The first article of the universal declaration of human rights provides that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, while populations held against their will in Tindouf camps are born neither free, nor equal, and are denied dignity and rights. They live and die in sequestration, Omar Hilale said at the UNHRC 13th session.

    He regretted that the Algerian delegation distorted and misinterpreted the principle of self-determination, recalling that the UN charter's second article backs the principle of territorial integrity.

    He added that the same article rules out attempts to link human rights to self-determination. Human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent, Hilale underlined.