The Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Mr. Hissein Brahim Taha, called on all countries to increase funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) so that it can continue its vital role in providing humanitarian and essential services to Palestinian refugees, and contribute to enhancing stability in the region, in light of the Israeli campaign targeting the UNRWA’s existence and role, noting that the OIC is following with great concern donor countries’ suspension of their contributions to the UNRWA’s budget. The Secretary-General indicated that increasing the UNRWA’s funding will confirm the international community's commitment to protecting the rights of Palestinian refugees and its responsibility to provide a just solution to their issue.
This call was made in his statement at the opening session of the Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, held at the headquarters of its General Secretariat in Jeddah today, Tuesday, March 05, 2024.
Mr. Hissein Brahim Taha stressed that the meeting is being held in light of the escalation of the ongoing Israeli aggression, which violates all international standards, laws, and norms and commits horrific massacres, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, the latest of which was the targeting of hundreds of civilians while they were waiting to receive food aid, noting that these crimes have so far claimed the lives of more than thirty thousand Palestinian civilians, wounded nearly seventy thousand, most of them women and children, and displaced nearly two million Palestinians inside the Gaza Strip.
The Secretary-General stressed that the Israeli occupation persists in its systematic policy based on siege, starvation, torture, arrest, killing, displacement, and indiscriminate destruction of infrastructure, housing, mosques, churches, hospitals, schools, universities, UN institutions, historical buildings, and economic facilities in the context of genocide and the attempt to uproot the Palestinian people from their land.
Mr. Hissein Taha thanked participants in the extraordinary session, which carries essential political connotations, especially the emphasis on the central place of the Palestine issue. He also appreciated the Member States that called for this meeting to strengthen and coordinate the efforts undertaken by the OIC in the implementation of the resolution of the Extraordinary Joint Arab Islamic Summit hosted by Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on November 11, 2023.
The Secretary-General confirmed the success of the efforts of the Arab and Islamic ministerial contact group emerging from the Summit, including visits that targeted influential countries, especially the Member States of the UN Security Council and international organizations.
The Secretary-General also indicated the activation of the media monitoring unit established under the Summit resolution by launching a window on the OIC website that publishes all media materials. It also began coordination with the Member States to activate the legal observatory that established under the Summit resolution, by forming an internal follow-up committee.
Mr. Hissein Taha explained that the General Secretariat, along with 25 Member States, submitted written information to the International Court of Justice and participated in the oral arguments that took place on February 19-26, 2024, regarding the legal consequences arising from Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian land since 1967 and its continued violation of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
The opening session witnessed speeches by H.E. Mr. Mohamed Marzouk, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Chair of the meeting, HH Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Chair of the current session of the Islamic Summit, and H.E. Dr Riyad Al-Maliki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine.
