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UN Photo/Martine Perret |
Marion Ouldboukhitine, UNRIC Brussels
For many years, more and more women driven by poverty have been flocking to Hassi Messaoud from all Algeria to find a job in multinationals as cooks, cleaning ladies or secretaries, hoping to be able to support their family.
Hassi Massaoud, an oil-producing city in south Algeria and one of the wealthiest cities of the country, was the stage of criminal attacks in 2010.
During the night of 11th April 2010, many of these migrant workers suffered brutal attacks by men armed with knives, iron bars and sabers, who invaded a neighborhood in which many of these women lived.
Despite the cries for help, nobody came to save them, and they even said the police was unwilling to protect them against such violence. Many conservatives have even accused women of Hassi Messaoud of working as prostitutes. And even if they were, this is not an excuse to attack them. Raping, killing and burning innocent women are crimes prohibited by the Koran and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In that matter, the first judgement given by the Court in 2004 was so astounding that the prosecutor himself appealed against it.
Unfortunately, this tragedy takes us back to another similar event which took place on 13th July 2001 when a thousand women were raped, lynched, tortured, burnt and even buried alive to respond to the call of a local fundamentalist Imam, who had spurred the faithful men to “chase the female fornicators out of the area” and begin the “Jihad against the Evil”. It would seem that for these fundamentalists, leaving one’s hometown, migrating, being single or working in multinationals to support one’s family was unacceptable to the extent of justifying extreme violence from torturers without scruples. Since 2010, similar facts have been reported, explaining why 15 Algerian human rights associations raised the alarm. They were indignant about the barbarism working women have suffered.
It is important to mention that Algerian women’s way of life is in accordance with the Algerian Family Code, a set of laws adopted in 1984 which establishes strict rules that force women to be under the tutelage of their father or husband. They must always obey their husband who has the permission to repudiate his wife whenever he wants to. Moreover, some articles of the Algerian Family Code do not comply with the article 29 of the Algerian Constitution.
Nadia Kaci, a famous Algerian actress, in collaboration with the daily El Watan, wrote a book denouncing the inertia of the Algerian authorities as well as the rising violence against women in the whole country. She has been trying to inform citizens about the story of these fearful, traumatized but hateful women.
Through her book “Laissées pour mortes” (“Left for dead”). Nadia Kaci has been struggling alongside the local NGO’s to inform people about those crimes and help these women to restore their honor. She tells us the story of Rahmouna and Fatima, the only two victims who still fight for being considered as victims of Islamic terrorism. The objective is clear: everybody should talk about this disturbing situation to show men that they do not have the right to decide about the life or death of any women regardless of the reason.
'Shocked by the violence the working women have suffered and by the inertia of the forces of law and order, who did not protect the victims, we have decided to express to them our total solidarity,'
Cherifa Bouatta
Member of the Association for the Defense and Rights of Women (ADPDF).
Many NGO’s are fighting for Algerian women to safeguard and guarantee their rights. Every day, they need to struggle against this ever-present hatred towards women in the Algerian society. The Government refuses to face up to its responsibilities with respect to the security of their citizens leaving to the local NGO’s the responsibility to defend these women.
“The development of the situation and the women’s demands will determine for us what future actions to take; our current role is to continue to solicit the institutions so that they will assure their mission, which is to guarantee the security of persons and property as per the Constitution. The struggle is long: the events of 2001 proved it — one must not give up publicly decrying against the crimes and demanding justice; whereas material or financial aid is only secondary to the recognition of their status as victims…”
Dalila Iamarene Djerbal,
Réseau Wassila
(Group of associations and professionals that have been fighting violence against women and children for ten years in Algeria)
Algerian voices say
No to Violence Against Women
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