Algeria – Call for Protection of Women Workers in Hassi Messaoud

Ten years later, these crimes go largely unpunished and women, in general,
have not been able to rebuild their lives for lack of sustained material and
financial support, but also while facing moral and legal challenges.

Time has not healed this nightmare, and it has started again. Violence has
flared up conducted by gangs of youth that, once again with impunity, are
stealing from, beating, and torturing – mostly migrant – women, who work in the
industrial and economic sectors of Hassi Messaoud. The majority of them are in
hiding because they cannot leave their jobs: they need to provide for
themselves and support their families.

This situation is intolerable in terms of the law, our consciences and the
human rights that these women are entitled to as citizens. It is intolerable in
the face of the inaction, which has begun to resemble the complicity, of local
police forces and administrative structures at the regional and national level.
The authority of the state is constantly flouted because these groups know they
can act with impunity. Justice has still not been served for the violence and
killings of 2001.

We would therefore like to draw your attention to these gross violations of
the human and citizenship rights of these workers. It is imperative that there
is an immediate end to the violence and torture, which is condemned by national
and international laws.
We have urged the Algerian authorities at all levels of governance to intervene
urgently, and to take drastic and effective measures to ensure the protection
of women and put a final stop to these acts of banditry.

WLUML – Women Living Under Muslim Laws
SIAWI – Secularism is a Women’s Issue
WICUR – Women’s Initiative for Citizenship and Universal Rights

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