European Parliament resolution on Algeria
Date: 2001-01-18
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Algeria, civil war, civilian victim, crime against humanity, forced disappearance, human rights, terrorism

18.9.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 262/261

Thursday 18 January 2001

C. whereas Operation Return to Life, which the security forces launched on 19 December 2000 against
hunger strikers in twenty prisons, has resulted in the death of at least 31 prisoners and two members
of the security forces and has left more than 130 people seriously wounded,

D. whereas the Turkish authorities have recognised the need for prison reform, both in the interests of
the prisoners themselves and to re-establish the authorities’ rule over prison wards where groups of
prisoners had taken control,

E. whereas prison reform is an indispensable feature of Turkey’s responsibilities as a candidate for mem-

bership of the European Union,

1.
Deplores the recent violence in Turkish prisons and shares in the grief of the victims’ families and
condemns any excessive use of force by the security forces in interventions in the prison system; calls on
the Turkish Government and Parliament to set up an independent committee of inquiry;

Urges the Turkish authorities to take immediate and appropriate non-violent measures to avert

2.
further tragedies;

Supports the demands that the prisoners be examined professionally by independent doctors desig-

3.
nated by the medical profession;

Urges the Turkish authorities to build a new social and political consensus on prison reform based

4.
on peaceable methods, respect for human rights and international best practice;

5. Welcomes the invitations by the Turkish authorities to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture
of the Council of Europe to visit Turkish prisons and urges early completion and publication of the report
by the President of the Committee following visits in December 2000 and January 2001;

Calls on the Turkish Government to allow a delegation of Members of the European Parliament to

6.
visit the prisons to which transfers have been made;

Notes that these events attest to the urgency of continuing work on the reform of the Penal Code

7.
and of implementing without delay the reforms needed to improve the prison and judicial systems;

Regrets the selective character of the recent clemency law and urges that major steps be taken

8.
towards the release of political prisoners;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Government of

9.
Turkey, the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the Council of Europe.

12. Human rights: Situation in Algeria

B5-0066, 0083 and 0086/2001

European Parliament resolution on Algeria

The European Parliament,

A.

appalled by the latest massacres in Algeria, in which terrorists did not hesitate to murder children,

B. whereas, in spite of President Bouteflika’s efforts, the ‘civil concord’ campaign has not succeeded in

eradicating violence in Algeria,

C 262/262

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

Thursday 18 January 2001

C. whereas international human rights organisations report that thousands of people have gone missing

since 1992 and no practical action has been taken to shed light on these disappearances,

D. whereas the issue of de facto impunity is a major problem for the full restoration of the rule of law in

Algeria,

E. whereas the risk of instability in the Maghreb countries is bound to affect the safety of citizens of

those countries and the security of European countries,

1.

Expresses its sympathy and solidarity with the Algerian people;

2.
Condemns in the strongest terms the killings, massacres and disappearances to which civilians reg-
ularly fall victim in Algeria; calls on the Algerian authorities to spare no effort to carry out the necessary
investigations and bring to justice those responsible for these crimes;

Calls on any Algerian political and religious leaders who may have some power or influence over the

3.
people behind the massacres to undertake to do their utmost to end the violence in Algeria;

4.
Calls on the Algerian Government to step up the dialogue with all political, democratic and civil
society movements that reject the use of violence, so as to permit restoration of the rule of law and respect
for human rights;

Calls on the Algerian authorities to cooperate fully with the UN Working Group on Enforced or

5.
Involuntary Disappearances;

6.
Is deeply concerned at the difficulties that a number of Algerian citizens threatened by the terrorist
groups are continuing to encounter in obtaining a temporary right of asylum in a Member State, and
draws attention to the fact that the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights makes a new
approach possible in this area; but at the same time underlines the need for greater vigilance in granting
political asylum to Algerian nationals, when it appears that they are using such hospitality to organise
operational home bases for the terrorist movements;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Algerian

7.
Government and Parliament.

13. International Criminal Court

B5-0060, 0067, 0073, 0078 and 0085/2001

European Parliament resolution on the ratification of the Rome Treaty to establish the Permanent
International Criminal Court

The European Parliament,

A. whereas on 17 July 1998 the Statute of the Permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) to judge war
crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity was adopted in Rome by 120 votes to 7 with 19 absten-
tions,

B. whereas, for the first time, a court with international jurisdiction can independently judge the people

responsible for the above crimes,

C. mindful that during the last century millions of children, women and men have been victims of unim-

aginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity,