The UN Human Rights Office has denounced reported mass expulsions of sub-Saharan migrants
from Algeria as illegal under International law.
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UN spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani asserted in a press briefing on May 29th, 2018 : « we urge
Algeria to implement the recommandations made by the Committee on Migrant Workers in April,
including to explicitly prohibit collective expulsion and establish monitoring mechanisms to ensure
that expulsions of migrant workers are carried out in strict compliance with international standards. »
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-According to the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), raids by Algerian security forces
typically occur in construction sites and areas with high migrant populations, although
migrants also testified to arrest and detention after encounters with Algerian authorities in the
street.
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Many of the deported migrants often end up in neighboring Niger or Mali, without money,
passports, food, or clothes due to the rapid nature of the deportations, Shamdasani added.
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-Following detention in the southern Algerian city of Tamanrasset, detained migrants are
moved to the Nigerien city Agadez or smaller border cities, where they are abandoned without
food, possessions, or contacts. Surrounded by the Sahara desert, many migrants are often
forced to walk for hours in the heat to cross the Nigerien border.
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-In
its statement, the OHCHR urged Algerian authorities to maintain migrants’ rights to seek
asylum, to the principle of non-refoulement (forced deportation), and to due process under
international law.
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-Reports
of Algeria’s mass migrant deportations to Niger first surfaced in August 2017 to
widespread condemnation by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch. The organization denounced the expulsions as blatant violations of
international migrant protections granted by the UN and African Union
According to a research
conducted by the human rights organization Amnesty International, the arrests were made on the basis
of “racial profiling as they did not seek
to ascertain whether the migrants had the right to stay in the
country, either by checking their passports or other documents.”
.
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-The study also indicates that some of those arrested and deported are undocumented migrants, while
others have valid visas.
For Amnesty’s North Africa Research Director Heba Morayef, “there can be
no justification for rounding up and forcibly deporting hundreds of people based on the colour of their
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http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23114&LangID=E
http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23114&LangID=E
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http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23114&LangID=E
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http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23114&LangID=E
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http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23114&LangID=E
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https://www.amnesty.org/fr/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/algeria/report-algeria/
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