In his speech at the opening session of the orientation and preparatory meeting of the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) in Jeddah today, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called on the members of the Commission to prove its credibility in the shortest time possible. The OIC Secretary General outlined five points that have to be considered in the Commission's endeavor, notably its complementarity, as the Commission cannot and must not be compared to any of the existing human rights mechanism or seen as duplicating its work. He pointed out that it follows introspection founded in a remedial and not a judgmental approach, emphasizing that the Commission must build capacities and provide solutions for the Member States in the area of Human Rights. On the other hand, Ihsanoglu stressed that the Commission is not expected to perform its duties perfectly immediately after its establishment and cannot be expected to do everything at the same time, pointing out to the need to identify its work priorities. He emphasized in the meeting, which he considered as a turning point in the OIC history, on the need for the Commission to go through a developmental stage. The OIC Secretary General expressed a high degree of confidence that the Commission will introduce a paradigm shift within the OIC in the way universal rights and freedoms flow together with Islamic values to offer a coherent and strong system and will constitute an important pillar of the ongoing process of reform at the OIC. Ihsanoglu stressed the importance of time frame consumed to establish the IPHRC, and which took less than the stipulated time afforded by the Ten-Year Program of Action which called for its establishment during the Makkah extraordinary Summit of 2005. He also pointed out to the timing of the establishment of the Commission which is an era of transformation. Ihsanoglu underlined the importance of the Commission, taking into consideration the aftermath of 9/11 tragedy which formed a source of deep concern to the OIC, in addition to the rising trend of the phenomenon of Islamophobia with its multi-dimensions aspects which resulted in wrong misperceptions regarding incompatibility between Islam and Human Rights.
