The Algerian Council of Ministers, met on Sunday under the chairmanship of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense, decided to regularize the status of Algerian youth living abroad in vulnerable and illegal situations who were misled and exploited to act against their own country, the Council said in a press release.
According to the press release, before closing the Council of Ministers meeting, “the President of the Republic addressed young Algerians living abroad in vulnerable and illegal situations, those who were deliberately misled by individuals who mistakenly believed they could damage the State’s credibility by exploiting these youth against their own country. Most of these young people committed only minor infractions, such as fearing a simple police or gendarmerie summons for questioning about public order matters or similar issues.” As for those who sought to use “harraga” (illegal migrants) statistics to damage Algeria’s reputation and “sow confusion among youth to drive them to flee Algeria illegally, these young people now find themselves far from their homeland, separated from their families and friends, suffering in poverty and exploited in degrading work, while others are used against their own country,” the source added.
“Such situations are not worth all this hardship, they risk being exploited by criminal mafia networks, which could damage their reputation both in the country where they currently reside and in the homeland they left,” said the press release.
Consequently, “the Council of ministers, meeting today under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of National Defense, and with full agreement among all institutions of the Republic, decided to regularize the status of these Algerian men and women, provided they pledge not to reoffend,” added the source.
The source concluded “Algerian consulates abroad will implement the procedures related to this decision until these Algerians return to their homeland,” pointing out that “this measure excludes anyone who committed violent crimes, drug offenses, arms trafficking, or anyone who collaborated with foreign security services to harm their homeland, Algeria.”
