Fact-sheet Algeria

Violence Against Women in Algeria

Legislative Framework

Policy Framework

Protection Framework and access to Justice

Combating violence against women: EU-Algeria Framework

1. Legislative Framework

Algeria ratified four International Conventions: • The Convention to End Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1996, with reservations to Articles related to women’s equal rights, marriage and family matters. • The agreement to establish the Arab Women’s Organization (2003). • Algeria aceeded to the UN Convention on the Political Rights of Women in 2003. • The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) in 2016, with interpretive declarations.

In the Algerian Constitution, all citizens are equal before the law. Discrimination because of birth, race, sex, opinion, or any other personal or social condition or circumstance is prohibited. A draft constitutional review proposed in 2020 adds that the State protects women from all forms of violence in all circumstances in the public space, in the professional environment and in the private sphere. The law guarantees the access of victims to reception structures and care facilities, as well as to appropriate remedies and free legal aid. At the time of writing, the proposed revision of the constitution has yet to be adopted.

1. Legislative Framework

Sentences are relative to the number of days which the victims will need to recover from their injuries. Penalties can be legally lessened or dropped if the victim forgives the aggressor. But the law does not consider that forgiveness can be given without consent. The law does not recognise that harm resulting from domestic violence may result from several individual incidents, nor that non-visible harm (brain trauma, emotional abuse...) may have been inflicted without leaving any visible trace. Moreover, the law fails to recognise marital rape as a crime.

Adopted in 1984, the Family Code saw important amendments made in 2005: removal of formal references to the “inferior” position of women and introduction of the mutual consent of both spouses as a requirement before marriage. But it maintains forms of discrimination against women in Algerian society: for instance it does not establish equal rights between men and women and it contains no provision relating to domestic violence. In December 2015, Algeria’s Parliament adopted a law into the Algerian Penal Code to criminalise certain forms of gender-based violence (psychological violence, sexual harassment, verbal harassment, domestic violence...) and establish penalties for assaults against a spouse or female family members.

Algerian law regarding women's rights is divided into two documents: - the Family Code, which is applicable in ‘private matters’ and finds its principles in religion, - the Algerian Penal Code, which governs societal and public behaviours.

2. Policy Framework

In 2016, a presidential decree established the inter-ministerial Anti-trafficking Committee. It coordinates implementation of the national Anti-trafficking Action Plan which has a specific focus on women as one identified vulnerable group. The Algerian state prepared a draft anti-trafficking law and a draft national victim referral mechanism. However, it does not contain effective implementation procedures and mechanisms for services working to protect victims. The same applies to victims of domestic violence and other forms of violence against women: there is no guaranteed mechanism of support for victims or any financial investment from the political sector to develop a protective and preventive system.

Since 2007, the Algerian government has a National Strategy to Combat Violence Against Women, based notably on: • Reinforcement of institutional capacity to provide protection and support to victims; • Implementation of empowerment strategies that contribute to socio- economic reintegration; • Greater public awareness and social mobilisation; and • Creation of coalitions in the design and implementation of policies, programmes and legislation. However, there is a lack of sustained funding to effectively implement these pillars.

2. Policy Framework

In 2017, a study to evaluate the implementation of policies to end violence against women, conducted by civil society organisations, recognised that the Algerian government had made concerted legislative efforts over the past 20 years to combat gender-based violence, and had achieved a certain level of success in education and combatting socio-cultural stereotypes. But the government has failed to concretely combat violence against women by virtue of not having put sufficient resources or follow-through into its own policies.

To address violence against women and human trafficking, the government has implemented a legislative framework and similarly developed a number of studies on gender-based violence through cooperation with civil society organisations. A National survey conducted in 2006 on violence against women provides the most recent accessible national statistics: • 9.4 % of Algerian women aged between 19 and 64 years had encountered physical violence often or daily within the family, and 31.4 % had been regularly subjected to threats of physical or psychological violence. • 10.9 % of women admit having been subjected to rape on more than one occasion by their intimate partners.

Monitoring

3. Protection Framework and Access to Justice

Among women who seek support, higher levels of violence are experienced by married women aged between 25 and 44 years, having two or more children and who do not work outside the home (despite having completed secondary or higher education). Most women seeking support indicated having been subjected to multiple forms of violence. Sexual violence constitutes 35% of all cases reported, 17% of which are cases of marital rape and 4% are cases of incest. By early October 2020, 38 femicides committed by men intimately known to the victims had been reported in Algeria during the year. The majority of victims were under the age of 30.

Algeria does not have protection systems, which leave women exposed to violence and threats of retaliation when they seek help, especially victims of domestic violence. The feminist organisation Tharwa Fatma n’Soumer initiated a platform project to provide sustained psychological support to women victims of violence, but its launch has been indefinitely postponed for the time being. Survivors of sexual violence in Algeria do not have access to appropriate health care services, nor information on potential sexually-transmitted diseases. Algerian civil society organisations deplore this lack of legislative measures and are actively working to integrate a strategy to counter violence against women in their advocacy.

3. Protection Framework and Access to Justice

Specific vulnerabilities • Widows, separated or divorced women are at a particularly high risk of violence. Rejected by their families and communities, many of them leave their homes or are thrown into the streets, where they may be subjected to exploitation and further abuse. • Migrant women are particularly exposed to the risk of violence, facing discriminations and violence based on both gender and race. Yet, their claims are often met with impunity on the part of the authorities when violence occurs. • Article 338 of the Penal Code criminalises “acts of homosexuality” between both women and men with a maximum penalty of two years and a fine. The penalty increases if these ‘offences’ are committed in public.

Under Article 32 of the Constitution, all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law. Professionally, women are represented in the justice system, but as victims they face multiple barriers to access justice, including low awareness of their legal rights and lack of financial means. International human rights standards require that the Algerian state "implements programs to train police, prosecutors and the judiciary about gender-based violence, including sexual violence and develops policies and programmes that protect victims from further abuse, such as social, psychological and health services for victims”.

4. Combating violence against women in the framework of Europe-Algerian cooperation

EU-Algerian Cooperation Since 2005, the EU and Algeria have a partnership in the form of an Association Agreement within the framework of the European Neighbourhood policy. In 2017, the Partnership Priorities were revaluated, but included no reference to gender-based violence or the promotion of women’s rights. The only mention of women is on the reinforcement of their participation in society. More recently, in 2019, the EU launched its own three-year funded project to contribute to “the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls in the Southern Neighbourhood” (Algeria included) to be implemented via the European Feminist Initiative in collaboration with a network of civil society organisations on the ground.

In its 2010 review of Algeria, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recognised the legislative changes which removed forms of discrimination from the law, but outlined that the Family and Criminal Codes are contrary to the State party’s obligations under the Convention and other international human rights instruments. In the United Nations Human Rights Council’s most recent country review of Algeria (2017), numerous recommendations were made relating to the situation of violence against women, including: • guaranteeing access to justice for victims, • establishing an assistance mechanism for women and girls who are victims of violence, to facilitate the filing of complaints, • reforming the Family Code to remove remaining discriminations against women.

4. Combating violence against women in the framework of Europe-Algerian cooperation

Council of Europe-Algerian cooperation: Cooperation between these two parties occurs via the South Programme. In every three-year cycle (currently 2020-2022) it states main focus to end all forms of violence against women. The Council of Europe works through promoted partnerships and in close connection with civil society organisations to implement projects.

Read below our concrete recommendations to Algeria:

Fact-Sheet on Violence Against Women in Algeria