A/HRC/4/41 page 16 Prompt intervention 55. The Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions continued a dialogue with the Government regarding the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. On 2 March 2006, the two mandate holders expressed further concern regarding the latest legislation based on the Charter. The authors congratulated the Government for its decision to refuse amnesty for the gravest crimes but regretted the fact that perpetrators of extrajudicial executions, torture and enforced disappearances could be granted amnesty. They also noted that the Government’s decision regarding compensation to victims’ families reflected in chapter five violated articles 17 and 18 of the Declaration. 56. In a reply dated 24 March 2006 the Government recalled that its position was based on the will of the sovereign people and on a clearly realistic solution. It recalled that the ordinance that brought the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation into effect was adopted on the basis of a democratic referendum. The Government stated that all victims of the national tragedy would be taken into account. The communication stressed that protecting human rights was indeed the responsibility of the State which had spared no effort to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of human rights violations in any form. 57. The mandate holders wrote on 17 May 2006, agreeing that it was up to the Algerian people to decide on their own internal solutions for a lasting peace. The letter highlighted the commitments the Government had made to the international community and to its own people, which included conducting exhaustive investigations with respect to disappeared persons where the right to life was jeopardized. General allegation 58. Information was submitted by NGOs to the Working Group concerning alleged obstacles encountered in the implementation of the Declaration by the Government of Algeria (see paragraph 14). This information was transmitted to the Government. 59. It was reported that the arrest and disappearance of thousands of people by security forces and State-armed militias since 1992 have not yet been investigated and that this remains a key obstacle to addressing the legacy of the recent conflict. 60. With respect to the amnesty laws introduced in February 2006, it was reported that these grant security forces impunity for crimes under international law, including crimes against humanity and other serious violations, committed during the conflict of the 1990s. Allegedly, complaints against security forces cannot be investigated by Algerian courts and criticism of the forces is punishable by imprisonment. The amnesty laws reportedly are based on the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, which denies the responsibility of State security forces for massive human rights violations in the exercise of their duties. 61. NGOs have expressed concern about members of armed groups who have been granted measures of clemency and exemption from prosecution, including for acts constituting crimes under international law.