Full statement from IUSY: 

Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Secretary-General of the POLISARIO Front, is the guest of honour at the world festival of IUSY from 15-19 July in Zanka, Hungary. This marks the IUSY's reaffirmation of its unbreakable solidarity with the Saharawi people and their legitimate struggle for self-determination, freedom and independence.

IUSY notes that the presence of President Mohamed Abdelaziz at our festival is a reminder that the Western Sahara problem is a problem of decolonisation, which can be solved by the Saharawi people exercising their inalienable right to self-determination, consistently with the UN Charter and the practice of decolonisation in international law.

The illegal occupation of the Western Sahara has resulted in the flight of thousands of Saharawi refugees who live in precarious conditions. Many IUSY delegations have visited the Saharawi refugee camps and have witnessed for themselves both the difficulty of the situation but also the depth of the Saharawi determination to resist and fight against occupation. IUSY salutes the progress made by the POLISARIO Front and by the Saharawi state in promoting education, health, development and democracy among the Saharawi people.

IUSY demands the implementation of the UN resolutions relating to the Western Sahara and to the will of the Saharawi people to live as a free and sovereign people on their own territory. IUSY also expresses its support to the UN, particularly to its Secretary-General and to his envoy Mr Christopher Ross, in their efforts to bring about a fifth round of direct negotiations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the POLISARIO Front, in order to reach a just, peaceful and definitive solution which will permit the people of the Western Sahara to exercise their right to self-determination.

The participants of the IUSY festival, deeply concerned and shocked by Morocco's policy of oppression in the Western Sahara, vigorously condemn the violations of human rights of the Saharawis living under occupation. These abuses, which stem from failure to respect the fundamental right to self-determination, must cease. Participants demand that the Moroccan government end immediately its repressive practices, which violate human dignity and integrity. They demand: 

- release of all Saharawi prisoners of conscience; 
- ending of unfair trials and of torture; 
- respect of all fundamental rights in the Western Sahara, in particular freedom of expression, freedom of movement, and the right to assemble peacefully; 
-unrestricted access to the occupied territories for independent observers, the media and NGOS. 

We youth gathered here reaffirm our basic belief of a new and better world order. We commit ourselves to the attainment of such, starting with liberating the people of Western Sahara.

Source: IUSY