OIC Sending Special Envoy To Myanmar

Nam News Network

December 19, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR -- The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has appointed former Indonesian vice president Jusuf Kalla, who is chairman of the country's Red Cross, as a special envoy to Myanmar over the conflict involving the Rohingya Muslim community. 

The decision to appoint the envoy was made at the Fourth Extraordinary Islamic Summit in Mecca in August, the OIC said in a statement.

The OIC will also be sending a liaison officer to assess the humanitarian needs of the affected people in Rakhine state in Myanmar.

Meanwhile, in response to a letter written by OIC secretary-general Ekemeleddin Ihsanoglu, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, welcomed the OIC's interest and support on the Rohingya

issue.

In his letter, Ihsanoglu expressed the anxiety of the OIC and its member states over the state of the Rohingya Muslim minority population, which was being subjected to grave human-rights violations, repression and ethnic cleansing.

In her response, Pillay said she shared Ihsanoglu's concern about the longstanding discrimination against the Rohingya community in Rakhine state and the recent violence between communities there.

In her letter, she attached a report by Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. This letter was submitted to the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in September.

The Special Rapporteur has specifically recommended, among other things, that the government take measures to address the endemic discrimination against the Rohingya community and ensure respect for their human rights, which should also include a review of Myanmar's Citizenship Act of 1982.