Algeria

Victim Assistance

Last updated: 09 October 2017

Action points based on findings

  • Develop central data collection mechanisms on casualties and the needs of victims to improve planning of victim assistance.
  • Formally endorse and implement the victim assistance action plan, developed in collaboration with NGOs and mine survivors.
  • Ensure that all victims are registered and therefore able to receive pensions and other benefits; approximately 42% of all victims were unregistered.

Victim assistance commitments

The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria is responsible for a significant number of survivors of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) who are in need. Algeria has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

Algeria ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 4 December 2009.

Victim Assistance

Based on casualty data gathered by the Monitor, it is estimated that, as of 31 December 2016, there had been 3,775 injuredmine/ERW survivors in Algeria. In October 2009, it was reported that there were at least 3,551 mine survivors.[1] By March 2011, there were 2,325 registered mine survivors in Algeria.[2]

Victim assistance since 2015

A new Victim Assistance Action Plan was finalized in March 2014, following a survivor identification process conducted by Handicap International (HI).[3] Improvements in the accessibility of services and renewed interest from public authorities to make services more accessible to persons with disabilities were noticeable throughout 2015.[4] In particular, improvements were noticed in access to education and in the health sector, and in access to rehabilitation care and to benefits for mine/ERW survivors.[5] All registered victims, including survivors as well as the family members of those killed by mines, are entitled to benefits through the ministries of mujahidin, national solidarity, and health. These benefits include healthcare and pensions.[6] Civilian mine/ERW victims also have access to rehabilitation services provided at institutions dedicated to former combatants.[7]

Victim assistance in 2016

Assessing victim assistance needs

No needs assessment or survey for mine/ERW survivors has been reported since 2012.

A survey on disability was launched in 2014 by the National Study and Analysis Center (CENEAP). This survey aimed to build a long-term vision of the structures and training needed for improved assistance to persons with disabilities in Algeria.[8]

Victim assistance coordination[9]

Government coordinating body/focal point

Interministerial Committee

Coordinating mechanism

Interministerial Committee

Plan

Plan d’Action National d’Assistance aux Victimes des mines Algérie (National Action Plan on Victim Assistance in Algeria) finalized in March 2014 and still awaiting endorsement by the Algerian government as of June 2017

 

The Interministerial Committee coordinates victim assistance in cooperation with the ministries of mujahidin, national solidarity, and of the interior.[10] No victim assistance coordination meetings were reported since 2014.

Algeria submitted its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for calendar year 2016, which includes information on victim assistance.[11]

Inclusion and participation in victim assistance

Survivors were involved in non-governmental coordination on victim assistance and activities including: data collection on new victims; orientation and referrals of victims and persons with disabilities towards available services; economic inclusion projects; and psychological support to survivors and their families.[12]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities in 2016

Name of organization

Type of organization

Type of activity

Ministry of Mujahidin

Government

Pensions; physical rehabilitation

Ministry of National Solidarity, Family, and the Status of Women

Government

Referrals for physical rehabilitation; transport; pensions; economic inclusion

Ministry of Health

Government

Emergency and ongoing medical care; physical rehabilitation

Five local disabled people’s organizations (DPOs)

Local DPOs

Data collection for survivor needs assessment; advocacy; support to survivors and other persons with disabilities in accessing services

National Association for Defending Victims of Mines, wilaya of Biskra

National survivor association

Data collection for survivor needs assessment; advocacy; support to survivors and other persons with disabilities in accessing services

Solidarity Association of Disabled and Victims of Mines of the wilaya of El Tarf (ASHVM)

National survivor association

Data collection for survivor needs assessment; advocacy; support to survivors and other persons with disabilities in accessing services

Association for the Social Integration of the Physically Disabled of Bechar (ACIHM)

National survivor association

Data collection for survivor needs assessment; advocacy; awareness; support to survivors and other persons with disabilities in accessing services

HI

International NGO

Socio-economic inclusion of persons with disabilities; inclusive education

 

In 2016, mine/ERW survivors as well as other persons with disabilities continued to have access to most orthopaedic and assistive devices free-of-charge, while the National Employee Social Insurance Fund (Caisse Nationale des Assurances Sociales des Travailleurs Salariés, CNAS) covered 80% of the costs of smaller prosthetic devices and audio-equipment.[13] Prosthetics users are eligible for prosthetic renewal every three years.[14]

Algerian authorities have taken ongoing steps to reduce the administrative and bureaucratic barriers for persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW victims, to improve access to social services and financial support and, in particular, to transport and education by opening a specific desk for vulnerable persons at the offices of the Directorate of Social Action and Solidarity (Direction de l'action sociale et de solidarité, DASS) in all wilayas.[15]

HI implemented programs to facilitate inclusive public policy dialogue between the associations working in the disability field, civil society organizations, and public authorities.[16] HI also implemented a project on inclusive education in Setif and Tizi Ouzou to improve access to quality education for children with disabilities.[17]

Legislation prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, in education, in access to healthcare, and in the provision of other state services. However, the law was not effectively enforced in 2016 and there was widespread societal discrimination against persons with disabilities. Few government buildings were accessible to persons with disabilities.[18] Overall, infrastructures and transports were not accessible to persons with disabilities, which was an impediment to their socio-economic inclusion. Change is however occurring, thanks to the collaboration of public entities and associations. The “accessible city” initiative (commune accessible) launched in April 2017 in four pilot cities (Constantine, Oran, Algiers, and Ghardaïa).[19]

In April 2014, the Ministry of National Solidarity, Family, and the Status of Women established the National Council of Disabled Persons in response to a 2006 presidential decree. It serves as a consultative organ to study problems, such as accessibility for persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors.[20] In 2016, the ministry provided some financial support to healthcare-oriented NGOs, but for many NGOs such financial support represented a small fraction of their budgets.[21]

In 2015, Algeria acceded to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.[22]



[1] This figure includes those survivors identified since Algerian independence in 1962 that were still alive and receiving a disability pension in 2009. “L’Algérie ambitionne de les éliminer d’ici 2012: Les mines antipersonnel ont fait 3236 Victimes” (“Algeria aims to eliminate them by 2012: Antipersonnel landmines have killed 3236 persons”), Le Soir d’Algérie, 31 October 2009.

[2] Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline Extension Request, 31 March 2011, p. 19.

[3] Email from Salima Rebbah, HI Algeria, 16 July 2012; responses to Monitor questionnaire by Salima Rebbah, HI Algeria, 19 April 2013, and 30 March 2014; and by Youcef Rafai and Slimane Maachou, Association for the Social Integration of the Physically Disabled of Bechar (ACIHM), 17 September 2015.

[4] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Slimane Maachou, ACIHM, 2 August 2016.

[5] Ibid.; and United States (US) Department of State, “2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Algeria,” Washington, DC,13 April 2016, p. 35.

[6] Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline Extension Request, 31 March 2011, p. 19; response to Monitor questionnaire by Salima Rebbah, Chief of Project, HI, 30 March 2014; response to Monitor questionnaire by Youcef Rafai and Slimane Maachou, ACIHM, 17 September 2015; Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016), pp. 32–39; and US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016: Algeria,” Washington, DC, March 2017, p. 35.

[7] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016), p. 35.

[8] Responses to Monitor questionnaire by Salima Rebbah, HI, 30 March 2014; and by Youcef Rafai and Slimane Maachou, ACIHM, 17 September 2015.

[9] Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline Extension Request, 31 March 2011; responses to Monitor questionnaire by Salima Rebbah, HI, 30 March 2014; by Youcef Rafai and Slimane Maachou, ACIHM, 20 March 2014, and 17 September 2015; and by Slimane Maachou, ACIHM, 2 August 2016; and interview with Ahcène Gherabi, Director of Algeria's National Demining Program, Geneva, 9 June 2017.

[10] Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline Extension Request, 31 March 2011, pp. 14 and 19; and response to Monitor questionnaire by Youcef Rafai and Slimane Maachou, ACIHM, 17 September 2015.

[11] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016).

[12] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Slimane Maachou, ACIHM, 2 August 2016; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016).

[13] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016), pp. 35–36.

[14] Ibid., p. 35.

[15]Facilitation des procédures administratives: un guichet par Direction de l'action sociale” (Facilitation of administrative procedures: one window per Directorate of Social Action”), Algérie Presse Service, 25 December 2013; response to Monitor questionnaire by Salima Rebbah, HI, 30 March 2014; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2016), p. 36.

[16] HI, “Algeria,” undated.

[17] HI, “Country Card Algeria,” August 2016, p. 2.

[18] US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016: Algeria,” Washington, DC, March 2017, p. 35.

[19]Quelle place pour les handicapés en Algérie ?” (“What is the place of the disabled in Algeria?”), Chouf Chouf, 10 June 2017.

[20] US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2014: Algeria,” Washington, DC, 25 June 2015, p. 31; and response to Monitor questionnaire by Youcef Rafai, and Slimane Maachou, ACIHM, 17 September 2015.

[21] US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016: Algeria,” Washington, DC, March 2017, p. 35.

[22] ICRC, “Annual Report 2015,” Geneva, May 2016, p. 114.