Algeria Issues - 2024

Disputes - international

Algeria-Morocco: the Algerian-Moroccan land border remains closed; Algeria's border with Morocco remains an irritant to bilateral relations, each nation accusing the other of harboring militants and arms smuggling; the National Liberation Front's (FLN) assertions of a claim to Chirac Pastures in southeastern Morocco remain a dormant dispute

Algeria-Libya: dormant dispute includes Libyan claims of about 32,000 sq km still reflected on its maps of southeastern Algeria

Algeria-Mali: none identified

Algeria-Mauritania: none identified

Algeria-Niger: none identified

Algeria-Tunisia: none identified

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): more than 100,000 (Sahrawi, mostly living in Algerian-sponsored camps in the southwestern Algerian town of Tindouf); 7,345 (Syria) (mid-year 2022)

Trafficking in persons

tier rating: Tier 3 — Algeria does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore, Algeria was downgraded to Tier 3; the government did take some steps to address trafficking, including adopting a National Action Plan, creating specialized trafficking units, and approving standardized victim identification indicators, although the indicators had not yet been promulgated; a draft anti-trafficking law was pending in Parliament at the end of the reporting period and the government continued work with an international organization to develop a National Referral Mechanism and train officials; however, officials conducted fewer investigations and prosecutions, and efforts to identify and assist victims remained insufficient; authorities most likely continued to penalize trafficking victims for immigration offenses committed as a result of being trafficked; government efforts to deport undocumented migrants without screening for trafficking indicators deterred some victims from reporting crimes or seeking assistance (2023)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Algeria, and Algerians are exploited abroad; undocumented migrants, primarily from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria are vulnerable to labor and sex trafficking in Algeria; unaccompanied women and women traveling with children are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced domestic work; refugees and asylum seekers are vulnerable to trafficking before and during migration to Algeria; false promises of work in beauty salons or restaurants lure migrants to Algeria where they are exploited in sex and labor trafficking; victims report physical and sexual abuse from smugglers and traffickers; sub-Saharan men and women needing funds for their onward journey to Europe work illegally in construction and commercial sex and are vulnerable to sex trafficking and debt bondage;  Algerian women and girls are vulnerable to sex trafficking due to financial problems or after running away from home; criminal begging rings that exploit sub-Saharan African migrant children are common; Cuban medical workers in Algeria may have been forced to work by the Cuban Government, and North Korean and Chinese nationals working in Algeria may be at risk of exploitation (2023)

Illicit drugs

N/A