Partner Organizations

Statement of the Progressive Alliance delegation visiting Malaysia

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The seven members of the Progressive Alliance delegation (which IUSY was part of) that visited Malaysia
Download the Statement in PDF
Download the background paper on Malaysia

This is the statement of a seven-member delegation of the Progressive Alliance that visited Malaysia to assess and demonstrate solidarity in support of democratic processes in the run-up to the 2018 General Election.

The delegation attempted but failed to meet the Speaker of the Parliament of Malaysia, but was successful in meeting political leaders from several parties, leaders of civic organizations and visited communities in Kuala Lumpur (capital city of Malaysia).

The delegation included:

We are concerned to learn from reports and discussions with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) active in Malaysia as well as various institutions, political and community leaders about the following issues:

  • Reports of disenfranchisement of opposition supporters through re-delineation and gerrymandering in favour of the ruling party of Malaysia, taking into account anticipated political allegiances and ethnicities. This includes the reported proposal to create 13 “Super constituencies” with over 100,000 voters each, mostly in opposition-held, non-Malay areas;
  • Concerns over mismanagement of voter records;
  • Reported tampering with voter registration;
  • Reported inaccessibility of electronic data of the draft supplementary electoral roll;
  • Concerns that expansion of postal voter categories may facilitate fraud;
  • Reports of infringements on freedom of assembly and association of Malaysian citizens and arrests, charges against and convictions of activists, artists, politicians, and non- affiliated citizens under draconian laws, as well as denial of legal status to opposition political parties;
  • Potential negative impact of high inequality and corruption on equal participation in elections;

In light of the above observations, we call on the Federal Government of Malaysia to ensure that the Election Commission adheres to due impartiality, there is no gerrymandering or malapportionment of electoral districts and that voter registration takes place in line with international standards. Respecting and upholding the social, human, civic, economic rights and advocacies of Civil Society Organisations, Nongovernmental Organisations, and organized groups goes to the core of free and fair elections; citizens of Malaysia need to be able to inform themselves about the general election and respect freedom of assembly, association and expression. It furthermore is vital that inclusive policies upholding the rights of all members of Malaysian society – regardless of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, age and political affiliation – are institutionalized.

We encourage authorities of Malaysia to invite international electoral observation missions to ensure that democratic processes are improved upon and adhered to.

Any democratic elections must be nothing less than an enabling mechanism for its electorate to bring change. In view of the social, political and economic inequalities that are rife in Malaysia, far-reaching and wide-ranging institutional reforms must be front and centre of the next government’s agenda to ensure the economic inequalities, systemic flaws of governance, and a deficit of democratic rights are addressed for all Malaysians.

We, in the Progressive Alliance, are committed to closely monitoring the situation.

For democracy and social justice, the international community unites!

#YouthInAction – Day 1

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#YouthInAction – videolog day 1

Videolog from our 1st day of our training course on how to promote active citizenship and democracy.International activity organised with Young European Socialists and hosted by Sozialistische Jugend Deutschlands – Die Falken.Supported by Council of Europe – European Youth Foundation.#YOUTHINACTION

Posted by IUSY on Thursday, June 1, 2017

Videolog from our 1st day of our training course on how to promote active citizenship and democracy.
International activity organised with Young European Socialists and hosted by Sozialistische Jugend Deutschlands – Die Falken.
Supported by Council of Europe – European Youth Foundation.
#YOUTHINACTION

The EU-Turkey agreement it’s not the migration policy that we need!

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European Union - Turkey agreement it's not the Migration policy that we need!

Today, it is one year since the deal between the European Union and Turkey on relocation of refugees came into force.

In the absence of a functional relocation scheme within the European Union, a deal was forged that would effectively push back refugees to Turkey, deemed a safe third country. There are, however, numerous reports from leading human rights organisations that Turkey is not safe for refugees (source: HRW, Amnesty International).

The European Union – Turkey deal decreased the amount of crossings along the so called Eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey to Greece. However, the number of migrants trying to reach Europe via the so called Central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy increased . The latter route is considerably more dangerous than the former, leading to new deadly records each year. More than 5000 migrants lost their lives in the Mediterranean in 2016  – more than any previous year. In the first two months of 2017, the death toll in the Mediterranean is already higher than in previous years. The vast majority of these victims were attempting to reach Italy (source: IOM).

One year later, we regret to note that the EU-Turkey deal has worsened the already dire situation of thousands of displaced persons. Furthermore, deals modeled on the EU-Turkey deal with even less stable countries, like Libya and several countries in North Africa, threaten to lock up vulnerable people in inhumane situations. We, therefore, demand the following:

1. The urgent implementation of a functional framework for the resettlement of refugees in the European Union. The size of the quotas must reflect the actual needs of protection of asylum seekers.

2. Sufficient support to countries of entry, in particular Greece and Italy, to ensure decent living conditions for refugees and the resources needed to expediently process asylum applications.

3. The abolishment of the Dublin-II regulation and an end to the nationalization of asylum policy in general.

4. The constitution of a European Agency for Asylum and Migration responsible for the examining of asylum applications. This agency has the responsibility to coordinate the national asylum agencies, increase the efficiency and grant for the rights of refugees by consistently applying existing European standards.

5. The creation of more legal channels of migration in order to save lives and reduce human trafficking by all EU Member States to commonly introducing a “humanitarian visa system” allowing refugees to enter the EU territory legally, and thus be able to seek asylum on humanitarian grounds upon arrival. The adoption of common criteria for these visas, and the enabling of asylum seekers to apply to all of the EU countries in any EU embassy by creating a common asylum policy at European level.

6. The revoking of the EU-Turkey deal and the halting of plans for other similar deals with third countries, such as with Libya, until there are guarantees that all agreements with third countries comply with the international humanitarian legal obligations of EU member states. The EU to work together to even out the differences in financial responsibility of member states in managing the external border in order to make sure that no country feel that it is necessary to outsource border control to non-EU countries.

7. The allocation of sufficient resources to the Asylum and Migration Fund, which will include the former asylum and refugee funds, in the EU Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020. The EU to ensure that the EU external aid priorities and fundings are coherent with the ones of the Asylum and Migration fund.

Signatories:

EFAy – European Free Alliance Youth
IFLRY – International Federation of Liberal Youth
IUSY – International Union of Socialist Youth
JEF – Young European Federalists
LYMEC – European Liberal Youth
YDE – Young Democrats for Europe
YEL – Youth of the European Left
YES – Young European Socialists
FYEG – Federation of Young European Greens

JOINT INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SEMINAR ON ECONOMICS

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By. SJÖ-IUSY-YES

 

Dear Friends,

 

We cordially invite you to the upcoming “Joint International Seminar on Progressive Economics”. The seminar will be hosted by, IUSY- International Union of Socialist Youth and YES- Young European Socialist Member Organization, SJÖ- Socialist Youth of Austria and the Renner Institut.

 

The focus of the seminar will be Progressive Economics and the topic will be addressed from different perspectives. Furthermore, we will have 3 days of intensive and interesting program containing of seminars, workshops and social & cultural events.

 

The registrations for the European organizations who are members of YES, goes through YES- Young European Socialists and the registration of the non- European Organizations goes through IUSY.

 

In the case of non-Europeans, there are two seats for each region (Asia- Pacific, Africa, Middle East and America). To make sure that everyone has equal chance and the discussions becomes fruitful, we would need to have an application process where you would need to provide us with following:

 

  1. Why you are interested in attending the event?
  2. How you intend to continue working with the topic when returning back to your national/regional organization?

These questions will be possible to answer via the application link.

 

Place: Vienna, Austria

Date: 30 September -2 October

European Organizations (Members of YES): Please contact the YES Secretariat in case of questions of registration etc. office@youngsocialists.eu

Non- European Organizations, please apply through following link: APPLY HERE

Deadline for registration: 3 September

Accommodation: All costs for accommodation and meals will be covered by the hosting organizations. We will send out more details on exact place of venue etc. to those participants who gets their application granted.

Travel reimbursement: The maximum amount of travel reimbursement will be set after the decision on the participants is done, after deadline.

 

Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me in case of any questions!

 

Best Regards,

Evin Incir

IUSY Secretary General

iusy@iusy.org

IUSY & AUSY Seminar on “Road to Peace & Democracy: Moderation v/s Extremism”

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Arab Union of Socialist Youth (AUSY) & International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) in cooperation with Olof Palme International Center and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, are glad and proud to invite you to The International Conference:

 

 “Road to Peace & Democracy: Moderation v/s Extremism”

13, 14, 15 February 2015

 

As young Socialists and Social Democrats, we believe in Freedom, Equality and Justice for all. Therefore, we believe that the threat represented by extremism and the brutality of IS- Islamic State (Daash) is an imminent danger to the world and the human values. Furthermore, it is a threat to diversity and pluralism in the Middle East throughout the brutal war waged by the terrorism against groups as Kurds (especially Yazidis) Christians and Shiites.

 

We assure our absolute support to the valiant Kurdish Peshmerga forces, which are fighting a war on behalf of the whole world. They have shown that they play a leading role to confront extremism, criminality and brutality practiced by the terrorist group IS.

 

The struggle for peace, democracy and freedom continues. The last weeks have shown that democratic forces can and will prevail, when the Kurdish forces managed to rescue Shangal and its people from the hand of IS.

 

The AUSY-IUSY international conference will be a high-profile platform for moderate political organizations, progressive youth leaders, and policy experts from Middle East, North Africa and the whole world in order to raise a call for peace and democracy.

 

If you have further questions or need support, please do not hesitate to contact us ausy@ausy.info- in the case of AUSY Members and iusy@iusy.org – in the case of IUSY Member Organisations.

 

With socialist regards,

 

Felipe Jeldres                  Evin Incir                                    Raed Bou Hamdan 

IUSY President               IUSY General Secretary         AUSY General Secretary

Progressive Alliance Parliamentarian Conference on Decent Jobs and Education

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IUSY Secretary General, Evin Incir, took part in the Progressive Alliance Parliamentarian Conference on Decent Jobs and Education in Lisbon, Portugal. The conference was arranged by Progressive Alliance and Socialist & Democrats Group in the European Parliament.

 

Parties from all round the world gathered to discuss how to invest in equal opportunities for all through decent work and quality education.

 

IUSY Secretary General addressed the conference and highlighted the importance of education and jobs to make possible for everyone to change the world and change their own lives to the better and to fulfil their dreams. Furthermore, she highlighted the importance of pushing for a strong Post 2015 Agenda in UN, where the issue of jobs and education should be high up on the agenda.

 

Finally, she stressed that it is of importance that all Socialist, Social Democratic and Progressive voices stay united to be an influencing power that is relevant. For this it requires a continued work for pushing for reformation of SI- Socialist International.

IUSY Global Seminar- Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals

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The annual IUSY Global Seminar took place in Stockholm, Sweden, 28-30th November. Over 50 participants from IUSY Member Organisations from all over the world and members from the hosting organization SSU-Swedish Social Democratic Youth League took part in the seminar.

 

The main theme of the Global Seminar was Post 2015 Agenda. Following the 2012 Summit Rio+20 and the new focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) IUSY believe that our organizations must play a greater role in following up the Post-2015 Agenda. While we consider sustainability goals and a higher focus on environmental protection as well as climate change to be crucial and essential for human well being, our organizations should also be strong and advocate in this process that this should not lead to reduced, lowered or fading efforts to eradicate poverty completely.

 

The participants of the seminar got familiar with the UN structure, youth advocacy work within UN, Millennium Development Goals, and ended up with a discussion on the work on the Sustainable Development Goals, which is taking place right now. The Sustainable Development Goals will be adopted in the UN General Assembly in September 2015. IUSY is looking forward to a continued active work on the Agenda together with its member organisatios during the upcoming spring and summer.

 

Special thanks to Olof Palme Center Foundationand UN MGCY- United Nation Mayor Group For Children and Youth for their help in arranging the Global Seminar.