with CSOs to establish protection programs throughout the country, to raise
awareness, to prosecute and punish perpetrators in a manner that commensurate to
their crimes, and to rehabilitate and reintegrate victims of sexual violence.
E. Family Environment
Parental Guidance and Responsibilities
24. While commending the efforts of the State Party to support the family, the
Committee expresses its concern that parental responsibility is not equally assigned
between men and women. The Committee has concerns on some provisions of the
family law provisions which still prohibits the marriage of Muslim women to nonMuslims, which has an obvious negative impact on the rights of children born of
such marriages; grants the mother custody of male children only until age 10 and of
female children until they reach marriage age; took away the custody right of women
who remarry after divorce; and make women and girls only inherit only one half of
the share inherited by male members of the family. Furthermore, the Committee
noted that the polygamy is not a prohibited act.
25. Therefore, the Committee urges the State Party to ensure that family responsibility is
assigned equally between mothers and fathers and to revise all the provisions that
discriminate against women and girls.
Family reunification and children deprived of the family environment
26. The Committee recommends the State Party to ensure that alternative care in a
family setting is exhausted before placing a child in an institutional care. Moreover,
the Committee recommends the State Party to establish child care facilities in all
regions, to improve the service in already existing facilities, and to regularly monitor
and supervise institutional facilities.
Adoption
27. The Committee noted that there is no adoption system in the State Party but a
system of Kafala. However, the Committee is concerned that when the legal
guardian (Kafil) dies, the Makfoul (child placed in Kafala) is considered as part of the
heritage, and therefore, the legal heirs can decide whether or not to keep him or her
in the family, a situation which places them at risk of being re-institutionalized. The
Committee also noted that there are cases of illegal adoption and illegal placement
in Kafala of children born out of wedlock. The Committee therefore recommends the
Government of Algeria to ensure that children in the Kafala system enjoy the rights
and freedoms enshrined under the African Children’s Charter and to protect children
from illegal adoption and placement in Kafala.