Algeria is examined by the United Nations Committee for Economic Social and Cultural Rights 05/04/2010
You can download the full report presented by Tamazgha at the bottom of this communique. If you can help us translate the communique or the report to English, please write to us. We need translators help. 44ème session du Comité pour les droits économiques, sociaux et culturels) A Communiqué by Tamazgha Association (Paris) Lors de la 44ème session du Comité pour les droits économiques, sociaux et culturels (CESCR) qui se tient du 3 au 21 mai 2010 à Genève, l'Etat algérien est appelée à fournir un rapport sur les mesures législatives, judiciaires et administratives qui ont été prises pour s’acquitter de ses obligations en vertu du Pacte international relatif aux droits économiques, sociaux et culturels. En la circonstance, l'Etat algérien, comme à ses habitudes, présente un texte mettant en scène une mécanique institutionnelle tout à fait formelle d'allure hautement protectrice des libertés publiques et des droits conférés par le Pacte, mais en totale contradiction avec la réalité de tous les jours des citoyens. Ce formalisme de façade cache l'énorme fossé qui s'est structurellement installé entre la légalité algérienne qui, seulement dans ses textes, se veut respectueuse des traités internationaux relatifs aux droits de l'Homme et l'application réelle de ces instruments ainsi que la protection effective des droits qu'ils reconnaissent, cependant très formellement, aux citoyens. Il y a là incontestablement une réelle déconnexion entre les affirmations des textes et la réalité du terrain. L'une des principales contradictions se constate dans le traitement que réserve l'Etat à la dimension amazighe et aux amazighophones (berbérophones). Tamazgha, ONG de défense des droits des Imazighen (Berbères), a présenté à cette occasion un rapport alternatif intitulé "L'Etat algérien et la question amazighe". Dans ce dernier, Tamazgha revient sur l'hypocrisie et les incohérences de l'Etat algérien ainsi que sur les principales violations des dispositions du Pacte international relatif aux droits économiques, sociaux et culturels. Dans ce même rapport, et de façon tout à fait indicative, Tamazgha soumet quelques propositions au Comité dont il peut s'inspirer pour formuler des recommandations à l'Etat algérien afin d'éliminer les discriminations dont sont victimes Imazighen (les Berbères). L'Etat algérien se targue depuis 2002 d'avoir inscrit tamazight comme langue nationale dans sa Constitution. Mais comment croire à la sincérité de l'Etat algérien alors qu'il maintient la loi de généralisation de la langue arabe, une loi toujours en vigueur et qui institutionnalise la discrimination linguistique. Quel sens a l'inscription de tamazight comme langue nationale alors que les amazighophones ne peuvent toujours pas faire usage dans leur langue dans l'ensemble des administrations algériennes et ne peuvent recevoir des documents officiels dans leur langue. Sur le plan de la culture et des arts, Tamazgha dénonce la politique algérienne qui s'inscrit dans une logique de torpillage par la folklorisation et la promotion de la médiocrité tout en pratiquant le « clientélisme » pour l'attribution des fonds publics aux associations et divers organismes de production. Sur le plan de l'enseignement, Tamazgha tient à dénoncer la façon dont l'Etat algérien veut conduire à l'échec de l'enseignement de tamazight. En effet, l'aspect facultatif et marginal de cet enseignement qui, par ailleurs, ne bénéficie pas de moyens conséquents à la hauteur des besoins, ne peut conduire qu'à l'enterrement, en douceur, de cette langue. Et d'ailleurs comment croire à la sincérité de l'Etat algérien qui prétend vouloir reconnaître et promouvoir la langue amazighe alors que son projet d'arabisation ne cesse, au quotidien, de prendre de l'ampleur ?! Après plusieurs années de prise en charge de l'enseignement de cette « langue nationale », seulement 2,15% des élèves scolarisés bénéficient de l'enseignement de tamazight, dont plus de 88 % en Kabylie. Alger, la capitale de l'Etat algérien qui compte au moins 50% d'amazighophones, ne compte que trois enseignants dans trois établissements qui accueillent seulement 63 élèves. Dans son rapport, Tamazgha met le doigt également sur les discriminations religieuses que pratique l'Etat algérien. Elle dénonce la politique officielle qui veut faire de l'Etat algérien un Etat musulman où les non-musulmans se trouvent exclus, marginalisés et parfois privés des droits les plus élémentaires comme celui, par exemple, d'adopter un enfant. En bref, l'Etat algérien reste fidèle à l'un des ses principes fondateurs à savoir l'éradication de l'amazighité de l'Afrique du Nord. Son attitude hypocrite devant les instances internationales quant à la question amazighe ne fait que confirmer sa détermination d'aller au bout de son projet anti-amazigh. Tamazgha appelle de tous ses vœux pour que les membres du Comité des droits économiques, sociaux et culturels des Nations Unies interpellent l'Etat algérien sur sa politique de marginalisation et d'exclusion de l'amazighité, et lui rappellent ses obligations de respecter les dispositions du Pacte auquel il adhère. Et pour montrer sa bonne volonté, l'Etat algérien doit, sans délai, procéder à la modification de toutes les lois et différents instruments de droit et actes légaux comportant des dispositions discriminatoires à l'égard de tamazight. Toutes les lois, décrets, ordonnances, …. doivent être revus pour qu'ils soient compatibles avec l'article 3-bis de la Constitution qui fait de tamazight une langue nationale. Bien entendu, l'Etat algérien doit procéder à l'officialisation de tamazight comme le lui a recommandé le Comité 2001 déjà. Tamazgha, Genève, le 3 mai 2010 
 For Immediate Release Civil Registrars Refuse to Record Newborns Whose Names Are ‘Not Moroccan’ (Washington, DC, September 3, 2009) – Morocco should stop interfering with the right of its citizens to give Amazigh names to their children, Human Rights Watch said today. Numerous Moroccans living in cities and villages around the kingdom and abroad who chose Amazigh first names for their newborns have been refused when they applied at local civil registrars to record those names. Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to the interior minister, Chekib Benmoussa on June 16, 2009 detailing five such cases and soliciting an explanation. There was no response. “Morocco has taken steps to recognize Amazigh cultural rights,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “It now needs to extend that recognition to the right of parents to choose the name of their child.” Morocco’s Law on the Civil Registry stipulates that a first name must have “a Moroccan character.” Local administrators apparently interpret that requirement to mean names that are Arabic-Islamic, even though the Amazigh people are native to Morocco. The law gives parents the right to appeal a refusal in court and to the High Commission of the Civil Registry. Over the years, the commission has ruled on dozens of Amazigh, European, and other non-Arabic-Islamic names, accepting some and rejecting others. The five cases documented in the Human Rights Watch letter, involving both residents of Morocco and émigrés living abroad, resulted ultimately in victories for the parents. But they succeeded only after bureaucratic delays and lengthy appeals, sometimes enduring hostile or humiliating questions from Moroccan civil servants and the insecurity of having a newborn who, for months, had no legal identity. “We are happy that these parents prevailed, but no couple should have to fight their government, at this special time in their life, to be able to name their baby,” Whitson said. On August 26, a first instance court in Tahla (province of Taza) court approved an Amazigh name in a sixth case, allowing Abdallah Bouchnaoui and Jamila Aarrach, to name their five-month-old daughter “Tiziri,” which means “moon” in Tamazight, the Amazigh language. The victory came only after the couple, who live in the commune of Zerarda in the Middle Atlas, had endured months of uncertainty. For a seventh couple, the uncertainty continues. On March 11, Rachid Mabrouky went to the civil registry in the Saâda district of Marrakesh to register his two-day-old daughter as “Gaïa.” Mabrouky told Human Rights Watch that the official on duty refused to accept the name, contending that it was “not Moroccan.” Mabrouky went to the civil registry at the city’s prefecture, only to be told the same thing. When he explained that the name “Gaïa” was Amazigh and therefore Moroccan, the agent on duty persisted in his refusal, exclaiming, “You Amazigh are all fanatics,” Mabrouky said. Mabrouky and his wife, Lucile Zerroust, who is French, filed a case in administrative court, where the case is still pending. “Gaïa” is the name of an ancient Berber prince. Parents of an infant who is not recorded by the civil registrar may face obstacles when applying for a passport for the child, reimbursement by state medical insurance, or other services. Parents who persist in demanding that the government record Amazigh names tend to be Amazighs who are politically active. They say that for every couple like themselves, there are others who avoid giving their children Amazigh names, fearing a humiliating refusal from local officials followed by administrative problems. The Amazigh are the indigenous people of North Africa and are overwhelmingly Muslim. Today, the two largest Amazigh populations are in Morocco and Algeria, where some are actively engaged in seeking cultural, linguistic, and political rights. In 2001, King Mohammed VI of Morocco created a Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture and began a program to teach the Tamazight language in schools. Several Moroccans who are Amazigh told Human Rights Watch that when civil registry agents are presented with uncommon first names, they consult lists prepared periodically by the High Commission of the Civil Registry. These lists include dozens of non-Arab-Islamic names, each one marked “accepted” or “refused.” Human Rights Watch has copies of some of these lists. According to the law, the commission is composed of representatives of the interior and justice ministries and the kingdom’s official historian. International jurisprudence supports the freedom to choose one’s name. The United Nations’ Human Rights Committee ruled in the 1994 case of Coeriel et al v. Netherlands, “Article 17 [of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] provides, inter alia, that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence. The Committee considers that the notion of privacy refers to the sphere of a person’s life in which he or she can freely express his or her identity.... [This] includes the protection against arbitrary or unlawful interference with the right to choose and change one’s own name.” “Unless a first name is patently offensive or objectionable or harmful to the interests of the child, authorities have no business curbing the right of parents to make this very personal choice – especially not when the curb amounts to a form of ethnic discrimination,” said Whitson. Human Rights Watch’s letter to Minister of Interior Benmoussa, seeking information about the cases involving the naming of five Amazigh children – Ayyur Adam, Massine, Sifaw, Tara, and Tin-Ass – is online at: http://www.hrw.org/node/85427 (English); http://www.hrw.org/node/85429 (Arabic). For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Morocco and Western Sahara, please visit: http://www.hrw.org/en/middle-eastn-africa/morocco/western-sahara For more information, please contact: In Washington, DC, Eric Goldstein (English, French): +1-917-519-4736 (mobile) In Washington, DC, Abderrahim Sabir (Arabic, French, English): +1-202-612-4342; or +1-202-701-7654 (mobile)  The following (see attachment below in pdf) is the final French language version of the Amazigh Caucus Declaration as drafted by almost 13 Amazigh associations from around the world that took part at the 8th Session of the Permanent Forum of the Indigenous Issues at the United Nations. Tomorrow will be the last day of the session. The English version will be drafted soon. ACAA was among the Amazigh Associations that took part at this session and we will make it a tradition to attend every year. I personally was amazed and impressed by the level of info displayed at the forum and all the great people I met from all over the world. We will sure put that to good use in the future to serve our culture and our people. I encourage all Amazigh associations in America and elsewhere to get involved in the future. It is a great venue to expose to the world your culture and help in promoting it, interact and network with other indigenous cultures at various levels and build a better world by being a citizen of the world. The permanent forum was created by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) mainly to discuss Indigenous issues within the Council, including Economic and Social Development, Culture, Environment, Educations, Health and Human Rights. The Climate Change and its impact on the Indigenous populations were one of the main topics discussed at the Forum. The Amazigh Caucus was well represented and we will get more organized next year. We were glad to meet many leaders from the Morrocan and Touareg associations. Kamira Nat-Sid and Ferhat Mehenni were the ambassadors from Kabylia and made a great impact with their interventions by speaking up on the main issues currently happening in Algeria. This hopefully will help in expediting the resolution of the main issues and push the process of democracy forward. For more details, please refer to http://www.un. org/esa/socdev/ unpfii/en/ session_eighth. html. All pertinent info are published. Cheers to all and God Bless Aomar Bensilmane ACAA President New York, May 28, 2009 
Morocco is allergic to Amazigh names 04/02/2009
ACAA is pleased to present you the following article by Jillian York which appeared in The Huffington Post. AMUSSU ADELSAN AMAZIΓ N INELMADEN G TIZI N IMNAYEN     The Tuareg Fight for Justice 07/23/2008
 Al-Jazeera-English TV has recently (during this month of July) aired a series of reports on the Tuareg rebellion in northern Niger.  Asmi teffeɣ Fransa si Tmurt n Lezzayer deg useggas n 1962, Leqbayel nwan dayen ifuk fell-asen lḥif, ddel d tmuḥqranit. Nnan-as, tura mi yekcem uṛumi amcum s axxam-is, talwit ad d-tekcem Tudrin n Yeqbayliyen.
Kabylia, June 5th, 2008 - At the seventh anniversary of the claim for Kabylia’s autonomy, the MAK has now made official its demand for a regional autonomy to all of the concerned Algerian authorities with a copy to the international bodies and Mr. Nelson Mandela. Click on the files below to download a pdf of the letter (in French). Tamazight and English versions will be posted soon.
 May 17th, 2008 In conformance with the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, France presented its periodic report on April 29 & 30, 2008 during the 40th session of the United Nations' Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) that was being held from April 28 to May 16, 2008 in Geneva. To this effect, many organizations dealing with regional or minority languages and cultures made the trip to Geneva in order to present alternative report to that of France. Among them is Tamazgha of Paris who presented a report on the linguistic and cultiral rights of the Amazighs in France.
|  MenuAll Download the keyboard and fonts necessary to write or visualize Tamazight on your Windows computer 
ArchivesJuly 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RSS Feed