Algeria Calls For Empowering Peoples To Self-determination

The Permanent Mission of Algeria to the United Nations Office in Geneva and international organizations in Switzerland called for enabling peoples to effectively exercise their inalienable right to self-determination, especially in the occupied Western Sahara, where the situation requires the adoption of an “international mechanism” to monitor human rights.

In a statement read, Friday, during the forty-sixth (46) regular session of the Human Rights Council, the Algerian delegation in Geneva called for “empowering peoples to effectively exercise their right to self-determination”, and it recognized that “foreign occupation creates serious obstacles that prevent the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms and rights”.

When dealing with the issue of Western Sahara, the Permanent Mission of Algeria in Geneva affirmed that “the people residing in the non-independent region have been unable to date to exercise neither their right to self-determination nor their right to live in peace on their lands”.

The Algerian delegation affirmed that “this situation, which has been in place for more than four decades, calls for the establishment of an international mechanism to monitor human rights in the territory that is occupied illegally”.

“The plunder of natural resources by multinational companies constitutes an additional crime and a serious violation of human rights, which leads to the accountability of the institutions involved before international judicial bodies, which, given their greed, violate the principle of the permanent sovereignty of peoples over their wealth and natural resources”, it added.

The Algerian mission also took the opportunity to praise the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action, which “embodies the strong and sincere commitment of the international community to the promotion and protection of human rights and highlights the aspiration of the international community to combat all forms of discrimination.

“It is the duty of every state to continue implementing the obligations to fight against this scourge”, it asserted.

The statement concluded that “the Covid-19 pandemic reminds us once again of the basic nature of the principles of non-selectivity, interdependence and being an integral part of all human rights and principles that should form the focus of all our work”.