Migration: open letter to the algerien president

Open letter to His Excellency the President of the Republic of Algeria

Excellency Mr President,

Algeria is the country of the Maghreb that many of the representatives of the organizations and unions signing this letter have not had the chance to discover yet for various reasons. One of them, and not the least, is the obligation to obtain a visa which apply to the citizens of several African countries wishing to go to Algeria, and of course, the restriction of the freedom of movement for Sub-Saharan Africans, which has become the general rule in the region.

We know, like our parents, this beautiful country which is Algeria, by its fascinating history of accession to independence, by heroes and heroines who have forever marked the African spirit. Algeria has always been present in Africa, as has Africa in Algeria.

We would like to send you this open letter, Excellency Mr President, to share with you our deep and worrying concerns, following the information that comes to us from our Algerian trade union confreres and some of our fellow Sub-Saharan migrant workers in Algeria who are arrested and expelled.

According to the witnesses’ accounts received, arrests of Sub-Saharan migrant workers have been taking place for about ten days in the streets of Algiers. Up to now, no one seems to understand the reasons for the outburst of this terrible psychological violence, even physical violence in some cases, towards Sub-Saharan Africans living in your country.

We, the representatives of trade unions and Sub-Saharan African organizations working in the field of migration, gathered in Tunis, ask the Algerian authorities to:

– Stop the mass expulsions underway at this time.

– To no longer deport migrant workers to countries where they not originate from or where they face the risk of severe human rights violations.

– To protect refugees recognized by the Algerian Office for Refugees and Stateless Persons (BAPRA) and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR in Algeria against forced expulsion.

– Promote opportunities for regularization of migrant workers in irregular situations.

Done at Tunis, 8 October 2017

Signatories:

West African Observatory on Migrations

General Confederation of Workers of Mauritania

National Union of Workers of Mali

Union of Trade Unions of Niger

General Union of Workers of Côte d’Ivoire

National Workers’ Center of Senegal

National Union of Workers’ Trade Unions in Benin

Trade Union Confederation of Workers of Mali

Democratic Union of Workers of Senegal