FIDH and its member organisations on the ground have monitored the escalating crisis, comprehensively briefing the members of the European Parliament prior to this resolution which strongly condemns the excessive use of force against protesters by members of the security forces and calls for the perpetrators to be held to account. FIDH takes note that the resolution calls on the EU and its member States to ‘support civil society groups, human rights defenders, journalists and protesters, including by arranging prison visits, monitoring trials and issuing public statements, to support the UNOA Commission and other organisations acting in the defence of human rights, and to closely monitor the human rights situation in Algeria, using all available instruments, including the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights’; FIDH and its member organisations in Algeria will continue to actively engage with the EU and the Algerian authorities accordingly.
Algeria: European Parliament highlights urgency of situation of freedoms in country
On November 28 the European Parliament adopted an urgency resolution calling on the Algerian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the peaceful protesters, human rights defenders and journalists arbitrarily imprisoned following the Hirak demonstrations for pursuing legitimate activities and to ensure the right to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and media freedom as guaranteed by the Algerian Constitution and by the ICCPR, which Algeria has signed and ratified.