visas, although this last problem has apparently eased in recent years. The Protestant Church of Algeria has been particularly targeted, with eighteen of their churches shut down between November, 2017 and October, 2019. This casts doubt on the state of religious freedom in Algeria. In general, non-Muslims are socially tolerated, but some discrimination and abuse exists, and many Christians keep a low profile. Although the rights of assembly and of association are guaranteed by the constitution, they are severely curtailed in practice. Demonstrations have been banned in Algiers since 2000. Permits are required for public meetings, and are often difficult to obtain. Official approval is required in order to form political parties and many other types of organizations, such as NGOs. While congratulating Algeria for lifting the state of emergency in February 2011, Human Rights Watch urged that the government still needed to "restore basic liberties" by amending "numerous repressive laws and end various arbitrary practices that have no legal basis". Sarah Leah Whitson of HRW said that lifting the state of emergency had had "very little impact on civil liberties because a whole range of laws is on the books that can be just as repressive, or applied in a repressive manner". Freedom of assembly, HRW noted, was "still stifled in Algiers, and inconsistently and selectively observed in the provinces". In May 2012, HRW complained that the Algerian government had been using "arrests and other tactics to keep people from demonstrating in the capital in the period leading up to the May 10, 2012 elections". Peaceful demonstrators in Algiers, including at least one candidate for election, were being detained, and some individuals had been prevented from entering the city. HRW noted that while the state of emergency had technically been lifted February 2011, security forces were still enforcing "repressive laws on public gatherings, including a ban on gatherings in Algiers". HRW described these laws as being "contrary to Algeria's binding human rights obligations under international law" and called on the country's government to "end its unjustified restrictions on freedom of assembly in Algiers". Similarly, although the constitution guarantees free movement, this, too, is restricted in practice. There are limits on travel to and through the country's southern provinces. The minister of interior is empowered to place people under house arrest. Young men who still owe the country military service cannot leave the country without permission. Married women cannot travel