CCPR/C/112/D/2086/2011 3.10 The authors maintain that all domestic remedies have proved unavailable, useless or ineffective and that the conditions set out under article 5, paragraph 2 (b), of the Optional Protocol have therefore been met. After making numerous appeals to the security forces for information about what had happened to Sahraoui Ayache, without success, Aïcha Dehimi then informed the judicial authorities, on several occasions, of his disappearance and asked, in vain, for an investigation to be opened. No action was taken on the formal complaints that she lodged. 3.11 Lastly, the authors point out that, since February 2006, the date of the promulgation of Ordinance No. 06-01 implementing the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, the prosecution of members of the Algerian defence and security forces has been prohibited. The authors recall that the Committee has declared that the Ordinance promotes impunity and infringes the right to an effective remedy. 12 They maintain that they are therefore unable to assert their right to an effective remedy. 3.12 The authors request that the Committee instruct the State party to: (a) release Sahraoui Ayache from detention, if he is still alive; (b) conduct a prompt, thorough and effective investigation into his disappearance; (c) inform the authors and their family of the results of this investigation; (d) initiate proceedings against the persons responsible for the disappearance of Sahraoui Ayache, bring them to justice and punish them in accordance with the international obligations assumed by the State party; and (e) provide the beneficiaries of Sahraoui Ayache with appropriate reparation for the serious moral and material damage they have suffered since his disappearance, including measures of compensation, restitution, rehabilitation and satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. State party’s observations on admissibility 4.1 On 4 October 2011, the State party submitted a “Background memorandum of the Government of Algeria on the inadmissibility of individual communications submitted to the Human Rights Committee in connection with the implementation of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation” in which it contests the admissibility of the communication. It is of the view that this communication, which incriminates public officials or other persons acting on behalf of public authorities in cases of enforced disappearance during the period in question — from 1993 to 1998 — should be examined by means of “a comprehensive approach” and should be declared inadmissible. The State party considers that such communications should be placed in the broader context of the sociopolitical situation and security conditions that prevailed in the country during a period when the Government was struggling to combat a form of terrorism aimed at bringing about the “collapse of the Republican State”. In this context, and in accordance with articles 87 and 91 of the Constitution, the Government of Algeria implemented precautionary measures and informed the Secretariat of the United Nations of its declaration of a state of emergency, in accordance with article 4, paragraph 3, of the Covenant. 4.2 The State party emphasizes that, in some areas where informal settlements have proliferated, civilians had trouble distinguishing the actions of terrorist groups from those of the security forces, to which they often attributed enforced disappearances. According to the State party, many enforced disappearances should be viewed from this perspective. The concept of disappearance in Algeria during the period in question actually covers six distinct scenarios. The first scenario concerns persons reported missing by their relatives but who in fact had chosen to go into hiding in order to join an armed group and asked their families to report that they had been arrested by the security services as a way of “covering their tracks” and avoiding “harassment” by the police. The second scenario concerns 12 GE.14-21909 The authors refer to the Committee’s concluding observations on the third periodic report of Algeria, adopted on 1 November 2007 (CCPR/C/DZA/CO/3), para. 7. 7