Geneva – « Arbitrary expulsion in light of the international law » was the theme of a panel, held, on Firday in Geneva, during which participants examined the case of 45,000 Moroccan families deported from Algeria in 1975.

The participants examined in the panel, held on the sidelines of the 15th session of the UN Human rights Council (HRC), the human and judicial aspects of the deportation by the Algerian authorities in 1975 of 500,000 Moroccans, and shed light on the suffering of these victims.

They said that the world did not witness such a “mass deportation” since the 1950s, stressing that these expulsions impacted the lives of 1.5 million persons, as many families are still separated.

The long term economic cost of this arbitrary deportation was estimated by the participants at several billion dollars.

In this respect, they called for Algeria to compensate the victims and to persecute those involved in this mass deportation.

The event was co-held by the Moroccan association for the victims of Algeria’s expulsion.