OIC Council of Foreign Ministers to give special attention to Rohingya crisis

The current Rohingya crisis and the challenges facing the Muslim Ummah – the conflicts, division, tension and instability of the Muslim world – will get focus in the 45th Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the OIC scheduled to be held in Dhaka in May. "Protection of their (Rohingyas) rights and fundamental freedom, will, therefore, remain a major preoccupation of this CFM," said State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam on Thursday. He was addressing a seminar on the theme - 'Upcoming 45th Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of OIC, Dhaka: Revisiting A Shared Journey' in the capital. Shahriar said the problems of terrorism and violent extremism, sectarian tendencies, hatred, prejudice and Islamophobia, massive humanitarian crises with forced displacements, persistent poverty, and socio-economic backwardness of Muslim societies are OIC priorities. The CFM is currently finalising resolutions and proposals regarding political, economic, social, cultural, and family affairs issues, he said. "We see these issues being approached under four broad ranges of draft resolutions: those relating to peace, conflict resolution, mediation and security; those relating to OIC economic and development agenda; those relating to minorities and humanitarian questions, and those relating to OIC reforms," said the state minister. The Bangladesh International Institute of Strategic Studies (BIISS) organized the seminar. There will be a separate sideline session on the humanitarian challenges of the Muslim world with special focus on the Rohingyas on May 6, and prior to that a visit to the Rohingya makeshift camps in Cox's Bazar will take place on May 4. A comprehensive reform of the OIC and its system is also a crying need of the day for greater efficiency, dynamism, and clout of the Organisation, said the state minister. "Bangladesh along with some other brotherly countries are working hard with their thoughts and proposals for OIC reforms in a number of areas," he said. Rules and procedures, organisational and Secretariat issues, their roles and mechanisms, recruitment rules, transparency initiatives, efficiency enhancement, observership and operationalization of a number of new statutes, bodies and institutes are coming under these efforts. "Discussions on these reforms will take place in Dhaka," the state minister said.