Algeria: Situation of pieds-noirs and descendants remaining in Algeria; who is considered pied-noir today, including characteristics; treatment of pieds-noirs by society and the authorities (2009-March 2019)
1. Overview
According to sources, the term "pieds-noirs" refers to the population of European origin who settled in Algeria during the French colonial period (Director 26 Feb. 2019; Professor 26 Feb. 2019; Journalist 28 Feb. 2019). However, according to Minority Rights Group International (MRG), "pieds-noirs" is one of the terms used to refer to "Algerian-born people who fought with the French army or supported a French Algeria" (MRG 2007).
Sources state that following Algeria's independence in 1962, part of the population of European origin emigrated to France (Journalist 28 Feb. 2019; Professor 26 Feb. 2019). According to MRG, more than one million people, mostly of European descent, emigrated to France during this period (MRG 2007). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a professor of North African and Middle Eastern history at Tufts University, who has written several books and articles on Algeria, stated that "the vast majority" of pieds-noirs left the country in the years following independence (Professor 26 Feb. 2019).
Sources report that some individuals of European descent chose to stay in Algeria (Journalist 28 Feb. 2019; Professor 26 Feb. 2019). According to the Professor, a "significant minority" of pieds-noirs decided to stay in Algeria (Professor 26 Feb. 2019). However, in correspondence with the Research Directorate, an assistant professor in the Languages and Literature Department at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah, whose research areas include human rights, ethnic and religious minorities in the Maghreb, and postcolonial studies, stated that only a "handful" of pieds-noirs have remained in Algeria (Assistant Professor 28 Feb. 2019).
In correspondence with the Research Directorate, an Algerian journalist, who writes about human rights in Algeria, stated that the pieds-noirs who remained were [translation] "activists and sympathizers of the Algerian cause during the Revolution who preferred to live in Algeria after independence" (Journalist 28 Feb. 2019). According to the Professor, the pieds-noirs who remained in Algeria were "people of middle age who could not envisage starting a new life elsewhere at their age and who also felt confident that they were known to and accepted by the Muslim population in the local community and so safe" (Professor 26 Feb. 2019).
In correspondence with the Research Directorate, the Founding Director of the Centre for Maghrib Studies in Algeria (Centre d'études maghrébines en Algérie, CEMA), a research NGO that aims to support [translation] "scientific research on North Africa, all disciplines combined, and to encourage the exchange of information in terms of scientific research" (CEMA n.d.), stated that the agreements leading to Algeria's independence allowed Algerians and European settlers to choose between Algerian and French citizenship, and that although "most" of the pieds-noirs retained their French citizenship and "became permanent residents in Algeria," some chose Algerian citizenship (Director 26 Feb. 2019). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
2. Characteristics of Pieds-Noirs
Sources state that there are few people these days who would be considered pieds-noirs in Algeria (Journalist 28 Feb. 2019; Professor 26 Feb. 2019). According to the Assistant Professor, "[n]obody is considered a pied-noir today in Algeria" and contemporary use of the term is "anachronistic," since the pieds-noirs who remained in Algeria after independence have been "totally assimilated and integrated" (Assistant Professor 28 Feb. 2019).
The Director noted, however, that "there is no legal definition of pied-noir," with the criteria for who is a pied-noir being determined by the pied-noir community itself (Director 26 Feb. 2019). According to the Professor, "a pied-noir in Algeria today is a surviving member of the old settler European community" (Professor 26 Feb. 2019). The Director stated that the term "pied-noir" would not apply to a French person or European who immigrated to Algeria after the country's independence (Director 26 Feb. 2019). According to the Director, "[p]ieds-noirs are exclusively of European descent (e.g., French, Italian, Maltese, and Spanish)" (Director 26 Feb. 2019). Similarly, the Professor stated that "a narrow usage would confine the term to those Europeans (metropolitan French but also Corsicans, Italians, Maltese, Spanish, and refugees from Alsace-Lorraine) who settled in Algeria after the French conquest in 1830, and their descendants" (Professor 26 Feb. 2019).
The Director stated that "pieds-noirs (or at least their ancestors) are exclusively Christian," adding that "Jewish Algerians ... are not considered pieds-noirs" (Director 26 Feb. 2019). On the other hand, the Professor stated that a member of the Jewish community could "accessorily" be considered a pied-noir, explaining that "a looser usage would extend it to include the Jewish community that was accorded French nationality and citizenship in 1870, despite having existed in Algeria for centuries beforehand" (Professor 26 Feb. 2019).
According to the Director, the pieds-noirs "cannot be Arab or Berber" (Director 26 Feb. 2019). According to the journalist, an Algerian of Arab descent and Muslim faith who was born after independence can [translation] "under no circumstances" be considered a pied-noir (Journalist 28 Feb. 2019). According to the Professor, an individual professing the Muslim faith and living in Algeria "would normally be considered to be a member of the Muslim community and so by definition not a pied-noir" (Professor 26 Feb. 2019). The Professor added, however, that there "may" be cases of persons from mixed parentage where the individual concerned would be "loosely" regarded as a pied-noir despite his or her Muslim background, but added that he considered "this possibility to be extremely unlikely" (Professor 26 Feb. 2019).
3. Treatment of Pieds-Noirs by Society and the Authorities
According to MRG, after Algerian independence, "residual hostility" against the pieds-noirs "resulted in violence towards them" in the 1960s and 1970s (MRG 2007). However, the Professor stated that during field missions to several cities in the 1970s, he met pieds-noirs who had remained in Algeria and who "were secure and even comfortable in their respective situations" (Professor 26 Feb. 2019).
The Professor added, however, that during violence in the 1990s, pieds-noirs and the Algerian Jewish community were targeted by the Armed Islamic Group (Groupe islamique armé, GIA), the "most extreme" Islamist group, although these acts were "widely condemned" in Algeria at the time (Professor 26 Feb. 2019).
The sources consulted by the Research Directorate stated, when asked about present day, that they were not aware of any cases of differential treatment of pieds-noirs (Journalist 28 Feb. 2019; Director 26 Feb. 2019; Assistant Professor 28 Feb. 2019) or their descendants (Journalist 28 Feb. 2019). According to the Director, "[r]estrictions placed on the pied-noir community [are] limited to nationality"; pieds-noirs who have chosen not to obtain Algerian citizenship do not have the same rights as those who have Algerian citizenship (Director 26 Feb. 2019).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Assistant Professor, American University of Ras Al Khaimah. 28 February 2019. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.
Centre d'études maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA). N.d. "À propos." [Accessed 1 Mar. 2019]
Director, Centre d'études maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA). 26 February 2019. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.
Journalist. 28 February 2019. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.
Minority Rights Group International (MRG). 2007. "Algeria." World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. [Accessed 1 Mar. 2019]
Professor, Tufts University. 26 February 2019. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: Associate professor of sociology who studies Islam in North Africa, particularly in Algeria; associate researcher in geography who studies the populations of North Africa and the Near East; Ligue algérienne pour la défense des droits de l'homme; Maison des droits de l'homme et du citoyen de Tizi Ouzou.
Internet sites, including: Algeria – Conseil national des droits de l'homme; Algeria Watch; Alter Info; L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde; Amnesty International; Djazairess; DzairInfos.com; ecoi.net; Les Echos; Factiva; Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; France – Cour nationale du droit d'asile; Freedom House; L'Humanité; Human Rights Watch; Métropolitiques; The New York Times; L'Obs; US – Department of State, Library of Congress.