Islamic countries, though 56 in number, lacked unity in responding to the challenges faced by Muslims around the globe. In the mid-19th century, the Muslim world faced many issues including economic backwardness, low literacy rate, and deteriorating infrastructure. However, the issue of the Israel and Palestine conflict was of prime importance and required a unified response. The attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque triggered Muslims across the world which led to a meeting of major Muslim countries to devise a uniform response. This led to the creation of pan-Islamic body named as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Though this organisation survived many internal strives, it is still facing challenges including recent flare of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Establishment of the OIC

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation was established in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, on 25 September 1969. The OIC was an outcome of a meeting of Muslim leaders belonging to 24 Muslim-majority nations gathered in Rabat to discuss the attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israelis earlier on 21 August 1969. These leaders agreed to establish an organisation for a collective voice and action to defend the dignity and honour of Muslims worldwide. Six months after the Rabat meeting, Foreign Ministers of the Muslim nations met in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at the First Conference of Islamic Foreign Affairs. This meeting resulted in establishing a permanent Secretariat of the OIC in Jeddah to coordinate the actions of the Muslim countries. This meeting resolved that the permanent headquarters of the OIC would be Jerusalem, a Palestinian city home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, once it is liberated from Israel. The former name of the OIC was the Organisation of the Islamic Conference which was changed to the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation on 28 June 2011 at the 38th Council of Foreign Ministers meeting.

Members of the OIC

There are 57 Muslim-majority countries members of the OIC. This list includes These include Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Djibouti, Chad, Indonesia, Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, Palestine, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Iraq, Iran, Cameroon, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Comoros, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Maldives, Malaysia, Mali, Egypt, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somali, Sudan, Surinam, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Togo, Tunisia, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Oman, Jordan, Yemen. 

Similarly, the OIC has five observer countries that are Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Central African Republic, Russia, Thailand and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Charter of the OIC

The charter of the OIC was passed in the third session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in February 1972. The following are the important aspects of the OIC charter.

• Solidarity among the member Muslim states
•  Cooperation in the political, economic, social, cultural, and scientific fields
•  Safeguard dignity, independence and national rights of the member states
•  Support for Palestine and help them recover occupied territories by Israel
• Elimination of racism and all forms of colonialism
•  Create a favourable environment for cooperation among member states
•  Observe the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of member states
• Safeguard the holy sites of Islam

Structure of the OIC

According to the structure of the OIC, the heads of state meet every three years, and it is the supreme authority to lay down the organisation’s policies. The Council of Foreign Ministers, consisting of member states’ foreign ministers, meet once a year to discuss the progress on implementing policies laid down by the Islamic Summit. The General Secretariat located in Jeddah is responsible for implementing the policies of the Islamic Summit and the Council of Foreign Ministers. There are also committees at the ministerial level dealing with various affairs of the council such as the Standing Committee for Economic and Trade Cooperation (COMCEC), the Standing Committee for Scientific and Technical Cooperation (COMSTECH) and the Islamic Peace Committee.

Reforms in the OIC

During the first 30 years of the establishment of the OIC, it struggled to function as there was no proper structure for coordination among the member states. However, the Turkish secretary general of the OIC, Professor Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, started reforms in the organisation. In the 2010 Mecca Summit, the Ten-Year Programme of Action (TYPOA) was passed to strengthen the structure of the OIC and revamp the OIC charter. Later in 2008, the new charter was passed in the Dakar Summit. The new charter determined the conditions to induct new member states stating any UN member with a Muslim majority state could join the organisation while it eased the requirements for observer states.

The new charter prioritized human rights, women’s rights, and the rule of law, good governance, and combating Islamophobia. For human rights, the OIC established the Permanent Commission of Human Rights. Similarly, at the Astana Summit in 2011, the OIC changed its name from the Organisation of Islamic Conference to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Historical Overview of the OIC

The performance of the OIC has been abysmal in the past 50 years. The member states control 70 per cent of the world’s oil and have one-fifth population of the world. Member states of the OIC cover one-sixth of the world’s total land mass and are rich in mineral resources. However, 22 out of 56 countries have been categorized as the least developing countries. Meanwhile, a number of the OIC countries are facing severe debts. Given these aspects, the OIC has not been able to develop cooperation among the member states for the economic, political and social development of the people. It has failed to materialize its charter. Many issues Muslims have been facing can be solved if the OIC gives a uniform outlook. Below are a few issues on which the OIC failed to take concrete steps.

Palestine and Israel Conflict

Though the OIC was established to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque, it has done nothing to progress on the said goal. Despite the unity shown during the 1973 Arab-Israel war, it was miserably defeated by Israel. Since then, it has been doing nothing more than press releases in favour of Palestine while taking practical steps against the resolution of the Palestine dispute. In 2020, the Abraham Accords put a final nail in the coffins of the OIC charter when Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recognized the statehood of Israel. Later Sudan and Morocco signed the Abraham Accords. Since the start of the Gaza conflict on 6 October 2023, thousands of Palestinians died in Israeli strikes while millions are living under the sky without necessary humanitarian supplies. The OIC as an organisation has done nothing except condemnation. Some of its member states are providing relief goods but no Muslim country has taken any concrete steps to relieve the Palestinians from this agony or pressurise Israel to end the war.

Kashmir

Since 1947, Kashmir has been a source of conflict between India and Pakistan. Despite the OIC’s support for Pakistan, there has not been a single step taken by the OIC to help resolve the conflict. After the 2019 India-Pakistan standoff, the OIC invited then-Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to the OIC summit. In the OIC Foreign Minister meeting in 2019, the UAE invited India as the guest of honour. These steps show that the OIC has little interest in standing for the member states.

Role of the OIC in Arab Wars

The OIC was helpless to prevent the wars in the Arabian Peninsula. During the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988, the OIC was a silent spectator offering no platform to warrying nations to resolve the conflict. Similarly, the OIC failed to convince then-Iraqi president General Saddam Hussain to prevent the invasion of Kuwait or the evacuation of civilians from Kuwait before the US operation.

Hegemony in the OIC

Given the hegemony of Saudi Arabia and its allies, the OIC failed to console the people of member states during the Arab Spring in 2011. It has not been able to support democracy in the member states and has always been in collusion with the dictators. Similarly, the OIC has not been vocal in criticizing the operation of Saudi Arabia in Yemen since 2014 despite its aim to respect the territorial integrity of the member states. Yemenis are desperate for humanitarian aid, and the OIC has failed to provide any relief to them.

Combating Islamophobia

The OIC has taken concrete steps to combat Islamophobia. It passed a resolution at the 47th Council of Foreign Ministers in 2020 to designate March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. Besides, the OIC publishes annual reports on Islamophobia.

Challenges of the OIC

The OIC is currently facing a myriad of challenges. Some of the important challenges are given below.

1. The OIC is understaffed and has a limited budget for an internationally active organisation.
2. The OIC is not empowered for dispute resolution among the member states.
3. The OIC has been affected by the bloc politics of the member states. Saudi Arabia and Iran influence the working of the OIC for their benefit, thus leaving the organisation ineffective. This tussle was visible during the Yemen war and the Syrian war.
4. The member states under the influence of the first-world countries prefer their benefit over the collective benefit of the OIC member states.
5. The member states of the OIC have different forms of government leading to differences in the thinking of the heads of state. These differences affect the policies of the OIC on human rights, women’s rights and other critical issues.
6. The member states of the OIC are economically dependent on the West. Most of these are in debt while the rest require technology and military infrastructure from the West. Therefore, such states are prone to the diktats of foreign countries leading to the abolition of any policy that is critical of the Western countries.
7. The absence of strong military power is yet another problem that contributes to the impotence of the organization. Ever since its establishment, it has paid no heed to strengthen itself militarily and emerge as a formidable force at par with, for example, NATO.

Conclusion

The OIC was established to unite the Muslim world and free the Al-Aqsa Mosque from Israeli occupation. However, various factors including a lack of technological advancement; economic cooperation; animosity among the member states; dependence on the West for loans and technology; and sectarian division have led to its poor performance in the past fifty years. Despite taking good initiatives such as a Commission on Islamophobia and Human Rights, it has failed to materialize the aims in its charters. It can still offer hope to the one-fifth population of the world by establishing a conflict resolution mechanism among member states, promoting economic cooperation and establishing a uniform voice for the Muslims of the world.