URGENT APPEAL FROM:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

EURO-MEDITERRANEAN HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK

FIDH (INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS)



EU-ALGERIA: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MAY DOWNGRADE HUMAN RIGHTS SAFEGUARDS IN

CRUCIAL VOTE TOMORROW



(Brussels Wednesday 9 October, 2002) Three human rights organisations

have combined to send a last-minute appeal to the European Parliament

not to remove language calling for specific and concrete measures to

address the serious human rights situation in Algeria when it votes to

give its assent to the EU-Algeria Association Agreement tomorrow.



Amnesty International, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network and

the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) are alarmed that

amendments tabled by French MEP Philippe Morillon, on behalf of the

biggest group in the Parliament, the PPE-DE, (European People's Party

and European Democrats) would remove a call to the Council and the

Commission to put concrete human rights monitoring mechanisms in place.



In addition, the amendment would remove calls for unrestricted access to

Algeria for United Nations human rights rapporteurs and human rights

NGOs.



The three human rights organisations had earlier welcomed the EP Foreign

Affairs Committee's draft resolution calling on the Council and the

Commission to specify concrete mechanisms to evaluate the human rights

situation in Algeria, in the context of the human rights clause (Article

2) in the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement with Algeria.



Grave human rights abuses continue to be committed with impunity in

Algeria. If the European Parliament removes calls for better human

rights monitoring in the context of the EU-Algeria agreement, it

effectively invites Algeria to regard its human rights commitments under

Article 2 as a dead letter.



The human rights organisations call on MEPs to reject these amendments

or risk serious damage to the Parliament's credibility in the area of

human rights.



For further information:



Dick Oosting, Amnesty International EU Office

Tel: 322-5021499

Marc Schade-Poulsen, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network

Tel: 45-32698910

Driss El-Yazami, FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights)

Tel: 331-43552518