Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 17/03/2010
Manila, March 16-18, 2010 Your Excellency Alberto G. Romulo, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates Ladies and Gentleman, I would, at the outset, like to express my thanks and gratitude to you Mr. Secretary and to the Government of the Philippines for the kind invitation extended to me to for participate in this Special Ministerial NAM meeting on Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace and Development. I sincerely regret my inability to be personally present at this august gathering due to pressing preoccupations. I am however confident of the successful outcome of this conference under your able and wise stewardship. I would also like to take this opportunity to make special mention of our appreciation to Her Excellency President Gloria Arroyo for her initiative in convening this interfaith conference under the auspices of the NAM. This substantiates her commitment to peace and development by bringing diverse religious faiths through dialogue towards promoting a culture of tolerance, understanding, and respect to the beliefs and cultures of different religious faiths. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, A large majority of the 57 OIC Member States are also members of the NAM. This implies common goals and objectives. As the second largest intergovernmental organization after the UN, the OIC is uniquely poised to support the NAM in the pursuit of the common objectives of peace, stability, security and development. The presence of the OIC delegation at this Special Meeting is therefore, a clear testimony of our commitment to collaborate closely with the NAM. I am confident that the existing cooperation will grow from strength to strength in the days ahead. The OIC is deeply committed to inter-civilizational and inter faith dialogue that is based on mutual respect and understanding. Our basis is moderation and modernization. Our aim is to work with the international community to evolve a result oriented dialogue that will bring different religions together in fostering mutual respect and understanding for the sake of international peace and security, tolerance towards developing a culture of peaceful coexistence and respect for diversity in religions, cultural heritage and practices and understanding. Within its new vision and mission, which has been concretized in the Ten Year Program of Action adopted by the Extraordinary Summit in December 2005 in Mecca, and the new Charter adopted in the 1 1th Summit in Dakar in March 2008, the OIC will continue to devote its resources and efforts to peace and development and counter extremism and intolerance that seeks to destabilize interfaith harmony and peaceful co-existence among peoples of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds. We are currently leading a massive effort, a leap forward to disseminate messages of modernization and moderation in the Muslim World as well as dialogue with other faiths cultures and civilizations as means of enhancing peaceful coexistence and reinforcing the foundations of global peace and security. Interfaith and Inter-civilizational dialogue is central and a priority issue for the OIC. The OIC had taken the issue of the Dialogue among Civilizations to the United Nations in 1998 and the international community responded to the wisdom of the initiative by declaring 2001 as the Year for Dialogue among Civilizations. The OIC and its Member States remained focused on fostering interfaith and inter-civilization dialogue by initiating and participating in various events related to promotion of interfaith understanding and working with the international community to remove misrepresentations and distortion of religions and to combat intolerance, incitement and spread of hatred and violence on religious grounds. The OIC and the Member States have taken a lead in promoting interfaith dialogue including the Third International Conference on "The Muslim World and the West: From Definition to Action" on June 09-10, 2008; the Conference of Foreign Ministers of Muslim and Western Countries ‘Common World: Progress through Diversity’ held on October 17, 2008 in Astana, Kazakhstan; King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia’s initiative in the holding of the high level meeting on dialogue between religions, cultures and civilizations held in the United Nations on 12 November 2008 which was participated by Heads of State, Government, Statesmen, Religious leaders, scholars, Diplomats and representatives of the civil society as well his Initiative for Dialogue between Religions and Its Effect on the Dissemination of Values,” held in Geneva on o 28-29 September 2009; Conference on Dialogue of Civilizations: A View from Azerbaijan, held in Baku on November 11-12, 2009. The Declaration of the 2010 as the International Year for Interreligious and intercultural dialogue and understanding and cooperation for peace by the United Nations was also adopted at the initiative of an OIC Member State of Kazakhstan. The OIC is fully supportive of the Sharm El Sheikh Summit Declaration and the Sharm Al Sheikh Plan o Action on Culture of Peace, Dialogue among Civilizations, Religions and Cultures, and Cultural Diversity adopted by the 15th NAM Summit in Egypt in June last year. I would like to state here that the objectives set out in these two documents in the area of promoting interfaith dialogue are in full conformity with those of the OIC. Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, Inter-faith dialogue is no longer confined to religious leaders without anyway undermining the pivotal role they have to play for its success. The dialogue has assumed political and socio cultural dimensions and has become a major part of the agenda in international relations. This is so because of the actions taken in the name religion or against it by some individuals or groups to incite hatred and fear and provoke sentiments by desecration of places of worship, and insulting sacred symbols and Personalities and has posed a threat to international peace and security . Alongside, there have been incidents of widespread profiling and stereotyping of people of particular religious faiths, subjecting them to various forms of indignity, discriminatory treatments and insecurity. In this, the most affected victims are the Muslims and the phenomenon that gives strength to the process is Islamophobia. The ominous trend of Islamophobia emanating from and fuelled in some parts of the West aimed at distorting the image of Islam in the Western mind and media is taking the form of contemporary form of racism. It signifies proliferation of discrimination against Muslims and distortion of Islam which is partly due to the lack of understanding of Islam in the West. The rising trend of Islamophobia, fueled by heinous propaganda from xenophobic political elements, should seriously raise our concern. Physical and psychological attacks on Muslims as well as the symbols and personalities sacred to Muslims constitute violations of Human Rights. Such incidents, particularly in situations of Muslim minorities, can and have caused serious disturbance of public order and must not be allowed to threaten regional as well as global peace and security. The OIC has shown its readiness to engage constructively in multilateral settings, including the UNGA and the Human Rights Council, with a view to removing misperceptions and evolving common strategies based on shared ideals to deal with this trend. We strongly believe in the need to create more spaces that could catalyze inter-cvilizational and interfaith dialogue geared towards sustainable international peace, security and stability. It is events like this meeting that afford such space for free and frank discourse on identifying solutions to issues of global concern. Accordingly, we believe that multi-stake holder gatherings like the Manila meeting need to be replicated in other parts of the world. On our part, the OIC is also considering similar initiatives with a view to reaching out to all the important stakeholders in seeking solutions to issues of global import and impact. Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, The essence of religion, apart from worshiping the Creator, was to develop respect for human life and dignity, to accept the good and reject the evil, to respect the principles and values of others and to live in harmony and peaceful cohabitation. This message should reach the grass roots of the society. Governments would have to play their roles but it will need the support of the civil society. We have to involve the media, the educational institutions, the religious leaders , clergy and scholars, the youths, the communities and indeed the family, to lay a strong foundation of tolerance and respect for diversity; to defeat, discredit and to make accountable all those who are actively involved in inciting hatred and endangering peaceful co-existence . We have to also take serious note that the outreach of those involved in creating impediments or even blocking inter-faith dialogue is long and effective enough to motivate the ordinary people. The outcome of the referendum of November 29, 2009 in Switzerland, a country that for centuries enjoyed worldwide respect for its commitment to tolerance and respect for human dignity, human rights and values, to ban the construction of minarets in mosques is a case in hand . A minaret is as integral a part of a mosque and does not in any way pose a thereat to another religious belief. And yet, the hate mongers have been successful in motivating the Swiss people against an Islamic symbol. It is in this context I have on various occasions and different international forums called for Historical Reconciliation between Islam and the Christianity as was done between Christianity and Judaism. This would be a practical way to make the inter-religious dialogue result oriented and I would call on Special NAM Meeting on Interfaith Dialogue to support the initiative through a constructive dialogue of scholars who have in-depth and correct knowledge of religions. It is encouraging to note that the idea is gaining ground. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen To make interfaith dialogue worthwhile, I feel it is essential that we involve the civil society to join the government programmes and encourage them to develop their own strategies. Their contacts with the grassroots can accelerate the process of increased intercultural dialogue and exchanges guided by enhancing respect for cultural and religious diversity, promoting the important role of education in the promotion of a culture of peace and dialogue among civilizations, religions and cultures; and giving stimulus to the dialogue towards developing mechanisms on the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance, including ways to eliminate defamation of religions, and discrimination based on religion or belief. The community leaders should be able to reach the families and parents in bringing up children as active and responsible citizens and to be respectful of others. The OIC attaches great importance to freedom of expression and opinion. It believes that the right to freedom of expression forms the bedrock for the exercise of all fundamental rights. However, it firmly believes that rights carry with them certain responsibilities. These should not be abused to achieve negative objectives. Insults and defamation of religions and holy books can not be justified on the pretext of freedom of expression. They undermine the principles and purposes of the UN Charter to promote friendly relations amongst nations. The OIC regrets that in recent years certain individuals and organizations have abused this right to malign and insult specific races and religions. Such acts constitute violations of Article 3 & 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination and Article 19 & 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that prohibit any advocacy of racial or religious hatred. In this connection, the OIC, once again, condemns printing of insulting caricatures and making of hate documentaries against Islam and Muslims. It is worth mentioning here that dialogue is the fundamental necessity for human being to interact with one and another in their neighborhood, community, state, region and the world in this era of globalization to share the benefits and avoid problems and clashes that may occur from the point of misunderstanding and interest and create a climate of peace by respecting the rights of each other and honoring the commitments that would have made in the past. I wish to inform this august gathering that the OIC, Government of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front already started this dialogue by reviewing the implementation of the 1996 Final Peace agreement on the implementation of 1976 peace agreement, identifying the obstacles to its full implementation and make the assessment. I hope this process will end with great success. In this connection, we welcome the resumption of Dialogue between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. We hope that it will lead to positive results that would bring development and peaceful environment among followers of different faiths and nations. In today’s politics, it is unfortunate to see that assimilation has been replacing the process of integration which would place seed of antagonism among people that would not be reparable in the future. For this, demographic change of the society has been used as a weapon in different parts of the world which prevents interfaith dialogue and understanding among nations in opposition of several UN resolutions. We strongly express that people should be allowed to enjoy their full cultural, religious, social rights including rights of indigenous minority. Finally, I would like to reiterate our determination at the OIC to continue our efforts in order to promote and strengthen cooperation with the Non Aligned Movement, to create an environment in which the creative abilities of humanity can be concentrated on social uplift and economic progress of all, in an era of international peace and security, and to explore new opportunities for a better understanding and building common positions against the global threats. I wish your deliberations every success in evolving specific recommendations which will contribute to make our world more safe, just, fair and prosperous place for the betterment of our humanity. I thank you all.
