International Human Rights Day
To celebrate Human Rights day on the 10 of December, we are proud to look back on a busy year, working on a broad range of issues
Time to act
To celebrate Human Rights day on the 10 of December, we are proud to look back on a busy year, working on a broad range of issues: from public voice and political participation, to raising awareness on preventing sexual violence against women, and building the presence of youth and marginalised voices in Algeria.
The British embassy in Algiers has been involved in the following events:
Participated on 10 Dec in a celebration of Human rights day at the invitation of the National Consultative Commission for Promotion & Protection of Human Rights of Algeria.
Our project partner, Handicap International, celebrated this special day at the center for children with intellectual impairment called “ANIS” in the wilaya of Boumerdes by organizing an entertaining and inclusive day, including puppet show, drawing workshops, and many other games which allowed more than 60 kids to express themselves and have fun among each other. This was also the opportunity for the families and enjoyed to see their children interacting and playing among other children of the wilaya. A magic day that everyone will remember as barrier free day!
Participation on 9 Dec in Algiers in a workshop with several Algerian political parties and international strategists organised by our Arab Partnership partner- the National Democratic Institute- on the topic of ‘public voice and political participation’.
Participated in a conference on 2 Dec on the abolition of death penalty. This event was organised by the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in collaboration of the National Consultative Commission for Promotion & Protection of Human Rights of Algeria.
Rob Fenn, Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, during his visit to Algiers from 30 Nov to 1 Dec, met with the minister of religious Affairs, senior officials at the MFA and Ministry of Justice. We also had a roundtable meeting with several national and international NGOs working in Algeria (Handicap International, ADWAA Human Rights Watch, NADA network, NDI, Amnesty International, CISP, CIR).
Participated in the First Youth Forum in Algeria “active citizens for sustainable development”. The event was organized in Algiers from 25 to 28 November for the first time in Algeria, on the initiative of a dozen of youth organisations, the ‘Youth Forum Algeria’ allowed young people to have their say on issues that concern them. It brought together not less than 250 young people from 11 countries of the Mediterranean basin: Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Egypt, Lebanon, France, Italy, Greece, Spain and Algeria.
Our project partner Media Diversity Institute organised on 29 November a debate on ‘Unwanted & Discriminated by the Media: Refugees & Migrants in the Maghreb’. The debate was organized as part of the project “Inclusive Media for an Inclusive Society: Building the presence of youth and marginalized voices in Algeria”, and was a good opportunity for the participants from the media, civil society and academia to reflect on the importance of abandoning discriminatory and derogatory language towards one of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups in the Maghreb.
Some of the participants highlighted that there is still confusion between the terms ‘refugees’ and ‘migrants’. Most of the media tend to use generalization when reporting on the issue. For example, some journalists use the broader term ‘Africans’ instead of the particular nationality of a person in question.
The media’s portrayal in most cases is problematic since migrants and refugees alike are described as ‘invaders, criminals and people carrying diseases (AIDS, Ebola, etc)’. The roundtable received extensive media coverage, which included reports by the Algerian News Agency, as well as private newspapers and TV channels. The following are links to some of the coverage: Migration Sub-Saharan
A Seminar was organised on 10 Dec by our project partner CISP and the Algerian League of Human Rights to debate about the situation of Human Rights in Algeria. This event took place at the University of Bejaia (East of Algeria).