OIC Press Release

In response to the recommendation of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts of Islamic States On Human Rights and the Follow-up of the Cairo Declaration On Human Rights in Islam, adopted in its Third Meeting, held at the OIC Headquarters in Jeddah in May 1996, calling on the General Secretariat to hold a Symposium on the Cairo Declaration in Geneva, the OIC is organizing a Symposium entitled "Human Rights in Islam and Protection of its Basic Freedoms" on 14-15 March, at the UN Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The organization of this Symposium, already approved by the Twenty-fourth Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, is a continuation of the on-going efforts of the OIC General Secretariat to stress the civilizational and historical role of the Islamic Ummah and to inform about its lofty principles and values relating to human rights. The aim is to protect Man against utilization and persecution; to safeguard his life, body, property and honour; as well as emphasize his freedom and rights in an honourable life in conformity with the Sharia.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference has invited an elite group of scholars, thinkers and researchers from various parts of the Islamic world and a number of international officials to participate in the Symposium and enrich its programme with their views on the theme of the Symposium and highlight their research papers in this field.

In addition to the opening session in which the OIC Secretary General Dr. Abdelouahed BELKEZIZ and the UN High Commissioner For Human Rights Mrs. Mary Robinson will deliver speeches, the Work Programme of the Symposium includes four sessions during which various legal and social research papers will be submitted, each dealing with a subject directly relevant to the theme of the Symposium.

It is worth mentioning that the 19th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, held in Cairo, in 1990, approved the "Cairo Declaration On Human Rights in Islam" which is considered an important documentary reference for the Symposium whose subject has a direct impact on expediting the realization of development, progress and stability in the various economic, social and political fields.

Since that time, the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers has mandated an Intergovernmental Group of Experts in Islamic States with formulating Islamic criteria and values and codifying them in the form of universally recognized Islamic covenants and charters on human rights. The Group of Experts held six meetings, the recent of which was convened in Jeddah in 1999. It adopted several recommendations which were approved and backed by the 9th Islamic Summit Conference, held in the State of Qatar in 2000.

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