Algeria debates law to criminalize French colonial rule – JURIST

The Peoples National Assembly (lower house of Parliament) in Algeria began debating a draft law on Saturday seeking to criminalize French colonization.

This legislative move is a step in advancing the Algiers Declaration, which was adopted following a conference on colonialism held on November 30 and December 1. This law focuses on French colonial rule between 1830 and 1962, and is the first of its kind in the legislature’s history.

The draft proposal has five chapters with 27 articles, the content and goals of which were explained by the Speaker of the Assembly, Ibrahim Boughali:

[It] is based on the principles of international law that affirm peoples’ right to legal redress, the achievement of historical justice, and the rejection of impunity. It aims to establish responsibility, secure recognition and an apology for crimes of colonialism as a foundation for reconciliation with history and the protection of national memory.

This proposed law is part of the long process of repairing the relationship between Algiers and Paris. Algeria has repeatedly called on France to explicitly acknowledge their responsibility, but the issue of colonial memory is one of the greatest sources of tension between the two states.

Boughali stressed that the proposal, listing crimes committed during the colonial era and setting out mechanisms for redress, was not intended to worsen their relationship. He added, “[the proposal] was not directed against a people, nor intended as revenge or to inflame hatred. Rather, it was based on the principle that crimes against humanity do not expire with time, are not justified by force, and cannot be closed by silence.”

During the period from 1954 to 1962, the countries fought in a war of independence, where Algeria sought to drive out the French rule. Around 1.5 million Algerians and 27,000 French soldiers were reportedly killed during the war, and thousands of villages were destroyed. France has long been accused of “gross human rights violations and war crimes,” which the French government acknowledged in 2018.

The French government has not yet responded to the present debate, though President Macron has previously stated that he would not apologize for his country’s role in colonization. He has expressed a willingness to build a relationship with Algerian President Tebboune, stressing that “Work on memory and history isn’t a settling of all accounts.”

The political and legal significance of memory has been recognized by scholars and the United Nations in other contexts, but the message remains the same: “Memory is not just about the past. It is about resisting erasure, confronting falsehoods, and standing up for human dignity, even decades after the crimes took place.”

If adopted, this law will set the foundation for multiple goals from the Algiers Declaration, including preservation of history, codification of colonial crimes, and the beginnings of cultural reparations. The Assembly is expected to vote on the historic law on Wednesday.