Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 27/11/2014
The 2nd international humanitarian action forum titled: “Humanitarian Work in a Turbulent World” held under the umbrella of the OIC and organized by a group of relief organizations in the Muslim world concluded its 2-day work in Jeddah on 27 November 2014. The relief organizations are: International Islamic Relief Organisation, International Islamic Charitable Organisation, Kuwait, IHH Organization, Turkey, Qatar Charitable Organization, World Assembly of Muslim Youth, International Research and Studies Centre, MEDAD and International Committee of the Red Cross, together with 48 humanitarian organizations. 129 persons attended the meeting, including experts and researchers in the field. The Meeting adopted a number of recommendations in its final communiqué. It called on local and international conflict parties, whether governmental or non-governmental to abide by the rules of International Humanitarian Law and protect humanitarian workers. It also called on humanitarian organizations to communicate and cooperate with educational bodies in target societies to guarantee means and ways of protecting civilians and humanitarian during conflicts and disasters in educational plans. It also called for the establishment of a mechanism to ensure continuity of the meeting and its activities and the holding of regular scholarly meetings among international organizations and institutions in the humanitarian field to exchange experiences and expertise. The Meeting also called on international organizations to provide training courses for humanitarian workers and for the use of social communication networks. The participants agreed to hold the next session of the Meeting Qatar, to be hosted by the Qatar Charitable Organization in May 2015. The Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Ambassador Hisham Yousef, delivered a speech at the opening session in which he explained that more than half of the world’s refugees are Muslims, and that more than half of the OIC Member States face crises, whether in the form of natural disasters or man-made crises, and highlighted the new challenge posed by the Ebola epidemic. Ambassador Yousef called on the Meeting to discuss the extent of adherence to the International Humanitarian Law, emphasizing that they are not mere drafts. He stressed the need to ensure that its provisions are actually implemented and developed to achieve security for the peoples of the Muslim world. The Secretary General of International Islamic Relief Organisation, Ihsan Ibn Saleh Tayeb, delivered a speech in which he referred to a set of challenges facing relief work. Ronald Ofteringer, Director of International Affairs and Relations with the Muslim World at the International Committee of the Red Cross discussed the issue of partnership between the Red Cross and the Muslim world, pointing out that the ICRC was proud of its cooperation with the OIC, given its weight in the Muslim world. The Meeting discussed 23 working papers in 7 sessions and 7 workshops aimed at coming up with practical recommendations geared towards advancing the field work of various relief agencies.
