Algeria aims to defend children's rights

2007-06-05

High dropout levels from public schooling places Algerian children in a precarious social situation. Many children who withdraw from school also have troubles at home and are not being socialized for success, leading to high levels of child mistreatment.

By Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers – 05/06/2007

[Getty Images] Algerian children who drop out of school often turn to delinquency

Prior to World Children's Day on June 1st, and in preparation for African Children's Day on June 16th, the Algerian Ministry of Employment and Solidarity released a report on child mistreatment in the country. Report data uncovered that in the first four months of 2007, the national police dealt with 516 cases of violence against children, including accidental death, intentional physical injury, sexual violence, kidnapping, murder and rape. Also according to the report, more than three-fourths of child abuse is carried out by parents.

Nearly half a million children drop out of school in Algeria each year, the report says. Although education is mandatory under Algerian law, many parents do not require their children to attend school. Many children who have dropped out of school and are mistreated at home turn to juvenile delinquency, which is growing at an alarming rate, in urban and rural areas alike. According to figures from the judiciary police, 3,467 cases of delinquency were reported between January and April 2007, involving both boys and girls. According to Kheira Messaoudene, a police captain in charge of the National Child Protection Office, the most common form of youth delinquency is theft, followed by physical violence, destruction of public property and prostitution.

"Children are being mistreated at all levels, in a society which has no respect for childhood," said Abdelhak Mekki, executive director of the Health Development and Research Foundation (FOREM). Algiers judge Ahmad Hattache said that although Algeria is a signatory to a number of international conventions on child protection, and has laws that protect children and require them to attend school, they are rarely applied, particularly when parents refuse to enrol their children in schools.

Algeria has taken a multifaceted approach to address the issues of youth delinquency, high dropout levels and inadequate enforcement of existing child protection laws.

In an attempt to tackle juvenile delinquency, the government has decided that the best solution is to reintroduce offending children into schools. It has thus planned to establish a child protection research and monitoring centre, to be overseen by the Ministry of Employment and Solidarity. Employment Ministry General Secretary Abdellah Bouchenak announced that "this centre will gather data from all 48 wilayas on matters such as the situation of street children, and will also clarify the sociological, psychological and medical aspects of the care these children need." This will make it possible to "improve and step up efforts to provide special care for this group in society."

The research centre will be set up as part of a programme in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with four main aims, one of which is to formulate a plan for the vocational and social integration of adolescents.

In a bid to reintegrate children into the schooling system, the government has introduced vocational training for pupils who have dropped out. Only 200,000 seats were made available in the programme, well below the approximately 450,000 children who abandoned their studies last year. Additionally, attendance is not mandatory for vocational training, which makes it more difficult to recruit students in large numbers.

On the occasion of World Children's Day and African Children's Day, Algeria's Ministry of Justice has organized a series of workshops on children's rights for the country's 36 courts. The workshops will run from May 21st to June 18th, and will include various members of civil society to share their experiences and knowledge on the situation of children and their rights. The initiative was described as "encouraging" by El Watan on May 23rd, however "it remains incompatible with the harsh reality of childhood in Algeria".