Organisation Of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

The OIC or Organisation of Islamic Cooperation was founded in the year 1969 and is an organisation of sovereign states (57 members) (membership of 57 states) i.e. intergovernmental organisation. It is the union of Islamic or Muslim Community which works to protect their religion and their interests and to encourage international harmony and peace. Hissein Brahim Taha, the Secretary General, was the leader of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. 

It was established on September 25, 1969 with the population of 1.81 billion in 2018. The European Union and the United Nations work on the behalf of OIC. Arabic, French and English are their official languages. (OIC) is the second largest intergovernmental organisation after the United Nations with coverage of 4 continents as well as 31.66 meter kilometer square area. 

The headquarter of OIC is located in Saudi Arabia Kingdom Jeddah. $27.949 trillion is the total GDP of OIC out of which $9,361 is per capita. The PUOICM (Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States) was instituted in 1999 in Iran with it’s headquarter in Tehran.

List of Member States

The OIC in total has 57 members and except Palestine there are 56 United Nations member states. The membership of 57 states under OIC are listed as;

• Afghanistan
• Algeria
• Bangladesh
• Benin
• Cameroon
• Albania
• Bahrain
• Azerbaijan
• Brunei
• Chad
• Burkina Faso
• Comoros
• Guinea
• Egypt
• Gabon
• Djibouti
• Guyana
• Gambia
• Guinea-Bissau
• Iraq
• Iran
• Indonesia
• Jordan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Ivory Coast
• Kazakhstan
• Lebanon
• Kuwait
• Morocco
• Maldives
• Libya
• Malaysia
• Mauritania
• Niger
• Sierra Leone
• Mali
• Mozambique
• Pakistan
• Oman
• Nigeria
• Somalia
• Saudi Arabia
• Qatar
• Senegal
• Syria (now suspended)
• Sudan
• Tajikistan
• Turkmenistan
• Suriname
• Turkey
• United Arab Emirates
• Tunisia
• Uzbekistan
• Uganda
• Yemen
• West Bank
• Palestine

Meetings of Organisations of Islamic Cooperation

PUOICM’s 9th Meeting: It was held on February 15, 2007 as well as on February 16, 2007 in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur). Ramli bin Ngah Talib, the speaker of the House of Representatives of Malaysia delivered the inaugural speech. Before the inaugural, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of OIC describes the main aim of the meeting was to stop Israel from the excavation near Al-Aqsa Mosque (3rd holiest place of Islam), at Western Wall. They also discussed that how they should send the Muslim peacekeeping troops and how the sovereignty rights should return to the people of Iraq along with removal of troops of foreign from the country Iraq.

The trip of IPHRC to Washington DC:  The Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission in 2012 in December met for the first time in Washington DC. The meetings were also held at the Freedom House, the Capitol Hill and the National Press Club for discussing human rights issues in the member states of OIC. The IPHRC during the discussion in meeting with the Freedom House emphasises on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adoption as well as the Cairo Declaration rejection by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Disputes of Observer States; The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation high level summit of 2014, September ended for the 1st time without attaining any conclusion or resolution because of one of the disputes related to the Observer States status. Within the organisation the observer state status was that the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Egypt laid up a claim that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation should remove the “Turkish Cypriot State” term in context to the unrecognisable TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus).

Conclusion

OIC full form is Organisation of Islamic Cooperation or Organisation of Islamic Conference which is the second largest intergovernmental organisation after the United Nations with the membership of 57 states. It was established on September 25, 1969 with its headquarter in Jeddah. It aims to empower the muslim community and to protect them and their rights.