In response to the Algerian police sealing the Algiers office of SOS Disappeared, a human rights organization advocating for accountability for the thousands forcibly disappeared in the 1990s conflict, on 16 March 2026, Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International said:
“The forced closure of SOS Disappeared is a devastating blow to the fight for truth, justice, and reparations in Algeria. By sealing the offices of the main organization advocating for accountability for enforced disappearances—an ongoing crime under international law—Algerian authorities are once again using the draconian Law 12-06 to stifle human rights work. While the Algerian authorities have tolerated the presence of SOS Disappeared in Algiers for over two decades, since 2024 they intensified their crackdown on the organization.
SOS Disappeared was established in 2001 in Algiers as a branch of the Committee for the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CFDA), an association founded in France in 1999 by mothers seeking justice for their loved ones who were subjected to enforced disappearance during Algeria’s internal armed conflict in the 1990s. The failure to provide accountability for the thousands of people forcibly disappeared during the conflict is an enduring and agonizing legacy of the conflict.
Read more here.
Algeria: Authorities Must Reverse Closure of SOS Disappeared and Uphold Civil Society’s Demands for Truth and Justice
03/17/2026
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