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Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the hands of traffickers

Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025                                      gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Algeria.htm

Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria

Declining oil prices have also reduced the government’s ability to use state-driven growth to distribute rents and fund generous public subsidies, and the government has been under pressure to reduce spending. Over the past three years, the government has enacted incremental increases in some taxes, resulting in modest increases in prices for gasoline, cigarettes, alcohol, and certain imported goods, but it has refrained from reducing subsidies, particularly for education, healthcare, and housing programs.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2021]

Description: Description: Description: Algeria

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  Check out a later country report here or a full TIP Report here

 

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.

HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of particular interest to you.  Would you like to write about Forced-Labor?  Debt Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc.  On the other hand, you might choose to include possible precursors of trafficking such as poverty. There is a lot to the subject of Trafficking.  Scan other countries as well.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

Teachers

Check out some of the Resources for Teachers attached to this website.

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Algeria - Trafficking

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women

www.catwinternational.org/factbook/Algeria.php

[accessed 18 January 2011]

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.

 

*** ARCHIVES ***

2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Algeria

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 30 March 2021

www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/algeria/

[accessed 10 May 2021]

PROHIBITION OF FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR

The law prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labor. NGOs reported that irregular migrants sometimes worked in forced labor and that their lack of work permits made them more vulnerable to exploitation. For example, female migrants were subjected to debt bondage as they worked to repay smuggling debts through domestic servitude, forced begging, and forced prostitution. Designated penalties under this statute were not commensurate with penalties for kidnapping. Construction workers and domestic workers were reportedly vulnerable. The government did not effectively enforce the law.

PROHIBITION OF CHILD LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT

Although specific data was unavailable, children reportedly worked mostly in the informal sales market, often in family businesses. There were isolated reports that children were subjected to commercial sexual exploitation.

Freedom House Country Report

2020 Edition

freedomhouse.org/country/algeria/freedom-world/2020

[accessed 19 March 2020]

G3. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY PERSONAL SOCIAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING CHOICE OF MARRIAGE PARTNER AND SIZE OF FAMILY, PROTECTION FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, AND CONTROL OVER APPEARANCE?

Women do not enjoy equal rights in marriage and divorce. Domestic violence is common, and the laws against it are weak; for example, cases can be dropped if the victim forgives the alleged abuser. Women’s rights groups report that between 100 and 200 women are killed in domestic abuse incidents each year. No law addresses spousal rape.

G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION?

A 2009 law criminalized all forms of trafficking in persons, and Algeria reported its first conviction under the law in 2015. In recent years, the government has made an effort to enforce the ban through prosecutions and has provided protection for victims, though not systematically. Undocumented sub-Saharan African migrants are particularly susceptible to racial discrimination, labor exploitation, including through the practice of debt bondage, and sexual exploitation.

African Migrants Report Torture, Slavery in Algeria

Reuters, Dakar, 30 May 2018

www.voanews.com/a/african-migrants-torture-slavery-algeria/4416142.html

[accessed 30 May 2018]

Dozens of Africans say they were sold for labor and trapped in slavery in Algeria in what aid agencies fear may be a widening trend of abusing migrants headed for a new life in Europe.

Reuters heard detailed accounts of forced labor and slavery from an international charity and a local association in Agadez, Niger's main migrant transit hub, and interviewed two of the victims by telephone.   "The first time they sold me for 100,000 CFA francs ($170)," said Ousmane Bah, a 21-year-old from Guinea who said he was sold twice in Algeria by unknown captors and worked in construction.   "They took our passports. They hit us. We didn't eat. We didn't drink," he told Reuters. "I was a slave for six months."

Report on the Worst Forms of Child Labour Compiled by the Global March Against Child Labour [PDF]

The Global March Against Child Labour Resource Centre, 20 September 2004

beta.globalmarch.org/resourcecentre/world/algeria.pdf

[accessed 28 August 2012]

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

Based on the situation analysis written by Dr Najat M’jid for the Arab-African Forum against Commercial Sexual Exploitation, Rabat, Morocco, 24-26 October 2001

www.unicef.org/events/yokohama/backgound8.html

[accessed 18 January 2011]

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

The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2005

www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/algeria.htm

[accessed 18 January 2011]

Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL Worst Forms of Child Labor

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.

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

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 30 September 2005

www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/algeria2005.html

[accessed 10 January 2016]

[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.

Human Rights Overview

Human Rights Watch

www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/algeria

[accessed 3 September 2011]

*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

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

2018

freedomhouse.org/country/algeria/freedom-world/2018

[accessed 22 April 2020]

G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION?

A 2009 law criminalized all forms of trafficking in persons, and Algeria reported its first ever conviction under the law in 2015. In recent years, the government has made an effort to enforce the ban through prosecutions and has provided protections for the victims, though not systematically. Undocumented sub-Saharan migrants are particularly susceptible to exploitation by traffickers.

2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 20 April 2018

www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2017/nea/277235.htm

[accessed 12 March 2019]

www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/algeria/

[accessed 24 June 2019]

PROHIBITION OF FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR

The law prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labor. NGOs reported that irregular migrants sometimes worked in forced labor and that their lack of work permits made them more vulnerable to exploitation. For example, female migrants were subjected to debt bondage as they worked to repay smuggling debts through domestic servitude, forced begging, and forced prostitution. Prescribed penalties under this statute range from three to 20 years’ imprisonment, which were sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. Construction workers and domestic workers were reportedly vulnerable. The government increased efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenders and to identify and provide protection services to trafficking victims, including those subject to forced labor.

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61685.htm

[accessed 4 February 2020]

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

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