As part of the UPR, which provides for the involvement of civil society in this process, Alkarama submitted to the High Commissioner for Human Rights a report highlighting a number of concerns in relation to the obligations of Algeria regarding human rights.

Since February 1992, a state of emergency had been promulgated. Not only is it in force today, but the provisions give important non-public prerogatives to the military.

The anti-terrorism law enacted in September 1992 establishes a broad and vague definition of terrorism. Many articles of this law were incorporated in 1995 in the penal code, generalizing emergency provisions and authorizing a practice by the courts in violation of the basic guarantees provided by international conventions.

Under the guise of combating terrorism, serious violations of human rights were committed from 1992 by the security forces and militias set up by the army since 1994. Thousands of people have been administratively detained in internment camps south of the country, for some of them, for nearly 4 years (the camps have been officially declared closed in 1995), tens of thousands of people were arbitrarily arrested and detained, the practice of torture was widespread and tens of thousands of people were summarily executed or have been victims of enforced disappearances.

The law enforcement and judicial structures put in place following the introduction of a state of emergency to combat the opposition, whether peaceful or military, are still in place. If the number of victims has dropped dramatically in recent years, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention and torture continue to be widely practised in the context of what the authorities justified by the fight against terrorism.

With the presidency of Abdelaziz Bouteflika since April 1999, the authorities claim to have entered a new phase: the civil concord, peace and national reconciliation. In reality, members of armed groups who surrendered, have, to the extent that they have collaborated with the authorities, benefited from the partial or total dismissal of prosecution regardless of their acts and members of security forces have received for their part of a general amnesty. Accordingly no complaint against them is legally admissible.

Although it was ultimately forced to recognize the magnitude of the phenomenon of enforced disappearances, the Algerian State alleges to permanently settle the matter by compensation.

Finally, the law on "national reconciliation" prohibits any criticism of the State within or outside the country under threat of a criminal conviction.

We remind that the Committee on Human Rights of the United Nations reviewed the third periodic report of Algeria in October 2007 and made its public recommendations including those to initiate investigations on the responsibility for the serious crimes committed, such as killings, enforced disappearances, rape and torture, and to prosecute and convict the guilty.