Algeria’s parliament has taken the dramatic step of passing a law that officially brands France’s more than 130-year colonial rule over the North African country as a crime and formally demands an apology and reparations from Paris, deepening an already serious diplomatic rift between the two former colonial power and its former colony. The legislation was adopted unanimously on Wednesday by the lower house, the People’s National Assembly in Algiers, where lawmakers rose in a show of national unity, wearing scarves in the colours of the Algerian flag and chanting “long live Algeria” as they applauded the bill’s passage.
The new law, titled to “criminalise French colonisation in Algeria,” asserts that the French state bears legal responsibility for the suffering and destruction inflicted during its domination of the country from 1830 until Algeria’s hard-fought independence in 1962. It catalogues a series of what Algerian lawmakers describe as the “crimes of French colonisation,” including extrajudicial killings, physical and psychological torture, nuclear weapons testing in the Algerian Sahara, forced displacement of communities, and the systematic exploitation and plundering of the country’s natural and economic resources.
Under the legislation, Algeria demands full and fair compensation for both material and moral damages caused by colonial rule and is calling for the French state to issue a formal apology for the abuses committed. The law also places new legal obligations on Algeria’s government to pursue these demands internationally, including insisting on the decontamination of former nuclear test sites and the return of cultural artifacts and human remains removed during the colonial period, according to drafts and associated commentary seen by international media.
Parliament Speaker Brahim Boughali framed the adoption of the law as a reaffirmation of national memory and dignity, saying it sends “a clear message, both internally and externally, that Algeria’s national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable.” Supporters see the law as the culmination of decades of efforts to press France to confront its colonial past beyond symbolic gestures. Algerian officials argue that formal recognition of wrongdoing and reparations are necessary to address the lingering scars of colonialism, which, for many in Algeria, includes the toll of the brutal war of independence between 1954 and 1962 that left deep social and historical wounds.
Despite the emotive force behind the legislation, analysts point out that the law carries no binding force under international law on France, and Paris is under no legal obligation to comply with Algeria’s demands. Nonetheless, the move is seen as politically significant and symbolic, reflecting a broader effort by Algerian leaders to internationalise the issue of colonial accountability and to build pressure on France to engage with Algeria’s narrative of historical injustice.
The law’s passage comes against the backdrop of an already tense relationship between Algiers and Paris, strained further in recent years by disagreements over regional issues, including France’s recognition of Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara, which Algeria opposes, and other diplomatic disputes. French responses to the law have been cautious; officials have so far declined to engage directly with Algeria’s legislative actions, framing them as internal political developments.
Critics of the new law argue that it could exacerbate diplomatic friction without resulting in tangible outcomes, given the lack of enforceable mechanisms to compel France to act. Still, for many in Algeria, the adoption of the law represents an important symbolic victory in the ongoing struggle to preserve national memory and secure what they view as long-overdue recognition and justice for the colonial era’s legacy.
