Algeria’s parliament has unanimously approved a law criminalizing French colonial rule from 1830 to 1962 and demanding an “official apology” from France.

Standing in the chamber, deputies wearing scarves in the colors of the Algerian flag applauded the adoption of the text, which assigns the French state “legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused.” Although largely symbolic, the measure could further strain relations between the two countries, which are already experiencing a diplomatic crisis.

“Long live Algeria!” lawmakers shouted as the president of the People’s National Assembly, Brahim Bougali, praised the law’s unanimous approval by the deputies present.

The “unspeakable” crimes of French colonialism

The new law lists what it describes as the “crimes of French colonialism,” declaring them unspeakable. These include nuclear testing, extrajudicial killings, the widespread use of physical and psychological torture, and the systematic plundering of the country’s resources. Parliament stated that “full and fair compensation for all material and moral damage caused by French colonialism is an inalienable right of the Algerian state and people.”

Despite its strong language, the law’s practical impact on reparations claims is likely to be limited.

“From a legal standpoint, this law has no international force and therefore creates no obligations for France,” Hosni Kituni, a researcher on the colonial period at the University of Exeter, told Agence France-Presse. However, he added that it “marks a rupture in the framework of understanding with France.”

Diplomatic crisis

Asked about the issue last week, French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confarvet declined to comment on “political discussions taking place in foreign countries.”

During parliamentary debates over the weekend, Bougali insisted that the law “does not target any people, does not seek revenge, and does not aim to stir resentment.”

The law’s adoption comes amid heightened tensions between Paris and Algiers following France’s recognition in the summer of 2024 of an autonomy plan for Western Sahara “under Moroccan sovereignty.”

Relations deteriorated further after several incidents, including the conviction and imprisonment of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who was later pardoned following German mediation.

The legacy of French colonialism in Algeria remains a highly sensitive issue and one of the main sources of tension between the two countries.

Mass killings

According to historians, France’s conquest of Algeria beginning in 1830 was marked by mass killings, the destruction of socio-economic structures, and large-scale deportations. Numerous uprisings were crushed before the outbreak of the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962), which Algeria says claimed 1.5 million lives. French historians estimate the death toll at around 500,000, including approximately 400,000 Algerians.

In 2017, Emmanuel Macron, then a candidate for the French presidency, described the colonization of Algeria as a “crime against humanity.” “It is part of a past that we must confront, while also offering apologies to those against whom these acts were committed,” he said.

After the publication of a report by historian Benjamin Stora in January 2021, Macron pledged to take “symbolic actions” to promote reconciliation between the two countries, while again ruling out a formal apology. He later sparked outrage in Algeria by questioning, in an interview with Le Monde, the existence of an Algerian nation prior to French colonization.

Under the new law, the Algerian state will also demand that France decontaminate sites where nuclear tests were conducted. Between 1960 and 1966, France carried out 17 nuclear tests at several locations in the Algerian Sahara.

The law further classifies as “high treason” any collaboration by the harkis (Algerian auxiliaries of the French army) and предусматривает punishment for anyone who supports or justifies French colonialism.

Efforts to criminalize French colonialism in Algeria have been raised repeatedly, from the 1980s to the present day.