Thousands of harkis or their descendants will be eligible for new compensation for having stayed in French reception structures in deplorable conditions between 1962 and 1975, the French government announced on Monday, which has decided to expand the list of these sites.

“Up to 14,000 (additional), people could be compensated following their passage through one of these structures,” according to the government statement.

French Muslims mainly recruited as auxiliaries of the French army during the Algerian war of Independence (1954-1962), the harkis were abandoned by France at the end of the conflict. Tens of thousands of them and their families fled retaliatory massacres in Algeria and were herded into France, often in appalling conditions.

The harkis and their descendants today form a community in France of several hundred thousand people.