On 24 December 2025, Algeria’s Parliament unanimously adopted a law aimed at criminalising French colonisationduring the period from 1830 to 1962. The legislation characterises the colonial system as a framework of systematic and grave violations and explicitly raises the issue of state responsibility for acts committed under colonial rule.
According to information released following the vote, the law covers a wide range of practices associated with the colonial period, including forced displacement, extrajudicial executions, torture, expropriation, and cultural destruction. Particular emphasis is placed on the long-term environmental and health consequences of French nuclear tests conducted in the Algerian Sahara, which the text treats as harms with continuing effects.
The law also reportedly includes provisions related to access to colonial archives, the disclosure of historical truth, and demands for redress and reparation. In addition, it introduces criminal sanctions against the glorification or justification of colonisation, linking historical accountability to contemporary public discourse.
Algerian authorities have presented the law as a step toward legal and moral accountability rather than a purely symbolic gesture. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted by describing the initiative as “hostile” and warned that it could negatively affect bilateral relations between the two countries.
Legal Significance Under International Law
The adoption of this law does not, in itself, create direct legal obligations for France under international law. Its significance lies instead in the legal framing of colonialism as a matter of responsibility, accountability, and reparations, rather than solely as a historical or political issue.
While colonialism has not traditionally been codified as an autonomous international crime, many acts committed within colonial systems fall under established prohibitions in international law, including crimes against humanity, torture, racial discrimination, and forced displacement. Several of these violations are subject to the principle of non-applicability of statutory limitations, particularly where they reach the threshold of crimes against humanity.
By treating colonisation as a structural and continuous regime of violations, rather than a series of isolated acts, the Algerian law aligns with contemporary legal debates on state responsibility, the right to truth, reparation, and the fight against impunity. Its references to environmental and health damage further reflect an emerging recognition that certain colonial harms may constitute ongoing violations with present-day legal relevance.
In this sense, the law functions less as a judicial instrument than as a normative and legal intervention, seeking to reshape how colonial legacies are addressed within international legal discourse. It contributes to a broader global debate on historical injustice, accountability, and the legal consequences of colonial domination.