CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE 359. It was reported in the media that the violence that has marked the country for the past ten years, the disintegration of the family unit as a result of the economic crisis, and the consequences of a Family Code that allowed children of divorced mothers to be thrown onto the street, were the primary factors causing the deviant behaviour of certain adolescents and children considered juvenile delinquents. The statistics on the latter and children without families living in state homes are alarming. During 2005, official statistics reported the following: 28 214 children in difficulty, 2896 children without families, 3319 children in moral danger, 7054 children as victims of violence and 10 965 minors arrested by the police services. These figures increase substantially each year, bearing testimony to the dangerous progression of the situation of children in Algeria. “They reflect the chaotic evolution of a conservative, fragmented Algeria exposed to the mirages of progress and with no social plan.” 12 Faced with the gravity of the situation, the state of Algeria has adopted several measures to remedy it, one of which is the creation of protective structures for minors at the level of the police force. A Code for the Protection of Children is being drawn up and includes preventative, repressive and follow-up measures. Follow-up measures will enable the social integration of those youths who are in the margins of, or excluded from, society. The legislative provisions will be accompanied by other actions, specifically governmental, dealing with school, the family, the job market, leisure etc. 13 360. The youth comprise the largest sector of the Algerian population. The social discontent of the youth and the myriad socio-economic and cultural constraints with which they have been, and still are, confronted are returning to levels experienced during the 1980s. The events of 1988 sounded warning bells at the time and underlined the problematic aspects of this generation of youths. Today, the youth are the focus of much greater attention by the country‟s decision-makers, who adopted a new national youth policy in July 2003 to resolve the many difficulties with which the youth are faced, notably unemployment, the collapse of the family unit, degradation of buying power, the inflexibility and inadequacy of education, loss of the benchmarks of identity and culture, student drop-outs, chronic illiteracy, drugs, and the effects and consequences of terrorism. Moreover, the crisis years strongly eroded the confidence of the youth in adults and the public authorities. 14 Certain 12 El Watan, 1 June 2005. It is necessary to take all aspects into consideration, particularly “the serious problems” of caring for unmarried mothers, the children of terrorists, children who are victims of sexual violence and incest, and children born without filiation, but also those subjects that society wishes to conceal at all costs. “It is important and urgent to coordinate our efforts to protect these categories of the population by instituting a scheme to deal with major civil emergencies because the future of the country is at stake.” Comment by Mr Djamal Ould Abbas, Minister of Employment and National Solidarity, reported by the newspaper El Watan on 20 April 2005. 14 “Confidence needs to be rebuilt on both sides and conditions established to promote constructive dialogue because there is a real confidence crisis. Many youths do not believe in the political discourse and in the equality of opportunity because the feeling of injustice has unfortunately extended beyond the relations between individuals to encompass all public institutions. The poor relations between the population and institutions affect the youth and it is at this point that the logic of confrontation begins. We must act now to reintegrate this section of the population – the youth – 13 119