The Government of Algeria does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated significant efforts during the reporting period by its increased number of investigations and prosecutions of alleged traffickers under the anti-trafficking statute, the identification of 33 victims, and increased training for judicial practitioners.
The government also established and dedicated resources for a national anti-trafficking committee under the prime minister's office and inaugurated a national day against trafficking in persons. Despite these achievements, the government did not report any convictions for trafficking-related offenses and did not implement its National Action Plan for the Prevention of and Fight Against Trafficking in Persons.
It did not systematically identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations or have a standardized mechanism in place to refer potential victims to government- or NGO-run protection services, and did not provide adequate protection services for all trafficking victims.
Due to a lack of formal victim identification and screening procedures, potential trafficking victims remained at risk of penalization by the law enforcement system for acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking, such as immigration violations and prostitution. Therefore Algeria remained on Tier 2 Watch List for the second consecutive year. The government increased efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenders.
Algeria criminalized sex and labor trafficking under section 5 of its penal code. Prescribed penalties under this statute ranged from three to 20 years imprisonment, which were sufficiently stringent and, with regard to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. The NCPFAT cooperated with the Ministry of Justice MOJ to draft a new anti-trafficking law in order to consolidate all trafficking-related statutes in one place and institutionalize some of the measures currently taken on an ad hoc basis.
