“The government must pursue a reparation policy that meets the standards,” recalls a son of Harkis after the ECHR’s conviction

European justice considers the reparations planned by France for these families, repatriated from Algeria after its independence and locked up in camps, to be insufficient. Recognition for their children.

European justice rules in favor of the four children of harkis who had seized it. In 1962, their parents were among the returnees. The Tamazount escape the massacre in Algeria and find themselves in camps in the south of France. Rivesaltes first, Bias then.

It is one of the dark pages of French history: the fate reserved for the harkis after the Algerian war. These Muslims, who fought alongside the French army in Algeria, a large part of whom were forgotten by France, left in Algeria. Others were repatriated to France, but in deplorable conditions. Today, France is condemned by the European Court of Human Rights, which judges that the living conditions in these camps were incompatible with respect for human dignity.

The members of the Tamazoult family will spend 13 years locked up, without any freedom, recalls Charles Tamazount, president of the Harkis and Truth committee, and fifth child in the family. “They couldn’t get out of the camphe says. They did not have the right to access the Republic school, since schooling took place within the camp itself, among the children of harkis. The mail they could receive was censored and opened by the camp administration. And finally, their social benefits were diverted, robbed by the French state to operate the camp structure.”

“The harkis lived in total destitution for more than 15 years.”

Charles Tamazount

at franceinfo

A total of 40,000 harkis and their children passed through these camps. Some lost their lives due to lack of care. Recurrent unsanitary conditions and several uprisings led the State to close the camps from 1975, but it was not until 2001 that Jacques Chirac expressed France’s gratitude to the harkis. In 2021, Emmanuel Macron asks them for forgiveness. In 2022, a law recognizing the nation is passed and provides for compensation for the damage suffered.

Repairs deemed insufficient

This is another victory for the harki associations which denounced the scale set by the government. The European Court considers that the maximum 16,000 planned for 13 years spent in the camps are not sufficient. Crumbs, Charles Tamazount even denounces: “We cannot have such a ridiculous reparation action by the public authorities which amounts to a few thousand euros. The government must pursue a reparation policy commensurate with the seriousness of the damage endured by these families of harkis .”

The Harkis and Truth committee is demanding 10 to 15,000 euros per year spent in the camps, for arbitrary detention. He hopes for new favorable court decisions. Around ten similar files are on the desk of the European Court of Human Rights and many disputes are also in the hands of administrative justice in France.