilians accused of links with the FNL. It also documents how the government has detained scores of other civilians without following legal procedures.

In the Burundian capital Bujumbura, Human Rights Watch documented the recent killing of a 16-year-old who was seen in the hands of intelligence agents and police shortly before he was shot to death. Official accounts that he was shot while trying to escape do not concur with evidence that he was shot in the face and chest.

In recent weeks, as in the past, FNL rebels have also killed and abused civilians, in some cases because they refused to provide food or money for the rebel cause. In one such case, the rebels abducted and killed a woman in Kanyosha commune near Bujumbura and badly mutilated her body.

The report also documents the detention without charge of former FNL combatants who have turned themselves in to government authorities. Many are being held in various military camps and other facilities, and government forces have used them to identify civilians who supposedly assisted the FNL.

In October, the Burundian government named a commission to work with the United Nations to establish both a truth and reconciliation commission and a special chamber within the Burundian court system to deal with serious violations of international humanitarian law during the civil war. But so far, the government has made no further apparent progress in setting up either of these mechanisms to deliver justice.

“Prosecuting past war crimes needs to be the first step for a new system of justice in Burundi,” said Des Forges. “Donors should insist that the Burundian government make justice a priority, and they should be prepared to assist with the costs.”

Click here to support the call for a war crimes trial for Aloys Nzabampema and independent investigation into the UN Burundi corruption scandal
click here to email UN Burundi spokesman Penangnini Toure and ask him about the progress of the corruption investigation allegedly under way

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Sowing the seeds of genocide in Algeria

Sweeping amnesty for mass-killers, critics of government complicity in crimes against humanity could face a prison sentence.

Human Rights Watch - Algeria: New Amnesty Law Will Ensure Atrocities Go Unpunished

Joint Statement by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Center for Transitional Justice, and the International Federation for Human Rights.

(Paris, March 1, 2006) – A presidential decree in Algeria will consecrate impunity for crimes under international law and other human rights abuses, and even muzzle open debate by criminalizing public discussion about the nation’s decade-long conflict, four human rights groups cautioned today.

The organizations are Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Center for Transitional Justice, and the International Federation for Human Rights.

On February 27, Algeria’s full cabinet, with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika presiding, approved the “Decree Implementing the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation,” bypassing a debate in parliament, which is not in session. The full text of the law was not disclosed before its adoption.

The organizations called the law’s impunity measures a major setback for human rights in Algeria. The measures include a blanket amnesty to be extended to the security forces and seemingly also to state-armed militias, while widening previous partial amnesties for members of armed groups, all of whom have committed crimes under international law and other grave human rights abuses that so far have not been investigated. The government presented the law as “implementing” President Bouteflika’s “Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation,” which Algerian voters approved in a referendum on September 29, 2005. However, that charter did not expressly mention any amnesty for security force members.

Confirming fears expressed by the signatory organizations in a joint statement of April 14, 2005, the proposed new measures amount to a denial of truth and justice to the victims of the abuses and their families. They will bar victims and their relatives from seeking justice in Algeria and prevent the truth about these abuses from emerging through Algerian courts. These measures, which extend to crimes against humanity and other grave abuses, contravene Algeria’s obligations under international law to investigate such abuses, hold their perpetrators accountable, and provide victims judicial remedies.

Algeria is emerging from a decade of internal conflict in which up to 200,000 people were killed and several thousand more “disappeared.” To date, Algerian authorities have largely failed to investigate the human rights abuses committed both by armed groups and state security forces since the conflict began in 1992.

Rather than moving to prevent future abuses by ending this de facto impunity, Algerian authorities have now decreed a broad amnesty for past abuses. In the chapter entitled “Measures in Recognition of the Artisans of Safeguarding the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria,” the law states, according to the version of the text published in Algerian newspapers:

Article 44: Citizens who, through their involvement or their determination, contributed to saving Algeria and protecting the nation’s institutions, performed acts of patriotism.

Article 45: No legal proceedings may be initiated against an individual or a collective entity, belonging to any component whatsoever of the defense and security forces of the Republic, for actions conducted for the purpose of protecting persons and property, safeguarding the nation or preserving the institutions of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria. The competent judicial authorities are to summarily dismiss all accusations or complaints.

The text does not explicitly mention members of civilian militias armed by the state, the so-called “Legitimate Self-Defense Groups.” However, the phrases “artisans of safeguarding the... Republic” and “belonging to any component whatsoever of the defense and security forces” suggest that the amnesty in fact covers abuses committed by members of these groups.

The decree also provides an amnesty to members of armed groups who surrender or are in prison, as long as they did not “commit, or were accomplices in, or instigators of, acts of collective massacres, rape, or the use of explosives in public places.” However, these exceptions, no matter how appropriate, do not extend to other grave crimes, suggesting that armed group members who murdered one or more persons will go free as long as the killings were not collective in nature. The amnesty would also cover other grave crimes committed by armed groups, including torture and the abduction of persons whose fate remains unknown.

Moreover, no details have been provided concerning the mechanism or process for determining whether armed-group members applying for amnesty are ineligible due to their implication in “collective massacres, rapes, or the use of explosives in public places.” Given the virtual lack of investigations into these crimes when they were committed, a thorough vetting process today to exclude their perpetrators from the amnesty would require much political will and resources from the state. The Civil Harmony Law of 1999 created a screening mechanism that operated arbitrarily and with a lack of transparency, resulting in de facto wide-ranging impunity for abuses committed by armed groups.

The law further proposes to compensate families of “disappeared” persons, many of whom suffer economic hardship. There is no guarantee that such compensation will be proportional to the gravity of the violation and the harm suffered, in keeping with international standards. Compensation payments are conditional on families obtaining death certificates for their “disappeared” relatives, a measure that many of them oppose as long as the state does not provide them with the truth about the fate of their loved ones. The summary does not even mention the right of these families to this information. After years of broken promises by state officials to investigate and provide the truth, this new measure aims to erect a permanent barrier to that truth, all the more so because the impunity provisions cited above preclude relatives from seeking information and justice in domestic courts, either through civil or criminal complaints.

Perhaps most ominously, the new legislation seeks to end not only prosecutions for crimes of the past, but even public debate about them. Article 46 states:

Anyone who, by speech, writing, or any other act, uses or exploits the wounds of the National Tragedy to harm the institutions of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, to weaken the state, or to undermine the good reputation of its agents who honorably served it, or to tarnish the image of Algeria internationally, shall be punished by three to five years in prison and a fine of 250,000 to 500,000 dinars.

This provision threatens the right of victims and their families, human rights defenders, journalists, and any other Algerians to document, protest, or comment critically on the conduct of state security forces during the years of the internal conflict. It even threatens to penalize families of the “disappeared” who continue to campaign for disclosing the truth about the fate of their relatives. At a time when Algerian authorities have been aggressively prosecuting journalists working in privately-owned media for independent reporting and critical speech, and when state media allow virtually no dissenting views, laws based on this formulation would further narrow the space for free expression in Algeria, and for pursuit of truths about past events.

Article 47 of the decree empowers the president, “by virtue of the mandate given to him by the 29 September 2005 referendum,” to, “at any time, take all other measures necessary for putting into effect the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation.” This sweeping presidential power undermines the rule of law in Algeria and opens the way for further measures that grant impunity to perpetrators or that curb free speech. A similar provision of the 1999 partial amnesty act, known as the “Civil Harmony Law,” led to President Bouteflika granting a blanket amnesty in January 2000 to all members of two armed groups that agreed to lay down their arms, regardless of their possible implication in grave human rights abuses.

The signatory organizations recognize that the legacy of Algeria’s past should be dealt with in ways determined by Algerians themselves. However, a national referendum, such as the one held on September 29, 2005, cannot be the means by which a government evades its international obligations by adopting national legislation that runs contrary to them. Respect for and protection of fundamental human rights, as well as the right to know the truth and obtain justice, cannot be subject to a majority vote.

Amnesties, pardons and similar national measures that lead to impunity for crimes against humanity and other serious human rights abuses, such as torture, extrajudicial executions and “disappearances,” contravene fundamental principles of international law. Authorities such as the U.N. Secretary-General, authoritative U.N. and regional bodies, and international tribunals have stated that there should be no amnesties or similar measures that afford impunity for crimes under international law and other serious human rights abuses.

The Algerian government has failed to issue invitations to U.N. experts who have long-standing requests to visit the country to conduct investigations, such as the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture. The signatory organizations call on the government to issue invitations to these experts without further delay. The government should also facilitate the visits of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, both of which it has agreed to in principle but not yet scheduled.

The signatory organizations reiterate their call on the Algerian government to uphold the right of all victims of serious human rights abuses to truth, justice, and full reparation. The organizations believe that such guarantees are essential to any process of reconciliation. Regrettably, in most respects, the proposed law takes Algeria in the opposite direction by granting widespread impunity and shutting down efforts to investigate and even debate momentous events of the country’s recent past.


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