Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 04/12/2012
The Ministerial Conference on Women’s Role in the Development of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, (OIC) Member States held its 4th session in Jakarta, 4 December 2012. The Conference is significant because it comes after three conferences where important documents such as “OIC Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women, (OPAAW)” and “OPAAW Implementation Mechanism” were adopted. Therefore the 4th session will exclusively dwell upon the implementation of these documents and practical steps to be taken.
in his speech to the Jakarta’s Conference, the Secretary General of the OIC, Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, said that the issue of women has been a priority to the OIC and it has actively been engaged with its partners in the international community to address the challenges faced by women. He added that the OIC has successfully earned the recognition of the international community as a global actor in international affairs pointing out that the United Nations takes the OIC as its strategic partner while dealing with international peace and security issues. It was within this partnership that Mdm. Michelle Bachelet, Under Secretary General/Executive Director of UN-Women attended the conference for the first time.
The Secretary General stressed that Islam doesn’t support female genital mutilation (FGM), calling to stop this practice in some countries and societies of Muslim World.
Ihsanolglu also reiterated his call on OIC Member States to sensitize the international community of their obligation to protect the women and children of Palestine from repression of the occupying forces.
The OIC Secretary General underscored the achievements made by OIC on women development, starting with the first ever OIC Ministerial Meeting on Women in Istanbul in 2006 and establishment of Department of Family Affairs at the General Secretariat.
While emphasizing on the mandate of (IPCHR) which includes inter alia prompting the rights of women within the OIC he mentioned that prominent among these achievements is the establishment of an OIC Independent Permanent Commission on Human Rights (IPCHR).
The Secretary General concluded his speech by urging the participants in the Conference to sign and ratify the statute of OIC Women Development Organisation, (WDO) in Cairo, which would be a specialized body of the OIC.
In the same vein, Indonesia signed the statute of WDO at special ceremony held on the sideline of Jakarta’s Conference.
Besides, the Secretary General had a bilateral meeting with the Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Mr. Marty Natalegawa at the sidelines of the Conference. OIC-Indonesia bilateral cooperation with particular emphasis on issues related to Palestine, Peace process of Sothern Philippines, Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar as well as strengthening relations with ASEAN were discussed during the meeting.
