Amnesty International said Tuesday that Algerian authorities should immediately reverse the closure of the Algiers office of SOS Disappeared, a human rights group that has long advocated for truth, justice, and reparations for families of people forcibly disappeared during Algeria’s 1990s internal armed conflict.
In its statement, Amnesty argued that the closure was ordered by the Algiers governorate on March 12 because the association was not formally registered. Deputy Regional Director Diana Eltahawy called the move a “devastating blow” to accountability efforts.
According to Amnesty, SOS Disappeared was established in 2001 as the Algerian branch of the Committee for the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria, which was formed by mothers seeking answers about disappeared relatives. Amnesty said Algerian authorities had denied the group registration since it began operating. Authorities intensified their pressure against the organization since 2024, blocking events at its premises, making its website inaccessible inside Algeria in May 2025, and denying the founder, Nassera Dutour, entry to Algeria in July 2025. A later UN special procedures communication stated that Dutour’s expulsion appeared to form part of broader restrictions targeting CFDA and SOS Disappeared, and impeding their legitimate human rights work.
Legally, the dispute sits at the intersection of Algeria’s Law 12-06 on associations, the Interior Ministry’s rules on foreign cooperation and funding, and Algeria’s own 2020 Constitution. Article 53 of the constitution states that the right to form associations is exercised by simple declaration, while official ministry guidance for Law 12-06 describes a system of registration receipts under Article 8 and prior approval requirements for cooperation with foreign associations and foreign funding. Amnesty argued that shuttering an unregistered association is incompatible with international standards protecting freedom of association, including Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The closure also lands in a broader climate of pressure on independent associations. In his 2024 country report on Algeria, UN Special Rapporteur Clément Voule said activists and journalists continued to face arbitrary detention and that associations were being “arbitrarily dissolved or refused registration.” In a separate end-of-mission statement, UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor said official statistics showed that only 25 of more than 137,474 civil society organizations in Algeria focused specifically on human rights, and warned that defenders operating outside the state-designed framework faced serious difficulties. For instance, the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law said the Administrative Court of Appeal in Algiers upheld the dissolution of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights in December 2024.
The stakes extend beyond one office. The International Center for Transitional Justice says Algeria’s 1990s conflict left an estimated 150,000 dead and at least 7,000 disappeared.
