A/HRC/7/6/Add.2
page 1
AADVANCE EDITED VERSION / Distr.
GENERAL
A/HRC/7/6/Add.2
13 February 2008
Original: ENGLISH
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Seventh session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and Protection of all Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural, including the Right to Development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women,its causes and consequences, Yakin Ertürk
Addendum
MISSION TO ALGERIA[*]
Summary
This report contains my findings following an official visit to Algeria from 21 to 31January 2007.
Since independence, Algerian women have made remarkable advances in education, although gender gaps continue at various levels and among certain professions, including judges, teachers and medical doctors. At the same time, marginalization and feminized poverty remain areas of great concern. Women, who are socially stigmatized, including divorced, separated and deserted women, single mothers and street women, are particularly vulnerable and urgently need more State support.
While women enjoy formal legal equality in the public sphere, they lack equal access to the labour market and decisionmaking positions, as evidenced by their low representation in these areas. Moreover, many women are still subject to oppression and discrimination in the community and family circle. The Family Code has been considerably improved but retains institutions that disadvantaged women, most significantly with regard to inheritance and the material consequences of divorce.
Violence against women in the private sphere is pervasive and yet largely invisible. The ejection of women and girls into the street is a particularly egregious form of such violence. Sexual harassment and abuse in public institutions is an emerging issue with diverse consequences for women.
The national machinery for women lacks the legal and financial means to effectively address women’s human rights violations. Furthermore, while women are discouraged from denouncing violence to the authorities, the State fails to adequately protect and support those women that do seek justice. This failure manifests itself in gaps in the legal framework, lack of specialized women’s shelters, gender bias among police officers, lax sentencing practices and an inequitable marital property regime.
The Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, approved in 2005 by referendum, excludes rapists from amnesty and the perpetrators of the systematic sexual violence committed during the “black decade” effectively enjoy impunity. Meanwhile their victims continue to experience considerable grievance and hardship.
The families of the disappeared, consisting mainly of women, are still denied their right to truth, which is tantamount to emotional violence. They also face difficulties in accessing the compensation promised under the Charter.
The report concludes with my recommendations calling for further legislative reforms; the withdrawal of impermissible reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the ratification of other relevant international instruments on women’s rights; and wider access to the country for international monitoring mechanisms.
In addition, I recommend that the Government improve its institutions to advance women’s rights by upgrading the national machinery for women in consultation with civil society organizations; adopting and fully implementing the National Strategy to Combat Violence against Women; taking measures to advance women’s social, economic and political empowerment, including through quotas to enhance women’s representation among public and private sector decision makers; investing in women’s shelters, women’s help centres and women’s rights education; implementing special support measures for particularly vulnerable women’s groups; and adopting a zero tolerance strategy in investigating and prosecuting all cases of violence against women.
Finally, I emphasize the need to ensure that families of the disappeared and all victims of sexual violence committed during the black decade receive prompt and adequate compensation and are protected from harassment and threats; the need to launch an independent inquiry into sexual violence committed during the black decade; and the need to make all existing information on the fate and whereabouts of disappeared persons available to their families.
Annex
REPORT OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, ITS CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES, YAKIN ERTÜRK ON HER MISSION TO ALGERIA
(21 to 31 January 2007)
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
Introduction...... 1 4 5
I.THE LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS...... 5 20 5
A.The legal framework...... 5 16 5
B.The institutional framework...... 17 20 8
II.THE STATUS OF WOMEN...... 21 43 9
A.Education and adult literacy...... 21 24 9
B.Labour force participation...... 25 30 11
C.Public decisionmaking...... 31 33 12
D.Demographic and family profiles...... 34 38 12
E.Single mothers and their children...... 39 43 13
III.VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND
STATE RESPONSE...... 44 93 15
A.Violence in the family...... 45 68 15
B.The situation of street women...... 69 73 19
C.Sexual violence and harassment in formal institutions...... 74 77 20
D.The black decade and its consequences ...... 78 93 21
IV.CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...... 94 105 25
Introduction
1.At the invitation of the Government, I carried out an official visit to Algeria from 21 to31January 2007.I visited Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Bou Ismail, Blida and the Mitidja region.
2.During the course of my mission, I held consultations with the Delegate Minister for the Family and the Status of Women, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of National Solidarity, the Minister of Culture, the DirectorGeneral of National Security and other senior officials. I also met with members of the Senate and the National People’s Assembly, the President of the Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, senior judges, academics, lawyers, businesswomen, trade unionists and representatives of nongovernmental women’s rights associations and other human rights groups. Finally, I had the opportunity to speak with women survivors of violence at the National Shelter for Girls and Women in Bou Ismail, the shelter of SOS Femmes en Détresse in Algiers and the Diar Rahma of Oran and Constantine. I also met families of the disappeared and victims of terrorist violence. I would like to thank everyone for their support and cooperation in the preparation and conduct of the mission.
3.This report provides an overview of the legal and institutional context and an analysis of the general status of women in Algeria, setting out the framework within which violence against women can be understood. The primary focus of the report is on violence against women in the family, which is the most pervasive and prevalent form of violence in Algeria. Additionally, the report looks at the situation of street women, sexual harassment and violence in the public sphere and violence against women in the context of Algeria’s “black decade”. The report ends with my conclusions and recommendations.
4.I look forward to a continued dialogue with the Government and other stakeholders on the implementation of these recommendations.
I.The Legal and Institutional Framework for Women’s Rights
A. The legal framework
5.The Algerian Constitution enshrines the principle of nondiscrimination on the basis of sex and also mandates the State to take positive action to ensure equality of rights and duties of all citizens, men and women, by removing the obstacles which hinder the progress of human beings and impede the effective participation of all in political, economic, social and cultural life.
6.In 1996, Algeria ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and has since reported twice to the Committee that monitors the Convention. Algeria made extensive reservations to Articles 2 and 16, which would effectively establish the primacy of the Algerian Family Code over the provisions of CEDAW. These reservations are contrary to the object and purpose of CEDAW and therefore impermissible according to article 28, paragraph 2 of CEDAW.[1] In 2003, Algeria signed the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and is currently considering its ratification.
7.The Family Code establishes the main legal parameters of malefemale relations in Algeria. In response to the demands of the women’s movement, it was reformed in February2005, when the President took the initiative and issued two important decrees that were later confirmed by Parliament.
8.The first decree fundamentally reformed the Nationality Code allowing Algerian women with foreign husbands to transfer their nationality both to their children and to their husbands.[2]
9.The second decree made significant improvements to the Family Code.
10.The previous Family Code, enacted in 1984 despite the mass protests of women who decried its unconstitutionality, largely reflected reactionary interests.[3] It stipulated that an adult woman could only get married through the offices of a male matrimonial guardian (wali); although the marriage had to occur with the woman’s consent, her wali would conclude the marriage on her behalf. Article 39 legally obliged a married woman to obey and respect her husband as the head of the family. A husband was also legally entitled to seek divorce through repudiation of his wife, whereas women could only demand divorce on very narrow grounds and often had to make a payment (khola) to their husbands to obtain a divorce.
11.The Family Code of 2005 attempts partially to respond to women’s demand for equality, abolishing humiliating provisions such as article 39. Some of the other criticized institutions are symbolically retained, but rendered legally irrelevant. The institution of the matrimonial guardian still exists, but an adult woman can now choose her wali.[4]Moreover, the woman herself now concludes the marriage and her wali of choice only has to be present during the ceremony.
12.In principle, a man can still seek divorce through repudiation, but a court has to confirm the divorce after certifying that reconciliation attempts have failed. Moreover, women are now allowed to obtain a divorce on the basis of “persistent disagreement between the spouses”.
13.Contrary to Algeria’s obligations under article 5, paragraph (a) of CEDAW,[5]the new Family Code has failed to outlaw polygamy (a practice that is said to be rare in Algeria). However, a man wishing to marry a second wife has to get prior court approval.[6] For this purpose, he would have to positively prove that his first wife gave her consent to the second marriage, that he has a just motive to marry again and that he will treat both wives equally and provide both with the conditions necessary for married life. Algerian jurists and religious scholars with whom I spoke, expressed confidence that since these conditions would be impossible to meet, courts would not be inclined to approve polygamous marriages. So far there is no authoritative jurisprudence to confirm such claims.
14.The Family Code of 2005 continues to prohibit marriages of Muslim women (but not men) to nonMuslims. In practice, couples often circumvent this prohibition by marrying abroad, but experience tangible problems because their marriage is not recognized by Algerian law.
15.It also retains several very problematic provisions that have a direct and concrete impact on women’s economic situation and social position in the family. The most relevant in this regard is the inheritance law which is based on the MalikiSchool of interpretation of the Koran.[7] Accordingly, women still do not have equal access to inheritance. In most family constellations, daughters receive half the share of their brothers. Daughters who have no brothers have to share the inheritance with other male relatives in the paternal line.Since only one third of the estate can be distributed through a last will, middleclass parents, who wish to leave equal shares to their children, while excluding other male relatives from the inheritance, often resort to perfectly legal lifetime donations to circumvent the Code.
16.Problems also arise from inaccurate interpretations of the law. For instance, the Code of2005 requires prospective spouses to present a medical certificate, so that each partner is
aware of diseases the other may have at the time of marriage. Reportedly, in a number of cases, officials have interpreted this provision as requiring women to deliver a “virginity certificate” before contracting marriage. Following the public protests of women’s associations the central Government issued instructions clarifying the law.
B. The institutional framework
17.The government institution for women’s advancement is still weak. In 2003, the Prime Minister appointed a Delegate Minister for the Family and the Status of Women. Initially situated within the Prime Minister’s Office, the Delegate Minister’s Office has been relocated to the Ministry for Health, Population and Hospital Reform. The Delegate Minister’s Office lacks the mandate, human resources and core budget necessary to effectively coordinate Government action to improve women’s status, mobilize public support for relevant reform proposals and change mentalities on gender issues. These weaknesses in the women’s national machinery have been partially compensated for by the strong political support of the current President of the Republic, who has taken a public stance in favour of women’s rights and gender equality. In addition, a Council on Family and Women, as per Executive Order of 22 November 2006, was officially established on 7 March 2007, which is composed of representatives of public institutions and civil society. The main objectives of the Council are to contribute to programme development, conduct studies and provide advice on matters pertaining to the promotion of family and women’s rights.[8]
18.The Government of Algeria also informed me in writing that it had embarked on the implementation of the second phase of the national strategy to fight violence against women (20072011). The 5year plan of work aims to strengthen the technical and institutional capacity of national partners to ensure the prevention of violence against women, as well as better supporting women victims of violence.[9]
19.In 2001, the President also set up the Consultative Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, which is composed of 43 representatives from civil society, public institutions and (nonvoting) members of the Government, including the Delegate Minister for the Family and the Status of Women. While the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions certified that the Consultative Commission was in formal compliance with the Paris Principles relating to the status of national institutions, it is widely regarded as not fully independent and often unwilling to challenge the Government on politically
sensitive issues. None of its annual reports have been published.[10] Regrettably, the Consultative Commission does not have a programme to specifically promote and protect women’s human rights.
20.On the other hand, the Algerian women’s movement constitutes a significant political constituency and social force. Based on information received by several women’s organizations I met with during my mission, I consider that nongovernmental women’s associations are often still not sufficiently consulted in decisionmaking processes.[11]Individual activists often face opposition in the workplace, the media and even within their own families for taking a public stance on women’s rights. Most associations also battle with serious resource constraints; not least since they require the Government’s prior approval to receive funding from abroad. Therefore, their work often depends on the goodwill of the authorities. For instance, I had a meeting with women’s associations in Oran in an office space, which had been leased by the wilaya (province) of Oran free of charge to the Association Féminine pour l’Epanouissement de la Personne et l’Exercice de la Citoyenneté(AFEPEC). Five days after my departure from Algeria, the wilaya ordered AFEPEC to vacate the premises. In response to my written enquiry about this decision, the Government informed me that the local authorities had to reclaim the property for other purposes and would make no effort to find an appropriate alternative for AFEPEC.[12]
II. THE Status of Women
A. Education and adult literacy
21.After independence in 1962, Algeria put great emphasis on education and equality in education to overcome the extremely high levels of illiteracy, especially among women, inherited from French colonial rule. As a result, much progress has been made in realizing equal access to education for women and girls.
22.Schooling for girls and boys is obligatory and free of charge between the ages of 6 and 16. Gender parity in primary education has almost been achieved. According to the National Multiple Indicators Survey on Children and Women (MICS3 Survey), conducted in 2006[13]the schooling rate in primary education stood at 96.3 per cent for girls and 96.9 per cent for boys. The schooling rates are significantly lower in certain localities, not least due to the continued resistance in some communities to girls’ education.[14] Further, according to some of my interlocutors, the problems relating to the quality of school education undermine the overall value of free and equal access. Overcrowded classrooms, inadequate training of teachers and infrastructure gaps have been identified as areas of concern in national surveys.[15] Moreover, despite the education reform of 2002, curricula and textbooks are said to contain biases with respect to gender issues and other universal human rights values. Nevertheless, the Government noted that these textbooks have been checked by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
23.Many girls and young women actively pursue education opportunities beyond compulsory school. They have proven to be markedly more successful than their male counterparts. While, according to Government figures, 57 per cent of girls move on to high school (ages 1619), only 43 per cent of boys do so. More women (25.4 per cent) than men (18.4 per cent) also pursue higher education.[16] At the Emir Abdelkader University of Islamic Sciences, 70 per cent of students are women. Faculty members emphasized that the pursuit of education was an Islamic duty for both women and men.
24.Women’s illiteracy, especially among rural, poor and older women, continues to be a serious concern. According to the MICS3 Survey, almost one third of Algerian women aged 10years and older are illiterate (31.6 per cent, compared to 16.5 per cent for men). The female adult illiteracy rate reaches as high as 41.3 percent in rural areas; 22.4 per cent of women (including 34 per cent of rural women) have never received any formal education. The Government has allocated 45 billion dinars to a national strategy on literacy, in order to eradicate illiteracy by 2015.[17]