Humanitarian Affairs

A resolution to establish the Department of Humanitarian Affairs was adopted at the 35th Council of Foreign Ministers held in June 2008, in Kampala, Uganda. The department was founded to coordinate humanitarian assistance and implement the Ten-Year Program of Action and other relevant resolutions adopted by the Islamic Summit and the Council of Foreign Ministers. Incidentally, the OIC has been delivering humanitarian work within OIC and non-OIC countries from well before 2008.

The department mobilizes emergency relief and humanitarian and rehabilitation assistance, as well as promotes disaster risk reduction activities in OIC countries and countries with Muslim communities. Its objectives include: Elaborating strategies for relief work, raising awareness about humanitarian crises and response strategies, providing humanitarian assistance to countries faced with or threatened by natural disasters or other emergencies, coordinating with Member States in relation to relief efforts, putting in place rapid reaction mechanisms to deal with humanitarian crises, mobilizing resources for humanitarian assistance in coordination with Member States, contributing to post-emergency rehabilitation and recovery in countries emerging from conflicts and natural disasters, coordinating and supervising OIC funds and programs for humanitarian assistance, strengthening the institutional and technical capacities of Member States to deal with emergencies and reduce vulnerability to natural disasters, and developing strategic partnerships within the humanitarian community in line with the OIC ethos.