Algeria
To prevent an Islamist government from assuming power, the authorities in Algeria cancelled elections on 11 January 1992. Thousands of people disappeared in civil unrest that continued for the next decade.
The Collective of Families of the Missing in Algeria has collected more than 8,000 testimonies on forced disappearances in the country.
A 2005 referendum approved a Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, which came into force in 2006. The Charter includes amnesty provisions that effectively prevent families of those who disappeared during the conflict from seeking legal redress.
Algeria signed the ICPPED in 2007 but has not yet ratified the agreement. In February 2011 the state of emergency that had been in force for 19 years was lifted, though reports of arbitrary detention and arrests have continued.
