Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
Why in News?
India rejected the latest references to Kashmir in the OIC Contact Group’s Joint Communiqué. The OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir met on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York. The communiqué expressed concern over past conflicts involving Kashmir. It also criticised India’s counter-terrorism actions as unlawful, a characterisation rejected by India.
Basic Overview of OIC
- What it is: The OIC is an intergovernmental organisation that considers itself the "collective voice of the Muslim world".
- Membership: It consists of 57 member states spanning four continents, altogether encompassing a collective population of roughly 1.8 billion people. While most are Muslim-majority nations, some members (particularly in West Africa) are secular nations with large Muslim populations.
- Official Languages: The primary operational languages are Arabic, English, and French.
- Headquarters: Located permanently in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
- Establishment: The organization was founded on 25 September 1969 during a historic summit of Muslim leaders in Rabat, Morocco.
Objectives
- Protect Muslim Interests: To secure, protect, and advocate for the socio-economic and political interests of Muslims worldwide.
- Combat Islamophobia: Actively fight against the defamation of Islam and promote international peace, harmony, and inter-religious dialogue.
- United Stand: Ensure that member states present a unified front at major international bodies like the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council.
- Solidarity in Conflicts: Express solidarity with conflict-ridden regions or territories with significant Muslim concerns, such as Palestine, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Rohingya in Myanmar.
India’s Relation with the OIC
- Non-Member Status: India is not a member and does not hold observer status in the OIC, despite home to the world's second-largest absolute Muslim population.
- Reason for Exclusion: India’s inclusion has historically been consistently blocked by Pakistan, which leverages the OIC platform to internationalise bilateral disputes.
- Friction Points: Friction regularly manifests when the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir issues statements critiquing India’s internal boundaries or security policies, drawing routine and firm diplomatic rejections from India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
