Agence Kabyle de l’Environnment Dear Chair, Dear Distinguished Delegates, One of the biggest issues in Kabylia is the illegal exploitation of the [inaudible] mining site by the Algerian government. This will cause disastrous consequences on the environment and on the population of Kabylia. The illegal exploitation is against the will of the Kabyle people. This opposition is based on legal, social, human, ecological and sanitary concerns. This mine is in the area with a human density of more than 400 inhabitants per square kilometre. Its exploitation will lead to human tragedies in a wide scale. The seismicity of the region is so dangerous that the fracturing of the soils would raise their [inaudible]. The pollution that would be generated by the start of this project over an area of 155 square kilometres with 8 cities and more than 50,000 inhabitants will have negative repercussions on both public health, flora, and fauna and will potentially lead to both a genocide and an ecocide in Kabylia. The Kabylia territory is that of an indigenous people, who, in accordance with United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of September 2007 in its Articles 25, 26, and 27, call for the ownership of their land and its sub-soil, and refuses anyone to exploit it. In September 2020, Kabylia handed over to the United Nations a memorandum on the right to self-determination of the Kabyle people. It [inaudible] a referendum to decide democratically on its sovereignty and about its future. As long as this referendum consultation is not taking place, the exploitation of this mine will remain illegal. The political rupture between Kabylia and Algeria is consumed by [inaudible] and repressive acts on the Algerian side since 1962, and the boycott by Kabylians of all [inaudible] elections since 1999 with participation close to 0%.