The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, called for adopting a "holistic approach that covers all human rights for all individuals and peoples when carrying out an objective assessment of the lessons learned." He noted with appreciation the mechanism of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) which forms an efficient tool to promote Human Rights' values. Ihsanoglu emphasized that the Human Rights Council's role "should be constructive and remedial and not judgmental or selective."
He said this in his statement at the High Level Segment of the 13th Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) held in Geneva on Monday, 1st March 2010. Ihsanoglu called on the HRC to effectively address the plight and permanent suffering of the Palestinian people under the continuous and deliberate aggression by the Israeli military forces and a frequency of flagrant violations of their basic human rights in light of the various United Nations independent mechanisms, including the recent Goldstone Report, which have highlighted grave breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law that underpin contentions of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He demanded the HRC in particular and also other UN bodies to implement the recommendations of the Goldstone Report and ensure action on the Report. Additionally, he reiterated his call for a Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention on measures to enforce the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian territories, OIC Information Department reported.
Moreover, Ihsanoglu declared that the OIC is keen to encourage efforts for promoting and protecting human rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and described the resumption of engagement between Pakistan and India as a positive development.
The Secretary General expressed his concern over the rising trend of Islamophobia whose manifestations have caused serious disturbance of public order and which must not be allowed to threaten regional and global peace and security. On this issue, he said that the "OIC believes in according primacy to multilateralism to dealing with such issues of global concern." He also called for a constructive engagement in dealing with a range of issues such as discrimination, intolerance and incitement to hatred on religious grounds, limits to freedom of opinion and expression and complementary standards.
Ihsanoglu stated that the task of improving human rights conditions on a global scale should be seen as a shared responsibility that must be borne collectively by all nations represented in the family of the United Nations. However, he emphasized that the OIC believes that tackling contemporary threats to global peace and security posed by conflicts and terrorism solely from the security angle would not lead to a durable and comprehensive solutions. Hence, there is a need for a proper understanding of the root causes, which often lie in political grievances, backwardness, underdevelopment and concerns related to preservation of national, ethnic, cultural and religious identities, he added.
The Secretary General declared that the OIC is on the verge of establishing an Independent Permanent Commission on Human Rights whose "establishment must be viewed as a landmark event and a most positive development in the four-decade long history of the OIC. The Commission is expected to constitute an important pillar of the ongoing process of reform at the OIC with a view to transforming the OIC into a body that would effectively cope with the existing and emerging challenges faced by the Muslim world.