In response to the decision by the administrative tribunal in Algiers to dissolve the National Autonomous Union of Education and Training Workers (CNAPESTE), Sar Hashash Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International said:
“Today’s decision to dissolve the CNAPESTE is a serious assault on the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly and a devastating blow to independent trade union activity in Algeria. Using restrictive laws to disband a teachers’ union because its members challenged legislation affecting their working conditions is entirely inconsistent with Algeria’s obligations under international human rights law.
“The dissolution of a trade union must never be used as a means of punishing workers for exercising their rights or silencing independent voices. Algerian authorities must immediately rescind this ruling, end the judicial harassment of trade unionists, and ensure that workers and their organizations can operate freely without fear of reprisals or arbitrary interference. ”
Background
On 28 July 2026, the Administrative Tribunal in Algiers ordered the dissolution of the CNAPESTE, an independent teachers’ union registered since 2007. According to the union’s legal representatives, the ruling followed a petition by the Ministry of Labour, supported by the Ministry of Education, seeking the union’s dissolution under Law 23-02, a restrictive trade union law adopted in April 2023. Law 23-02 grants authorities sweeping powers to suspend or dissolve trade unions on broad and vaguely defined grounds, including the alleged failure to update or comply with internal bylaws or the organization of “illicit” strikes deemed to affect “the continuity or functioning of the public service”.
This ruling comes amid a wider assault on civic space in Algeria, where the authorities have increasingly targeted independent trade unions, civil society organisations and social movements. In 2025, at least five union members faced arbitrary arrests and prosecutions for organizing peaceful protests against deteriorating working conditions and contested legal reforms, including two CNAPESTE representatives who remain under judicial supervision. In February 2026, an appeals court sentenced trade union leader Ali Mammeri to 10 years’ imprisonment notably in relation to his activity at the National Union of Civil Servants in the Field of Culture and Arts (SNFC).
In 2021 and 2022 Algerian authorities also used spurious legal provisions in the associations law to dissolve two civil society and human rights organizations.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Amnesty International.
