Algeria
Born in transit
In Algeria, enforcement practices create distrust in national institutions, leading migrants and asylum seekers to avoid presenting themselves to authorities for purposes of birth registration. Algeria is a country of transit and/or destination for migrants and asylum-seekers from Sub-Saharan Africa. Many stay and work for a time with the intent of continuing their journey onward to Libya and Europe. In the absence of an adequate legal framework for processing asylum claims, asylum seekers are often considered irregular migrants, and subjected to detention and sometimes expulsion. In 2014, authorities assembled migrants and created records for them to then expel them to a third country. They did this on the pretext that they were doing so at the request of that country’s authorities.
