Human Trafficking in [Algeria] [other countries]
Street Children in [Algeria] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Algeria] [other countries]
 

Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

In the first ten years of the 21^st Century - 2000 to 2009

Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria The hydrocarbons sector is the backbone of the economy, accounting for roughly 60% of budget revenues, 30% of GDP, and over 95% of export earnings. Algeria has the eighth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world and is the fourth-largest gas exporter; it ranks 15th in oil reserves. Sustained high oil prices in recent years have helped improve Algeria's financial and macroeconomic indicators. The government's continued efforts to diversify the economy by attracting foreign and domestic investment outside the energy sector, however, has had little success in reducing high unemployment and improving living standards. [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Algeria is a transit country for men and women trafficked from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. These men and women enter Algeria, voluntarily but illegally, often with the assistance of smugglers. Some of them become victims of trafficking; men are forced into unskilled labor and women into prostitution to pay smuggling debts. Criminal networks of sub-Saharan nationals in southern Algeria facilitate transit by arranging transportation, forged documents, and promises of employment. Among an estimated population of 5,000 to 9,000 illegal migrants, some 4,000 to 6,000 are believed to be victims of trafficking, of whom approximately 1,000 are women. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report]

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Algeria. Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

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Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Algeria

ORGANIZED AND INSTITUTIONALIZED SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND VIOLENCE - Algerian women are raped, forced into prostitution and temporary marriages, beaten and beheading for failure to wear head coverings by Islamic militants in Algeria. Armed terrorists committed hundreds of rapes against female victims, most of whom were subsequently murdered.

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U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Although there were reports in the past that young girls were kidnapped by terrorist groups and forced to work, there were no reported terrorist abductions in 2004.

CHILD LABOR LAWS AND ENFORCEMENT - The Penal Code prohibits compulsory labor, including forced or bonded labor by children. Article 342 of Ordinance 75-47 of June 1975 and Law No. 82-04 of February 13, 1982 prohibits the corruption and debauchery of minors younger than age 19, while Article 343 and 344 prohibit the use and recruitment of minors in prostitution. The Penal Code prohibits the removal, arbitrary detention and kidnapping of a person, although is no law specifically prohibiting trafficking in persons.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS –According to media reports and a local NGO, forced prostitution and domestic servitude of illegal immigrants from West Africa occurred as immigrants transited through the country seeking economic opportunity in Europe. Official statistical estimates of the severity of trafficking do not exist. No government assistance programs existed for victims, nor did any information campaigns about trafficking. However, several NGOs promoted anti-trafficking campaigns

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2005

[78] The Committee expresses its deep concern at the information that child prostitution is increasing and that not only girls, but also boys who work as vendors, couriers or domestic servants, are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation. The Committee also notes with concern reports of trafficking in children and that Algeria is becoming a place of transit for trafficking between Africa and Western Europe. It deeply regrets the absence of a specific legal framework protecting children from trafficking and the insufficient measures to prevent and eliminate this phenomenon. The lack of statistical data on trafficking and the absence of adequate recovery and reintegration services for child victims are cause for serious concern.

Protection Project Country Report [DOC]

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE - Conditions of poverty, cultural specificity, war, and armed conflict are overwhelming in Algeria. Studies cite the modernization, urbanization, and division of communities and the disintegration of family structures as contributing to increased trafficking. The nation has been home to severe political and civil unrest for many years. As a result of the political situation in particular, many armed fundamentalist and terrorist organizations are currently active within the country. Those organizations frequently kidnap and abduct young Algerian women and force them into temporary marriages or subject them to rape and extreme physical violence. In many cases, those women are subsequently murdered by their captors.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free

Human Rights Overview by Human Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide

U.S. Library of Congress - Country Study

Global March Resource Centre - Algeria [PDF]

CHILD TRAFFICKING - There are unconfirmed reports that young Algerian girls are trafficked to Italy and other Western countries. The girls are sometimes forced into prostitution or marriage. - htcp

Commercial sexual exploitation of children: The situation in the Middle East/North Africa region

FORM AND PREVALENCE OF CSEC IN THE REGION - Although statistics on CSEC inevitably understate the extent of the problem, which is largely hidden and therefore impossible to measure, there are some reliable figures on cases of CSEC that have been reported to law enforcement entities.  In 1999:

v Algeria recorded 1,180 cases of sexual mistreatment

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Algeria

ORGANIZED AND INSTITUTIONALIZED SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND VIOLENCE - Algerian women are raped, forced into prostitution and temporary marriages, beaten and beheading for failure to wear head coverings by Islamic militants in Algeria. Armed terrorists committed hundreds of rapes against female victims, most of whom were subsequently murdered.

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Human Trafficking in [Algeria] [other countries]
Street Children in [Algeria] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Algeria] [other countries]