Algeria Enacts Law Recognizing French Colonial Rule as Criminal Act

Algeria‘s parliament has unanimously passed legislation that formally designates France’s 132-year colonial occupation as a criminal act and calls for official acknowledgment and compensation.

Lawmakers, draped in the red, white, and green of Algeria’s flag, erupted in applause and patriotic chants following Wednesday’s vote. The new law establishes France’s “legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused,” according to the text.

Parliamentary Speaker Brahim Boughali emphasized the measure’s significance before the vote, telling state media that it conveys “a clear message, both internally and externally, that Algeria’s national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable.”

Catalog of colonial-era abuses

The legislation enumerates what it terms “crimes of French colonisation,” including nuclear weapons testing, extrajudicial executions, systematic torture—both physical and psychological—and widespread resource exploitation.

The law asserts that “full and fair compensation for all material and moral damages caused by French colonisation is an inalienable right of the Algerian state and people.”

Persistent tensions

France’s control of Algeria, which lasted from 1830 through 1962, continues to strain bilateral relations. The colonial period was characterized by widespread violence and forced population transfers, culminating in an eight-year independence struggle from 1954 to 1962.

Algeria maintains that 1.5 million people died during the independence war, while French historians estimate total casualties at 500,000, with 400,000 being Algerian.