The two-day 45th session of foreign ministers meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) concluded here on Sunday with a call for accountability for the atrocities and human rights violations in Rakhine state and to hold the perpetrators to account.
The delegations unanimously expressed their grave concern on the Rohingya issue with the number of Rohingyas in Bangladesh having crossed one million, said Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali in a joint statement following the meeting.
He said the member states highly appreciated Bangladesh’s role to host those Rohingya people and urged for taking strong action against Myanmar Government for serious human rights violation in Rakhine state.
Ali said the delegations were also joined by Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland who reiterated Canada’s strongest condemnation of the situation in Rakhine State of Myanmar.
Besides, a proposal was floated at the Special Session to establish an 'OIC Adhoc Ministerial Committee on Accountability' which would work in collaboration with international actors such as relevant UN bodies.
Gambia that proposed the formation of the committee would chair the 10-member ministerial level committee which will engage to ensure accountability and justice for gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws and principles.
According to the meeting, the committee will also assist in information gathering and evidence collection for accountability purposes.
In the joint statement, the Bangladesh foreign minister described the event as a landmark one in the fast growing engagement with the international community and yet another example of Bangladesh's ability to successfully host an important international conference on a large scale of this nature.
He said that participation at Dhaka CFM was perhaps one of the highest ever in any OIC CFM, with a total of almost 600 delegates of 110 delegations.
With the CFM, Bangladesh has assumed Chairmanship of OIC CFM and will act in this capacity for next one year until the 46th CFM in United Arab Emirates.
At the working sessions over the last 2 days, the foreign ministers of OIC countries deliberated on a wide range of issues to address common challenges and advance common goals through joint Islamic action.
More than 120 resolutions were adopted on issues related to political, economic, social and cultural aspects of OIC member countries.
The special committee of the senior officials met in the afternoon today and successfully negotiated and discussed more than 20 resolutions and issues on Rohingyas, Cause of Palestine, situation in Syria, reform of the OIC, women empowerment and development of youth, the joint statement added.
However, Bangladesh has proposed four new resolutions at the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC.
They are- Regional Integration through enhanced Connectivity, Cooperation in the media sector for sharing best practices on SDG implementation, comprehensive OIC reforms and establishment of a Special Chair at Dhaka University.
Elections for the various posts of "Assistant Secretaries General" of OIC also took place in the afternoon session.
Elections were held for the posts of Administration and Finance, Economic Affairs, Science and Technology, Humanitarian Affairs, and Cultural and Social Affairs, the statement said.
On the sidelines of the CFM, more than 40 bi-lateral meetings among the Heads of delegation, OIC Secretary General and Heads of different Organization were held.
This year the theme of the meeting was "Islamic Values for Sustainable Peace, Solidarity and Development".
Source: BSS