ALGERIA: ALGERIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS U.N. REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN THE COUNTRY IS POSITIVE
Record ID:
574544
ALGERIA: ALGERIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS U.N. REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN THE COUNTRY IS POSITIVE
- Title: ALGERIA: ALGERIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS U.N. REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN THE COUNTRY IS POSITIVE
- Date: 16th September 1998
- Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA (SEPTEMBER 16, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV ALGERIAN FOREIGN MINISTER AHMED ATLAF AT NEWS CONFERENCE/ . ATLAF SAYING THE UNITED NATIONS REPORT WAS POSITIVE AND THAT IT HAD BEEN WELL RECEIVED (ARABIC/FRENCH) 1.48 2. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE 1.50 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 1st October 1998 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ALGIERS, ALGERIA
- City:
- Country: Algeria
- Reuters ID: LVA6X5HSET7C66KSCBT2FZV34E3Y
- Story Text: The Algerian government has said a United Nations report on human rights abuses in the country had been "positive" and that the government would react to it in a "positive manner".
Algeria's Foreign Minister Ahmed Atlaf, addressing a news conference on Wednesday (September 17), said the report was positive and that there would not be any further consequence to it.
He added that it had been well received.
A high-level U.N.panel on Wednesday rebuked Algeria for abuses by its army, police and judiciary but said the country deserved the world's support in its struggle against extremism and violence.
The team's long-awaited report sympathises with the government's six-year struggle against radical Islamic movements.
But it says the state was not innocent of human rights violations, particularly against those deemed as terrorists and urged Algeria to democratise its institutions.
Algeria, the panel said, needed a "change of mentality" in its judiciary, police and army as well as the institutions responsible for upholding human rights.It also said privatisation of its economy was not moving fast enough.
According to Western estimates, more than 65,000 people have been killed in Algeria since early 1992 when authorities cancelled a general election in which radical Islamists had taken a commanding lead.
The human rights group Amnesty International immediately called the report a whitewash and said it failed to address key issues on human rights, did not have a rights experts on the team and did not have a proper mandate to investigate abuses.
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