(Geneva) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, OIC, have agreed on an action plan of cooperation. The agreement was reached at a two-day meeting held in Geneva to discuss areas of joint collaboration between the two organisations.
The meeting came as a result of the decision of the High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, and the Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Iyad Ameen Madani, when they last met in Jeddah in September this year, to establish a joint committee with a mandate to advance mutual cooperation between the two institutions, according to the OIC.
The committee conducted its first series of meetings in Geneva on 19th and 20th November 2014 and discussed cooperation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Asia and Africa regions. The two parties also discussed the formulation of a two-year action plan of cooperation on matters of mutual interest.
UNHCR and OIC have a long lasting cooperation at different levels. The OIC in coordination with the UNHCR and the Government of Turkmenistan held the first International Ministerial Conference exclusively focused on the refugee situation in the Muslim world in 2012. The Conference adopted the Ashgabat Declaration on Refugees in the Muslim World.
(Courtesy WAM)