By Mahmudul Aziz

The 27th session of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Foreign Ministers was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on June 27-30.

Senator Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, Secretary General of the Motamar Al-Alam Al-Islami presented a thought provoking memorandum at this Conference which said: "The demise of the Soviet Union; the emergence of the Russian Federation with a new political and economic system and its acceptability by the western powers: recreation of Central Asian Muslim states: the continuing instability in Afghanistan; the disintegration of former Yugoslavia; the birth of Bosnia Herzegovina; conflict in Kosovo and the intervention of NATO to stop ethnic cleansings; the developments in the Middle East region; the continuing repression and the resulting resistance movement in the Indian Occupied Kashmir are some of the major events of this period." The OIC has by and large played its role which to some of the critics, was less than the expectations of the affected parties and to the pragmatists, this was what could have been done under the circumstances. But there is no denying the fact that membership of the Organisations has continuously increase over the years. This fact alone proves that this Organisation represents the aspirations of the people living not only in the member states but also of those Muslims who are living as minorities in non-Muslim societies.

"The OIC represents 1/5111 of the entire human population on the globe. This very large segment desires that the OIC not only protects their interests but also guides them to a path of greater international cohesion, economic well-being, safety from persecution and above all the preservation of their values based on their faith.

UN Reforms In this context, he suggested the following major issues to be addressed by this Organisation and some decisions taken and the schedule of their implementation evolved. At the time of its inception the United Nations, especially the Security Council, was constituted in such a manner to give superiority to major powers in the shape of not only permanent membership but also the power of veto. Now after fifty-five years of its performance there is a universal realisation, not only amongst the developing countries but also amongst the permanent members of the Security Council that the UN Organisation needs structural reforms. The OIC representing a very large section of population and a large number of member states has a responsibility of contributing effectively to these reforms in the larger interest of the United Nations; the world community in genera] and the Muslim world in particular, Raja Zafarul Haq said. The absence of even a single Muslim state as a permanent member is an indicator of the imbalance in equitable representation. We feel that delaying this matter further would create more fault lines which would be difficult to correct in future. This subject needs a special committee of some of the Honourable Foreign Ministers of OIC countries to recommend to the Summit of OIC specific proposals to be negotiated with the major powers to give a more representative character and effectiveness to the UN Organisation, he said.

Globalisation of Economy The Motamar Secretary General said, the recent meeting of the G-15 Summit held in Cairo has very rightly demanded a fair New World Economic Order. The developing nations are rightly worried by the rampant globalisation of free trade. The impression that globalisation would lead to an improvement in the standard of living in developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America has been dispelled because the imbalance in the world economy is fast increasing instead of decreasing. With the average growth rate in the developing countries having gone down from 6 percent to 2 percent since 1997, with chances of a fair competition in the world markets further dimmed, the sudden sharp movement of huge amounts of capital would further imbalance their economies. The exports from the developing countries of value added items faces such hidden barriers that the commodity prices would continue dropping in the coming years making the gap between the balance of payment wider every coming year. This reflects not only a situation in the G-15 countries but in the entire developing world. This economic repression would seriously affect the civil societies in the developing countries resulting into internal strife, increase in the rate of unemployment and crimes leading to a situation which would be a threat to international peace, he pointed out. The OIC should assign this task of evolving a course of effective action with specific proposals to a committee of Finance Ministers and officials for collective negotiations with G-8 countries by the end of this year.

Globalisation and Information Technology Globalisation besides affecting the economies of the third world countries is also a very serious challenge in the field of information technology. The stunning speed of the advancement in the field of information technology in the field of information technology can prove a boon for human society. The member states shall have to evolve a strategy of establishment of information infrastructure where it is non-existent, make massive improvements where it is already present, and also evolve a system of net-working amongst these facilities in the Muslim world for collective benefits. At the same time we must also ensure that the negative side effects are effectively controlled. We can neither succeed in pulling back the hands of clock, nor we should try, but the emerging global culture has in its wake elements of destruction of the institutions of family and moral values. The negative effect of information technology are being visualised but corrective measures are not being taken either for lack of will or resources. Political destabilisation of Muslim societies of their sovereignty, illicit trade and spread of immorality amongst the younger generation are some of the problems. Germany, Switzerland, individually, and European Union collectively, has evolved measures to counter the misuse of Information Technology. We can benefit from their experiences, Raja Zafarul Haq said in the memorandum.

Conflict Resolution Wars between Iran-Iraq; Iraq-Kuwait; continuing fratricidal conflicts in Afghanistan; repression and genocide in Indian Occupied Kashmir; the issue of Al Quds Al Sharif are some of the major areas where OIC did not prove effective in the quick resolution of these conflicts. There are other areas in which the Muslim societies were thrown into turmoil, subjected to repression and genocide which need the attention of this Organisation. As Muslims we are ordained to uphold at all costs principles of justice, equality and fair play in our dealings within our own societies as well as with others, Senator Raja Zafarul Haq observed. He reminded the meeting that on the suggestion of the then Foreign Minister of Malaysia a Committee of Experts was set up in 1994 during the Summit in Casablanca to seriously review not only the past performance of 25 years of OIC but also to suggest measures to improve its effectiveness. This is an area vital to the existence of this organisation. There is an urgent need to bring up the report of this Committee for an "in camera" discussion to finalise the improvements.