Algeria's Parliament Passes Law Designating France's Colonial Rule a Criminal Act
Algeria’s parliament has passed with full support a piece of legislation declaring France’s colonisation of the country a criminal act and called for an official apology and compensation.
Legislators, gathered in parliament adorned with scarves in the colours of the national flag, chanted “long live Algeria” on Wednesday as they applauded the approval of the legislation, which affirms that the former colonial power holds “legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused”.
A Significant Strain and a Political Gesture
The two countries are locked in a major bilateral dispute and observers say that while Algeria’s action is largely symbolic, it is still a major political statement.
“an unambiguous signal, both internally and internationally, that the nation's historical memory is not erasable nor subject to negotiation.”
The law enumerates the “crimes of French colonisation”, which encompass nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, “physical and psychological torture” and the “systematic plundering of national wealth”.
Call for Compensation
It asserts that “complete and just compensation for all material and moral harms caused by French colonisation is an inalienable right of the state and people”.
France’s rule over Algeria from 1830 until 1962 was a era marked by widespread deaths and large-scale deportations, all the way up to the bloody independence war from 1954 to 1962.
- Algerian officials states the conflict killed one and a half million lives.
- French historians estimate the fatalities at half a million in total, 400,000 of them Algerian.
Official Reaction and Historical View
The head of state, President Macron, has in the past acknowledged the colonial era of Algeria as a “grave injustice” but has declined to offer an apology.
Questioned recently about the vote, a diplomatic representative stated he would not discuss “political debates taking place in foreign countries”.
Hosni Kitouni in colonial history, said that “from a legal standpoint, this law has no international scope and therefore is not enforceable for France”. However, “its political and symbolic importance is considerable: it marks a rupture in the relationship with France in terms of historical memory,” he added.