OIC Contact Group Meeting On Rohingya Adopts Plan Of Action

By Bernama

September 27, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR -- The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group Meeting on Rohingya has adopted the action plan recommended by the OIC Special Envoy for Myanmar, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, which calls on the Myanmar government to take action against people promoting hate speech and instigating violence.

The plan included holding inter-community and interfaith dialogue, allowing internally displaced people (IDPs) to return to their homes and invests in the socio-economic development of the Rakhine region and to open up for international humanitarian assistance to reach the community affected by the ethnic violence that broke out in 2012.

The decision was made during the OIC Contact Group meeting held Thursday in New York, on the sidelines of the Annual Coordination Meeting of the OIC Foreign Ministers under the chairmanship of the OIC secretary-general Iyad Ameen Madani, the OIC said in a statement.

Syed Hamid, former Malaysian foreign minister, briefed the meeting on his two visits to Myanmar since he was appointed Special Envoy last June where he met officials and visited the IDP camps, the statement said

The meeting welcomed the special envoy's efforts to work with the Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU) director-general to develop a strategy for the Rohingya to participate in the registration process in Rakhine state, besides agreeing to continue efforts to dispatch humanitarian life-saving aid to the affected areas.

The meeting also urged the Government of Myanmar to abide by its obligations under international law and human rights covenants and take all necessary measures to stop the violence and discrimination against Rohingya Muslims and continuing attempts to deny their culture and Islamic identity.

The government was also urged to restore the citizenship of the Rohingya, which was revoked in the Citizenship Act of 1982 and to have an inclusive transparent policy towards ethnic and religious communities including the Rohingya Muslims and consider them as an ethnic minority in accordance with a UN General Assembly resolution.

Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin who met Madani stressed to the secretary-general that the government wanted the two communities in Rakhine to live in harmony.

The two sides agreed to cooperate more for better understanding between the two communities in Rakhine, provide assistance and interfaith dialogue, the statement said.