Algeria is holding a referendum on Thursday on a proposed amnesty for participants in the country’s civil war. The voters will have to decide whether or not to accept President ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz Boutefliqa’s Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation.
The charter would exempt all individuals – whether in armed groups, state-armed militias or government security forces – from prosecution for crimes committed during Algeria’s civil war. The war, which raged between 1992 and 2002 and claimed more than 150,000 lives, also resulted in thousands of disappearances. The proposed amnesty would rule out investigations into those who disappeared. “This will deny victims and their families the right to truth and justice,” Freedom House, a non-profit organization working to advance the expansion of political and economic freedom, said on Thursday.
While many in Algeria believe this is a move towards reconciliation, others are more critical. “This is a positive first step towards peace, but it cannot achieve reconciliation because there are many political issues that are yet to be dealt with,” said leader of the Reform Movement ‘Abdallah Jaballah in an interview with the Algerian paper A-Fajr. Jaballah added that this charter will only deal with the security issue, but will ignore political issues such as elections-related controversies, and civil rights which are oppressed by the regime.
The charter comes after years of failed attempts by the Algerian government to properly investigate and prosecute perpetrators of human rights abuses committed during the civil war, according to Freedom House. Algeria’s emergency laws and other impediments to freedom of association have further eroded efforts to uncover the truth of the war years.