Organisation of the Islamic Conference

منظمة المؤتمر الإسلامي (Arabic) Organisation of the Islamic Conference Organisation de la Conférence Islamique (French)
Member States     Observer States     Blocked States
Headquarters		Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Official languages		Arabic, English, French
Membership		57 member states
Leaders
-	Secretary-General	Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu
Website http://www.oic-oci.org/

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is an international organisation with a permanent delegation to the United Nations, with 57 member states. These States decided to pool their resources together, combine their efforts and speak with one voice to safeguard the interest and ensure the progress and well-being of their peoples and those of other Muslims in the world over. The official languages of the organisation are Arabic, English and French.

History and goals

Since the nineteenth century, many Muslims had aspired to ummah to serve their common political, economic, and social interests. Despite the presence of secularist, nationalist, and socialist ideologies, in modern Muslim states, they have cooperated together to form the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. The formation of the OIC happened in the backdrop of the loss of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem. The final cause sufficiently compelled leaders of Muslim nations to meet in Rabat to establish the OIC on September 25, 1969.^[1]

According to its charter, the OIC aims to preserve Islamic social and economic values; promote solidarity amongst member states; increase cooperation in social, economic, cultural, scientific, and political areas; uphold international peace and security; and advance education, particularly in the fields of science and technology.^[1]

The flag of the OIC (shown above) has an overall green background (symbolic of Islam). In the centre, there is an upward-facing red crescent enveloped in a white disc. On the disc the words "Allahu Akbar" (Arabic for "God is greatest") are written in Arabic calligraphy.

On August 5, 1990, 45 foreign ministers of the OIC adopted the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam to serve as a guidance for the member states in the matters of human rights in as much as they are compatible with the Sharia, or Quranic Law.^[2]

Positions

Recent issues and controversies

The Parliamentary Union of the OIC member states (PUOICM) was established in Iran in 1999 and its head office is situated in Tehran. Only OIC members are entitled to membership in the union.^[3]

President George W. Bush announced on June 27, 2007 that the United States will establish an envoy to the OIC. Bush said of the envoy "Our special envoy will listen to and learn from representatives from Muslim states, and will share with them America's views and values."^[4] Sada Cumber became the US representative on March 3, 2008. Individual organisation members vote against the United States on over 86% of United Nations resolutions.^[5]

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference on March 28, 2008 added its voice to the growing criticism of the film 'Fitna' by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, which features disturbing images of violent acts juxtaposed with verses from the Quran.^[6]

Ninth meeting of PUOICM

The ninth meeting of the Council of PUOICM was held on 15 and 16 Feb 2007 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[7] The speaker of Malaysia's House of Representatives, Ramli bin Ngah Talib, delivered a speech at the beginning of the inaugural ceremony. OIC secretary-general Prof Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said prior to the meeting that one main agenda item was stopping Israel from continuing its excavation at the Western Wall near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine.^[8] The OIC also discussed how it might send peacekeeping troops to Muslim states, as well as the possibility of a change in the name of the body and its charter.^[9] Additionally, return of the sovereignty right to the Iraqi people along with withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq was another one of the main issues on the agenda.^[10]

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri told reporters on 14 February 2007 that the Secretary General of OIC and foreign ministers of seven "like-minded Muslim countries" would meet in Islamabad on 25 February 2007 following meetings of President Musharraf with heads of key Muslim countries to discuss "a new initiative" for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kasuri said this would be a meeting of foreign ministers of key Muslim countries to discuss and prepare for a summit in Makkah Al Mukarramah to seek the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.^[11]

Human Rights

OIC created the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam.^[2] While proponents claim it is not an alternative to the UDHR, but rather complementary, Article 24 states "All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari'ah." and Article 25 follows that with "The Islamic Shari'ah is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles of this Declaration." Attempts to have it adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council have met increasing criticism, because of its contradiction of the UDHR, including from liberal Muslim groups.^[12] Critics of the CDHR state quite bluntly that it is “manipulation and hypocrisy”, “designed to dilute, if not altogether eliminate, civil and political rights protected by international law” and attempts to “circumvent these principles [of freedom and equality]”.^[13][14][15]

Human Rights Watch says that OIC has “fought doggedly” and successfully within the United Nations Human Rights Council to shield states from criticism, except when it comes to criticism of Israel. For example, when independent experts reported violations of Human Rights in the 2006 Lebanon War, “state after state from the OIC took the floor to denounce the experts for daring to look beyond Israeli violations to discuss Hezbollah’s as well”. OIC demands that the council “should work cooperatively with abusive governments rather than condemn them”. HRW responds that this works only with those who are willing to coöperate; others exploit the passivity.^[16][17]

The OIC has been cticized for diverting its activities solely on Muslim minorities within majority non-Muslim countries but putting a taboo on the plight, the treatment of ethnic minorities within Muslim-majority countries, such as the oppression of the Kurds in Syria, the Ahwaz in Iran, the Hazars in Afghanistan, the Baluchis in Pakistan, the 'Al-Akhdam' in Yemen, or the Berbers in Algeria.^[18]

Antisemitism

The OIC attracted attention at the opening session of .....the meeting in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on 16 October 2003, where Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia in his speech argued that the Jews control the world: "They invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy, so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so that they can enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power”. He also said that “The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them”.^[19][20]

The speech was very well received by the delegates, including many high ranking politicians, who responded with standing ovations".^[21][22][23] International, non-Muslim reactions, however, were appalled. "We view them with contempt and derision," said the US State Department, and the foreign minister of Italy, the current chair of the European Union, called the incident "gravely offensive". However, Malaysian officials later argued that what Dr Mahathir had been trying to say, was that despite having been a marginal and persecuted community the Jews have survived - by use of brains not brawn. The former prime minister said this in relation to the decline of Muslim knowledge in the 20th Century.^[22]

Terrorism

In 1999 OIC adopted the OIC Convention on Combating International Terrorism.^[24] Human Rights Watch has noted that the definition of terrorism in article 1 describes “any act or threat of violence carried out with the aim of, among other things, imperiling people’s honour, occupying or seizing public or private property, or threatening the stability, territorial integrity, political unity or sovereignty of a state.” HRW views this as vague and ill-defined, and includes much that is outside the generally accepted understandings of the concept of terrorism. In HRW's view, it labels, or could easily be used to label, as terrorist actions, acts of peaceful expression, association and assembly.^[25]

Legal scholar Ben Saul of University of Sydney argues that the definition is subjective and ambiguous and concludes that there is “serious danger of the abusive use of terrorist prosecutions against political opponents” and others.^[26]

Furthermore, HRW is concerned by OIC’s apparent unwillingness to recognise as terrorism acts that serve causes endorsed by their member states. Article 2 reads: “Peoples’ struggle including armed struggle against foreign occupation, aggression, colonialism, and hegemony, aimed at liberation and self-determination.” HRW has suggested to OIC that they embrace “longstanding and universally recognised international human rights standards”^[25] – a request that has as yet not led to any results.

Contradictions between OIC's and other U.N. member’s understanding of terrorism has stymied efforts at the U.N. to produce a comprehensive convention on international terrorism.^[27]

On a meeting in Malaysia in April 2002, delegates discussed terrorism, but failed to reach a definition of it. They rejected, however, any description of the Palestinian fight with Israel with terrorism. Their declaration was explicit: "We reject any attempt to link terrorism to the struggle of the Palestinian people in the exercise of their inalienable right to establish their independent state with Al-Quds Al-Shrif (Jerusalem) as its capital." In fact, at the outset of the meeting, the OIC countries signed a statement praising the Palestinians and their "blessed intifada." The word terrorism was restricted to describe Israel, whom they condemned for "state terrorism" in their war with the Palestinian people.^[28]

At the 34th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM), an OIC section, in May 2007, the foreign ministers termed Islamophobia the worst form of terrorism.^[29]

Dispute with Thailand

Thailand has responded to OIC criticism of human rights abuses in the Muslim majority provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat in the south of the country. In a statement issued on October 18, 2005 secretary-general Ihsanoglu vocalised concern over the continuing conflict in the south that "claimed the lives of innocent people and forced the migration of local people out of their places".^[30] He also stressed that the Thai government's security approach to the crisis would aggravate the situation and lead to continued violence.

On 18-19 of April 2009, The exile Patani leader Abu Yasir Fikri (see PULO)was invited to the OIC to speak out about the conflict and present a solution to end the violence between the Thai government and the ethnicly malay Muslims living in the socioeconomically neglected south, that has been struggling against Thai assimilation policy and for self governance since it became annexed by Thailand in 1902. Abu Yasir Fikri presented a six point solution at the conference in Jiddah that included getting the same basic rights as other groups when it came to right of language, religion and culture. In the solution Abu Yasir Fikri also suggested that Thailand give up their discriminatory policies against the Patani people and allow Patani to at least be allowed the same self governing rights as other regions in Thailand already have, citing that this does not go against the Thai constitution since it has been done in other parts of Thailand and that it is only a matter of political will.^[31] He also criticized the Thai governments escalation of violence by arming and creating Buddhist militia groups and questioned their intentions. He added Thai Policies of not investigating corruption, murder and human rights violations perpetrated by Bangkok led administration and military personnel against the malay Muslim population was an obstacle for achieving peace and healing the deep wounds of being treated as third class citizens.^[31][32]

Thailand responded to this criticism over its policies. The Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon said: "We have made it clear to the OIC several times that the violence in the deep South is not caused by religious conflict and the government grants protection to all of our citizens no matter what religion they embrace." The Foreign Ministry issued a statement dismissing the OIC’s criticism and accusing it of disseminating misperceptions and misinformation about the situation in the southern provinces. "If the OIC secretariat really wants to promote the cause of peace and harmony in the three southern provinces of Thailand, the responsibility falls on the OIC secretariat to strongly condemn the militants, who are perpetrating these acts of violence against both Thai Muslims and Thai Buddhists."^{[30][33] [34]}

HRW"^[35] and Amnesty International^[32] have echoed the same concerns as OIC, rebuffing Thailand's attempts to dismiss the issue.

Dispute with India

India has also hit out at the OIC for supporting UN demands for a plebiscite in Kashmir. Further to this, during the 2008 Amarnath land transfer imbroglio the OIC's condemnation of the "ongoing excessive and unwarranted use of force against the Kashmiri people" was met by an Indian response that said: "The OIC has once again chosen to comment upon Jammu and Kashmir and India's internal affairs on which it has no locus standi...To call for international involvement in the sovereign internal affairs of India is gratuitous, illegal and only reflects reversion to a mindset that has led to no good consequences for Pakistan in the past." ^[36] The UN stated that it was "concerned" about the "violent protests" in Kashmir and the reaction from the Indian state and called for restraint from both sides.^[37]

Structure and organisation

The OIC system consists of:

The Islamic Summit

The largest organ, attended by the Kings and the Heads of State and Government of the member states, convenes every three years.

The Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers

It meets once a year to examine a progress report on the implementation of its decisions taken within the framework of the policy defined by the Islamic Summit.

The Permanent Secretariat

It is the executive organ of the Organisation, entrusted with the implementation of the decisions of the two preceding bodies, and is located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The current secretary general of this international organisation is Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, from Turkey, since January 1, 2005.

Standing Committees

• Standing Committee on Information and Cultural Affairs (COMIAC).
• Standing Committee on Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC).
• Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH).
• Islamic Committee for Economic, Cultural and Social Affairs.
• Permanent Finance Committee.
• Financial Control Organ.

Subsidiary organs

• The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), located in Ankara, Turkey.
• The Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), located in Istanbul, Turkey.
• The Islamic University of Technology, located in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• The Islamic Centre for the Development of Trade, located in Casablanca, Morocco.
• The Islamic Fiqh Academy, located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• The Executive Bureau of the Islamic Solidarity Fund and its Waqf, located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• The Islamic University in Niger, located in Say, Niger.
• The Islamic University in Uganda, located in Mbale, Uganda.

Specialised institutions

• The Islamic social, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO), located in Rabat, Morocco.
• The Islamic States Broadcasting Organisation (ISBO) and the International Islamic News Agency (IINA), located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Affiliated institutions

• Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), located in Karachi, Pakistan.
• World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Organisation of Islamic Capitals and Cities (OICC), located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• Sports Federation of Islamic Solidarity Games, located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• Islamic Committee of the International Crescent (ICIC), located in Benghazi, Libya.
• Islamic Shipowners Association (ISA), located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• World Federation of International Arab-Islamic Schools, located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• International Association of Islamic Banks (IAIB), located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation,(ICYF-DC)located in Istanbul, Turkey.
• General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions,(CIBAFI)located in Manama, Bahrain.

The Secretary General of the OIC

1. Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaysia): (1971–1973)
2. Hassan Al-Touhami (Egypt): (1974–1975)
3. Dr. Amadou Karim Gaye (Senegal): (1975–1979)
4. Habib Chatty (Tunisia): (1979–1984)
5. Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada (Pakistan): (1985–1988)
6. Dr. Hamid Algabid (Niger): (1989–1996)
7. Dr. Azeddine Laraki (Morocco): (1997–2000)
8. Dr. Abdelouahed Belkeziz (Morocco): (2001–2004)
9. Prof.Dr. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu (Turkey): (2005 to present)^[38]

Members

Member State	Joined	Notes
Afghanistan	1969	Suspended 1980 - March 1989
Algeria	1969
Chad	1969
Egypt	1969	Suspended May 1979 - March 1984
Guinea	1969
Indonesia	1969
Iran	1969
Jordan	1969
Kuwait	1969
Lebanon	1969
Libya	1969
Malaysia	1969
Mali	1969
Mauritania	1969
Morocco	1969
Niger	1969
Pakistan	1969	Blocking India from membership
Palestine, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation	1969
Saudi Arabia	1969
Senegal	1969
Sudan	1969
Somalia	1969
Tunisia	1969
Turkey	1969
Yemen	1969	From 1990 as Republic of Yemen united with People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
Bahrain	1970
Oman	1970
Qatar	1970
Syria	1970
United Arab Emirates	1970
Senegal	1972
Bangladesh	1974
Gabon	1974
Gambia	1974
Guinea-Bissau	1974
Uganda	1974
Burkina Faso	1975
Cameroon	1975
Comoros	1976
Iraq	1976
Maldives	1976
Djibouti	1978
Benin	1982
Brunei	1984
Nigeria	1986
Azerbaijan	1991
Albania	1992
Kyrgyzstan	1992
Tajikistan	1992
Turkmenistan	1992
Mozambique	1994
Kazakhstan	1995
Uzbekistan	1995
Suriname	1996
Togo	1997
Guyana	1998
Côte d'Ivoire	2001
Suspended or Withdrawn
Zanzibar	Jan 1993	Withdrew August 1993
Observer States
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1994
Central African Republic	1997
North Cyprus as 'Turkish Cypriot State'	1979	Official 2004
Thailand	1998
Russia	2005
Observer Muslim Organisations and Communities
Moro National Liberation Front	1977	Blocking membership of the Philippines
Observer Islamic institutions
Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States	2000
Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation	2005
Observer International Organisations
League of Arab States	1975
United Nations	1976
Non-Aligned Movement	1977
Organisation of African Unity	1977
Economic Cooperation Organisation	1995

Membership attempts

•  India - India, which has the world's third largest Muslim population, has shown an interest in joining the OIC as an observer nation.^[39] While India's candidacy is supported by some OIC members including Saudi Arabia,^[40] Pakistan's strong opposition and threat to boycott the OIC have led to India's inclusion into the OIC being blocked. The Pakistan Foreign Office argued that India's inclusion in OIC would be against the rules of OIC, which state that an aspirant should not have an ongoing conflict with a member state.^[41]

•  Philippines - The Philippine government has made attempts to join the OIC, but this is opposed by the Moro National Liberation Front, an OIC observer located in the Philippines. The MLF claims that Philippine membership is unnecessary. In 2009, the country's bid has received stronger support and has been advocated by Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates, among others.^{[42][43][44][45]}

Past Islamic Summit Conferences

Number	Date	Country	Place
1st	September 22–25, 1969	Morocco	Rabat
2nd	February 22–24, 1974	Pakistan	Lahore
3rd	January 25–29, 1981	Saudi Arabia	Makkah Al Mukarramah and Taif
4th	January 16–19, 1984	Morocco	Casablanca
5th	January 26–29, 1987	Kuwait	Kuwait City
6th	December 9–11, 1991	Senegal	Dakar
7th	December 13–15, 1994	Morocco	Casablanca
1st Extraordinary	March 23, 1997	Pakistan	Islamabad
8th	December 9–11, 1997	Iran	Tehran
9th	November 12–13, 2000	Qatar	Doha
2nd Extraordinary	March 5, 2003	Qatar	Doha
10th	October 16–17, 2003	Malaysia	Putrajaya
3rd Extraordinary	December 7–8, 2005	Saudi Arabia	Makkah Al Mukarramah
11th	March 13–14, 2008	Senegal	Dakar
12th	2011	Egypt	Cairo

Economy

The OIC members have a combined GDP (at PPP) of USD 10,140,000,000,000. As up to 50% of economic activity may occur in the grey or shadow economy, the actual output could be higher by a great deal. The highest GDP in OIC belongs to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with a GDP exceeding USD 1,239 billion on a nominal exchange rate basis. The GDP of GCC would have been higher using this method if their currencies were not pegged to the US dollar (except for Kuwait) when US$ plummeted in value. It is observed that the GCC wields an inordinate amount of influence in maintaining the status of US$ as the world's reserve currency, with more than 50% of global foreign exchange reserves stored in this paper currency. See also Fiat money. Individually, Iran has the largest GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity with an estimated economy anywhere from 1,300 international dollars to 1,727 international dollars. Possibly its actual output remains somewhere in between the two extreme estimates. The richest country on the basis of GDP per capita is Qatar at USD 103,204 per capita.

Literacy and scholarship

Literacy rates vary from 100% in CIS states like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan or Turkmenistan to low rates in some of the countries.

Today, Islamic countries like Islamic Republic of Iran have been exhibiting the highest scientific publication growth rates in the world over the last decade in western aligned journals.^[46]

Saudi Arabia has started KAUST to kick-start Arab scientific research. Following suit, UAE has invested billions of Euros in Zayed University, United Arab Emirates University, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, and an institute which co-designed Dubai's first satellites DubaiSat-1 for launch from Kazakhstan.^[47]

Dubai's Prime Minister and Vice-President, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has endowed a foundation with $10 billion for invigorating Arab scientific research.^[48]

See also

• Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam
• Islamic University of Technology
• List of largest cities in the OIC
• List of Organisation of the Islamic Conference member states by population
• Rashad Hussain

References

Further reading

• Ankerl, Guy Coexisting Contemporary Civilisations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western. Geneva, INUPress, 2000, ISBN 2-88155-004-5
• Al-Huda, Qamar. "Organisation of the Islamic Conference." Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. Edited by Martin, Richard C. Macmillan Reference, 2004. vol. 1 p. 394. 20 April 2008

External links

• Official website

Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Members Afghanistan · Albania · Algeria · Azerbaijan · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Benin · Burkina Faso · Brunei · Cameroon · Chad · Comoros · Côte d'Ivoire · Djibouti · Egypt · Gabon · Gambia · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Guyana · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Jordan · Kuwait · Kazakhstan · Kyrgyzstan · Lebanon · Libya · Maldives · Malaysia · Mali · Mauritania · Morocco · Mozambique · Niger · Nigeria · Oman · Pakistan · Palestine · Qatar · Saudi Arabia · Senegal · Sierra Leone · Somalia · Sudan · Suriname · Syria · Tajikistan · Turkey · Tunisia · Togo · Turkmenistan · Uganda · Uzbekistan · United Arab Emirates · Yemen Observers Countries and territories Bosnia and Herzegovina · Central African Republic · Russia · Thailand · Northern Cyprus (as Turkish Cypriot State) Muslim communities Moro National Liberation Front International organizations Economic Cooperation Organization · African Union · Arab League · Non-Aligned Movement · United Nations