Kabylia has been a member of the UNPO since 2017.

The Kabyle people are the second largest sub-group of the Amazigh (Berber) people of North Africa and have a distinct Amazigh identity, language, and cultural heritage, which have been preserved through centuries of resistance to assimilation.
There are about 10-12 million Kabyles in total, about half of whom live in Kabylia and half who live in the diaspora, mostly in France and Canada. Many Kabyles live in exile, unable to return to their homeland because of decades of oppression, marginalization, and persecution by subsequent Algerian regimes.
The Kabyle people are a “people” with the right to self-determination under international law and the UN Charter, as affirmed in a legal opinion rendered by leading UK barristers in September 2024.

The Kabyle people have faced systematic exclusion from political decision-making processes by the Algerian government, which enforces policies of centralization that marginalize regional identities and suppress cultural expression. Kabyles have long sought to defend their human right to self-determination and political expression. Their demands have been met with repression, including banning and criminalizing their political movements and restrictions on the use of the Kabyle language.

The UNPO secretariat works for the rights of peoples such as the people of Kabylia as a whole and may work with different civil society organizations, groups and representatives from Kabylia.

The principal organizations and bodies representing the rights of the people of Kabylia as members of the UNPO, with voting rights in the UNPO General Assembly, are the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK) and the Kabyle Government in Exile, known as Anavad. They are referred to collectively as MAK-Anavad.

You can read more about them here.

The Kabyle people are indigenous to the mountainous region of Kabylia in northern Algeria. Home to an estimated 10-12 million people in total, Kabylia has a distinct identity characterized by its unique language, culture, and history of resistance. The Kabyle identity has been preserved through centuries of opposition to “Arabization” and assimilation efforts, allowing the Kabyle people to maintain their strong connection to their larger Amazigh heritage. Their culture is rooted in values such as democracy, freedom, secularism, solidarity, and respect for others, and is a powerful symbol of their collective consciousness and resilience.

Kabylia, with its rich history and cultural heritage, has long been a center of Amazigh identity and resistance against various forms of colonization and conquest. The region’s inhabitants have fiercely defended their land and their autonomy against successive invaders, including the Romans, the Arabs, the Ottomans, and the French. The Kabyle people played a critical role in Algeria’s struggle for independence from French colonial rule.

Since Algeria gained independence in the early 1960s, the Kabyle people have faced continuous political repression and marginalization by successive Algerian governments. Algeria’s centralized power policies have systematically targeted ethnic and regional identities, particularly those of the Kabyle people. Such policies have included efforts to suppress the Kabyle language, culture, and political movements, in a so far futile attempt to assimilate the Kabyle population into a homogenized national identity.

Since 2019 when Abdelmadjid Tebboune assumed power as president, the Algerian government’s political and other forms of repression and marginalization of the Kabyle people have worsened, manifesting in various forms of censorship, persecution, and discrimination.

The Algerian government has pursued policies aimed at Arabizing the education system, media, and administrative practices and eroding the cultural and linguistic distinctiveness of the Kabyle people whom they perceive as a threat to Algeria’s cultural identity.

Economic policies have been implemented that have disproportionately burdened the Kabyle region, including imposing heavy taxes, blocking Kabyle economic enterprises, and expropriating Kabylia’s natural resources such as oil, lead, zinc, and water.

Such actions have further marginalized the Kabyle population, contributing to widespread poverty and economic disenfranchisement.

The environmental situation in Kabylia has also become increasingly precarious. The region has been ravaged by a series of devastating fires, which destroyed vast areas of forest and farmland and caused significant loss of life and property.

The Algerian government’s response to the growing demands for autonomy and cultural preservation has been to tighten its grip on the region. Algeria has enacted new, vaguely worded laws that severely restrict freedom of association and expression, which have been widely condemned by the United States, the United Nations, and international human rights organizations. Under these laws enacted to protect “national unity” or preserve “territorial integrity,” Algerian authorities have persecuted, arrested, and imprisoned anyone who criticizes the regime, demands human rights, or expresses their Kabyle identity through literature, music, or art.

The ongoing repression and marginalization of the Kabyle people by the Algerian government highlights the urgent need for the exercise of their right to self-determination. Recognizing and respecting this right would allow the Kabyle people to reclaim control over their cultural and linguistic heritage, protect their land and resources from exploitation, and participate fully in the political processes that affect their lives. Self-determination is not only crucial for preserving Kabyle identity but also for ensuring their social, economic, and political well-being in the face of systematic efforts to suppress their distinct ethnicity.