The Mediterranean Committee leadership conference 2018 took place in Rome, Italy on 21, 22, 23 June in the presence of youth leaders of the IUSY family. The representative of the member organizations had the chance to discuss important issues such as feminism, potential for conflict transformation in the Middle East, as well as Refugee and Migratory issues. The meeting was a chance for the member organizations to know better and discuss the different political, economic, and social situation in the Middle East.
Palestinian Israeli Conflict:
IUSY affirms its full support for the Palestinian struggle towards freedom, justice, independence, and self-determination. IUSY calls for an immediate stop of Israeli violence on peaceful protestors in Gaza strip who are seeking freedom and justice as well as ending the ongoing siege that has been taking place for the last decade.
IUSY calls for immediate release of all Palestinian political prisoners including the elected deputies. We affirm that the two-state solution based on the 1967 lands with the full respect of UN resolutions and international legitimacy (Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital and Israel with West Jerusalem as its capital) and just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees based on 194 UN resolution is the only solution for the Palestinian Israel conflict. We also ensure that any deals that do not respect the right of Palestinian in freedom and justice and the right of Israeli in security will not be accepted and will be considered as violation against human rights. In that scope as well, IUSY supports Palestine joining the UN bodies and agencies.
Kurdistan Situation:
IUSY stresses its ongoing support for the Kurdish cause and the right of Kurdish people to self-determination. We view some rights as fundamental and indispensable primarily freedom of speech, association, movement, and expressing their collective rights that are given to minorities. We especially condemn the treatment of Kurdish political prisoners and call for immediate stop of the death penalty against the Kurdish political activists in Iran.
Western Sahara
IUSY continues with its full support to the people of Western Sahara in their struggle for freedom, justice, and self-determination. We call the international community and UN security council to take concrete measures to prevent any escalation of violence. IUSY calls upon EU members states to respect EU court decisions of December 2016 and February 2018 by refraining from including Western Sahara in their economic agreements with Morocco. IUSY calls for respect of international humanitarian law and support for the provision of a humanitarian assistance to the Sahrawi refugees in a way that is predictable, sustainable, and timely. In addition to respecting the human rights law in the occupied territory.
Lebanon Israeli Conflict
IUSY calls for support to maintain security and stability on Lebanese Southern borders and respecting the blue line demarcation during the process of oil and gas drilling that will be taking place in the Middle East.
Tunisia post revolution:
IUSY calls for support to the democracy and transitional justice process in Tunisia.
Feminism in the region:
IUSY calls for mainstreaming feminist approaches to foster women’s participation in equal societies, economies, and political life. IUSY stresses on the important role that women can play in peace building in the region.
Refugee and Migration Issues:
IUSY calls for prioritizing the issue of supporting activities in the refugee and migrants hosting countries as well as the countries going through turmoil or conflict. From European perspective, IUSY calls European and specifically south European member organizations to strengthen their mother parties and government’s commitment to support activities in the region that lead to political and diplomatic results. IUSY encourages implementation of migratory flow management that respects human rights and the building of a strong dialogue with countries of origin for a shared management of this phenomena. Additionally, IUSY calls for an immediate opening of humanitarian corridors as legal and safe ways to access different European countries.
IUSY calls the international funding agencies to support refugee hosting countries in the region especially Lebanon and Jordan.