The raising of the state of emergency by the Algerian authorities on the 24th February 2011, after 19 years of its establishment “did not restore the fundamental civil liberties of Algerian people”, according to Human Rights Watch for which the arbitrary forbidding of gatherings and meetings is a proof that this raising is made just for a pure show. Algeria “should review the numerous repressive existing laws and put an end to different arbitrary practices”, declared indignantly the human rights organization, on Wednesday 6th April. HRW believes that the emergency state, brought in on the 9th February 1992, “has become a convenient excuse for the Algerian authorities to suppress the civil liberties”. Despite of this recent raising of the state of emergency, “the authorities continue flouting Algerians’ fundamental rights”.
For the time being, the raising of the state of emergency had only “very little impact on the practising of Algerians’ civil liberties because the pre-existing judicial arsenal is sometimes also repressive, or used in a repressive manner”, has observed Sarah Leah Whitson, the  executive in charge of Middle East and North Africa at the Human Rights Watch. The international organization denounces namely the prohibition of all the gatherings and demonstrations in Algiers since the month of February 2011.  A prohibition which is in violation of the international Pact related to the civil and political rights to which Algeria adheres.

The international organization calls finally Algeria to “review its legislation about demonstrations and public meetings so that it would be in keeping with mainly the international norms concerning the right to gathering and meeting”.