OIC to establish humanitarian trust fund to help Afghans

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Foreign Ministers of Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has agreed to set up a fund to serve as a means of channeling humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, in partnership with other international actors.

The meeting’s final communiqué, held in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad on Monday (Dec. 19) called on the Islamic Development Bank to expedite the operation of the humanitarian trust fund by the first quarter of next year.

It called on OIC member states, Islamic financial institutions, donors and other international partners to declare their pledges to the fund, and provide humanitarian assistance, unfreeze financial assets to Afghanistan to prevent economic collapse and help revive Afghanistan’s economic activity.

According to the statement, OIC shall launch a joint process with the concerned UN organizations to develop a road map to mobilize actions in the relevant forums to open financial and banking channels to resume liquidity and guarantee the flow of financial and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

The group will also launch a program to ensure food security for the Afghani people and appoint a special envoy for the OIC to coordinate aid efforts and pursue economic and political engagement with Afghanistan.

The meeting stressed the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan and ensuring that the territory is not used as a platform or a haven by any terrorist group or organization.

The meeting called on Afghanistan to take concrete steps against all terrorist organizations, especially Al-Qaeda, ISIS and their affiliate groups, the Liberation Movement of Turkmenistan, and the Pakistani Taliban movement, stressing that peace, security and stability in Afghanistan would also contribute to a safe return of all Afghan refugees.

The meeting also called on the Afghan authorities to draw a road map to enhance the participation of all Afghans, especially women, to participate in all aspects of Afghan society.

The extraordinary meeting unanimously adopted the ‘Islamabad Declaration’ condemning the illegal colonial measures practiced by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories, declaring that the Israeli measures are illegal and void and that the OIC does not recognize any changes affecting the pre-1967 parallel, especially in Al-Quds.

The meeting called on the international community, including the UN Security Council, to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its violations, and to take all necessary measures, including imposing sanctions on Israel to stop these violations.

The final statement also condemned the repeated attacks by the Israeli occupation authorities on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the continuous attempts to change the historical and legal status quo under false religious pretexts.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi praised the decisions taken by the 7th extraordinary meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which was held in Islamabad at the initiative of Saudi Arabia.

In a statement, the Pakistani Foreign Minister noted that having 20 foreign ministers and ten deputy foreign ministers in addition to 437 representatives at Islamabad-OIC meeting is a great achievement in coordination between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

He added that Afghanistan urgently needs medicine and food, affirming that schools in Afghanistan could only function if the Afghan government has the resources to pay salaries.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Reporting by Indonesia Window