Mapping rights · Documenting lives
Country profile
Algeria criminalizes consensual same-sex acts under Article 338 of the Penal Code (1966), with sentences of six months to three years. The country has one of the most repressive environments for LGBTQI+ people in the Maghreb, characterized by active police enforcement, widespread social stigma, near-total absence of legal civil society, and comprehensive state rejection of international human rights recommendations.
All major LGBTQI+ organizing takes place in the diaspora — primarily in France, Belgium, and Canada — as open organizing inside Algeria carries serious risk of arrest. Queer Algerians inside the country navigate a dual precarity: legal criminalization and social ostracism, with very limited access to support structures.
The law
Article 338 of the Algerian Penal Code (1966) criminalizes “indecent acts or acts against nature committed with an individual of the same sex.” It applies to all genders and provides for imprisonment of six months to three years plus fines. Article 333 covers additional “public indecency” charges.
6 months to 3 years imprisonment + fines. Applies to all genders. Art. 333 (public indecency) frequently applied alongside.
Enforcement patterns
While there have been no published legal cases pertaining to non-normative gender expression or transgender identity, numerous civil society organizations have reported arrests targeting members of the LGBT+ community. Social media — particularly Facebook — has featured prominently as a basis for prosecution.
A man referred to as “M.H.” was arrested for “promoting homosexuality and sexual perversion on Facebook.” According to Djazairess, he was swiftly convicted and sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, along with a fine of 10,000 DZD.
Human Rights Watch documented the conviction of 44 individuals on charges related to “same-sex relations,” “public indecency,” and “endangering others by breaching Covid-19 quarantine measures.” Of the 44, 42 received one-year suspended sentences, while two men were sentenced to three years in prison and a fine following a gathering alleged to be a gay wedding.
Two young men in Oran were arrested for “indecent behavior and incitement to immorality” after publicly announcing their marital bond on Facebook. A related report also documents a 2010 case in which an imam and his partner were sentenced to two years in prison and fined 20,000 DZD after being caught engaging in sexual activity in a mosque.
The 2014 constitution
The Algerian Constitution (revised 2020) does not mention sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics in any form. Neither the equality guarantee (Article 29) nor the dignity clause (Article 34) has ever been interpreted to extend protection to LGBTQI+ individuals.
The 2020 revision introduced language protecting the “family founded on legitimate marriage” and affirming “Arab-Islamic civilization” values — widely read as a signal against future rights expansion. There is no accessible judicial review mechanism to challenge the constitutionality of Article 338.
There are no anti-discrimination provisions in Algerian law covering sexual orientation or gender identity in any sector. The Labor Code (2016), Housing Code, and Public Health regulations contain no SOGI protections.
Hate crimes
Algeria’s Penal Code does not include SOGI as aggravating circumstances for violent crimes. Victims of anti-LGBTQ+ violence are reluctant to approach police at all, fearing prosecution under Article 338.
Healthcare
LGBTQI+ individuals routinely avoid healthcare settings due to fear of exposure. HIV-related services exist primarily through international organizations. Mental health services affirming LGBTQI+ identities are essentially non-existent within the public system.
Same-sex relationships receive no legal recognition whatsoever under Algerian law. The Family Code (1984), based on Maliki Islamic jurisprudence, defines marriage exclusively as a contract between a man and a woman. No civil union, domestic partnership, or cohabitation protection framework exists.
Property, inheritance & medical rights
Same-sex couples have no rights to each other’s property, inheritance, pension, or social security benefits. The death or incapacitation of one partner leaves the other with no legal standing in housing, medical decision-making, or financial matters.
Algeria provides no legal pathway for transgender individuals to change their gender marker or legal name on official documents. The Civil Status Law defines gender as binary and based on sex assigned at birth, with no provision for amendment.
Transgender people — lived reality
Trans people face prosecution under Article 338 and Article 333 (public decency), applied to individuals who appear gender non-conforming in public spaces. Without legal recognition, trans people cannot access employment, housing, or banking using documentation that matches their identity.
Reports documented by Tafra and Alouen describe trans women subjected to rape and degrading treatment while in police custody — acts that go unprosecuted.
Intersex people
Algeria has no specific legal framework for intersex people. Medical interventions on intersex infants occur without rights-based frameworks, consent requirements, or independent oversight.
No legal civil society inside Algeria
No LGBTQI+ organization has been officially registered with the Ministry of Interior. Law 12-06 (2012) on associations requires ministerial approval for registration, and applications touching on LGBTQI+ themes would be rejected — exposing applicants to prosecution.
Online expression & surveillance
Authorities routinely monitor social media. Individuals have been arrested based solely on social media profiles, group memberships, or private messages obtained from confiscated phones. The Cybercrime Law (2021) criminalizes online content that “undermines national unity.”
Diaspora organizing
Organized Algerian LGBTQI+ civil society operates almost entirely unregistered or from the diaspora. Diaspora-led networks maintain contact with individuals inside the country through secure, privacy-protecting channels. For the safety of those involved, the structures, locations, and working methods behind this support are not detailed publicly.
Algeria as a country of origin
For LGBTQI+ Algerians, international protection in Europe represents the primary avenue of safety. France, Belgium, and Germany are the primary destinations. The UK Home Office’s May 2025 Country Policy and Information Note concludes that “LGBTI people form a particular social group in Algeria within the meaning of the Refugee Convention.”
In practice, asylum claims face credibility assessments that require detailed disclosure of personal and sexual life. Diaspora-led organizations provide legal referrals and psychological support for individuals navigating these processes.
No asylum system inside Algeria
Algeria has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention’s 1967 Protocol and has no domestic asylum law. Sub-Saharan African migrants transiting through Algeria face severe vulnerability including violence, detention in informal camps, and forcible pushbacks.
Algeria has been reviewed under the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) four times (2008, 2012, 2017, 2022). In all four cycles, member states have recommended decriminalization of same-sex conduct. Algeria has consistently and categorically rejected all such recommendations, citing compatibility with Islamic values, national sovereignty, and traditional family structures.
The Human Rights Committee (ICCPR), the CEDAW Committee, and the Committee Against Torture have all raised LGBTQI+-related concerns. Algeria’s responses have rejected all SOGI-related recommendations.
| Mechanism / Year | Recommendation | Response |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 — UPR Cycle 1 | Multiple states recommend decriminalization | Rejected — cited Islamic values |
| 2012 — UPR Cycle 2 | Decrim + anti-discrimination recommended | Rejected |
| 2017 — UPR Cycle 3 | Decrim + hate crime law + equal age of consent | Rejected |
| 2022 — UPR Cycle 4 | 15+ states make SOGI recommendations; Tafra shadow report submitted | Rejected |
| ICCPR Human Rights Committee | Repeal of Art. 338 recommended | Rejected |
| CEDAW Committee | Intersecting discrimination against LGBTQ+ women | No follow-up |
| CAT Committee | Investigate forced examination reports | Limited acknowledgment |
| IE-SOGI | Publicly raised Algeria’s criminalization | No official visit granted |
Archives of a Movement
A glimpse, not a full picture
This is in no way an exhaustive list of the collectives and initiatives at work across the country. It offers a glimpse of the dedication and consistency that queer organizing has sustained here over the past decades — work carried out, often quietly and at real risk, by far more groups and individuals than any single archive could hold.
If your collective or initiative would like to be part of Carto-Queer NA, we would be glad to hear from you. Reach out, and help us keep this record growing.
Get in touch→About
GLA ("Gays et Lesbiennes d'Algérie" — gays and lesbians of Algeria) is a forum founded by a group of friends whose objective is to unite the community, promote the activities of associations working for LGBT people, and discuss matters of common interest — regardless of the sex, race, religion and, above all, the sexual orientation of its members.
Status
The forum is no longer active, but the website remains online.
Focus areas
Decriminalization of homosexuality, repeal of penal-code articles 333 & 338, and the right to live in dignity.
About the organization
Abu Nawas was a group of Algerian activists for the LGBT cause (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender), describing itself as fighting for the most basic right of all: to live in full dignity, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The group stated that it met every requirement to constitute an association under Law no. 90-31 of 4 December 1990 on associations, yet operated underground for lack of official authorization, since the Algerian penal code still treats homosexuality as a crime punishable by imprisonment and a fine.
Origin of the name
The group took its name from Abu Nawas, one of the great poets of his era, noting that his being gay — and, in the group's account, the lover of Caliph Harun al-Rashid's son — took nothing away from his genius or his learning. The group also presented the name as an affirmation of its belonging to the Arab-Muslim world, set apart from Western models and from the logic of imitation or conformity its opponents so often accused it of.
Mission
Abu Nawas framed its work as an urgent push for the decriminalization of homosexuality in Algeria through the repeal of articles 333 and 338 of the Algerian penal code — two articles it described as branding LGBT people as criminals.
Publications & resources
Archiving note: NACSP does not own any of this material and claims no rights over it. Abu Nawas and all its publications belong to their original creators. These files are mirrored here solely as part of our archiving and preservation efforts, to keep this community work accessible. If you are a rights holder and would like a file removed, please contact us.
What it is
LeXo Fanzine is a monthly lesbian mini-magazine, 100% Algerian. Its aim is to inform Algeria's lesbian community and to bring together a community that feels scattered — one with no concrete source of information and no culture of its own. The creators are tired of watching lesbians elsewhere in the world publish freely while they remain confined to clandestinity to survive.
How it's made
Nothing about it is professional: the creator is an amateur working far from any big publishing house — just a home printer, shared with anyone interested. A fanzine's success rests on creativity, willpower, continuity and word of mouth. LeXo isn't sold in print; it's distributed online to merge the old with the modern.
Sections
Issues & publication
Published monthly and distributed online as free PDFs. This archive currently holds 28 issues (N°1 to N°28). Click any issue below to download it.
Where to find it
You won't find it at a newsstand. Every issue is distributed online as a free PDF — originally via the project's Facebook page and homepage, and mirrored here for preservation.
Archiving note: NACSP does not own any of this material and claims no rights over it. LeXo Fanzine and all its content belong to its original creators. These files are mirrored here solely as part of our archiving and preservation efforts, to keep this community work accessible. If you are a rights holder and would like a file removed, please contact us.
About the organization
Alouen is an association of young Algerian LGBT people, brought together around a shared vision in which each member carries the will to act and improve their situation. The organization framed change as something that must come both legally — through the repeal of discriminatory laws — and socially, by working to shift mentalities. It described itself as a network of young, dynamic volunteers determined to change things, animated by a recognition that Algerian LGBT people need to come together, to not feel alone, and to know they are backed and supported. In that spirit, Alouen sought to foster the belief that things can change.
Origin of the name
"Alouen" — Arabic for "colours" — evokes the rainbow, the emblem of the LGBT community, but also stands for diversity: the very diversity the organization credited with forging its union. The association fought for its differences to be accepted by society, and presented the name as one carrying tolerance and hope.
Why the association was founded
Alouen pointed to several conditions behind its formation:
- A penal code that criminalizes any homosexual act (articles 333 and 338).
- A religion the organization described as misunderstood and presumptuously distorted by society.
- A degrading image of homosexuals deliberately spread by individuals inciting hatred.
- A standing, within the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), among the most behind on the issue — with the observation that even stricter countries had seen LGBT activism emerge and flourish.
- A perceived need for the Algerian LGBT community to have a landmark and a home — something the association hoped to provide in the long term.
Publications & resources
Links & contact
Archiving note: NACSP does not own any of this material and claims no rights over it. Alouen and all its publications belong to their original creators. These files are mirrored here solely as part of our archiving and preservation efforts, to keep this community work accessible. If you are a rights holder and would like a file removed, please contact us.
About the organization
Trans Homos DZ is an Algerian organization founded by Algerians, working on the protection of LGBTI people.
Areas of work
The organization works mainly within Algeria, while also carrying out some activities internationally.
Mission
- To document violations against LGBTI people in Algeria.
- To provide the tools needed for advocacy work on the protection of LGBTI activists and people.
- To offer proposals for better protection of LGBTI people on different levels (social, health, legal, psychological, and so on).
- To act, within its means, to bring activists and LGBTI people who are in danger to safety.
Vision
The organization articulated a vision of a society based on equality among all people — one free from any form of discrimination or violence related to gender identity and/or sexual orientation.
Values
- Non-discrimination on the basis of gender, sex, sexual orientation, social or cultural class, ethnicity, religion or belief.
- The promotion of a society where patriarchy and sexism have no place.
- The physical, moral and civic integrity of LGBTI people.
- The intersectionality of struggles for access to rights.
Publications & resources
Archiving note: NACSP does not own any of this material and claims no rights over it. Trans Homos DZ and all its publications belong to their original creators. These files are mirrored here solely as part of our archiving and preservation efforts, to keep this community work accessible. If you are a rights holder and would like a file removed, please contact us.