The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on public and private media in Member States to direct their cinematic, television, radio, journalistic and social media to present products to combat Islamophobia and insults against religious symbols, and to clarify and strengthen the tolerant principles of Islam calling for coexistence, tolerance and respect for the other and renouncing violence, intolerance and hatred.
The call came in the statement delivered by the Director of the OIC Information Department, Mr. Wajdi Ali Sindi, at the emergency meeting of OIC States Broadcasting Union (OSBU) to discuss a mechanism for confronting desecration of religious sanctities in the media following the incident of burning a copy of the Holy Qur’an in the Swedish capital. The meeting was held virtually, today July 5, 2023.
Mr. Sindi indicated that the Final Communique of the OIC Emergency open-ended meeting of the Executive Committee, regarding the incident, held on July 2, 2023 at the headquarters of the General Secretariat, included 26 items that constituted a road map and an integrated plan to address the recurrence of such incidents and insulting sacred religious symbols.
The Communique called for collective efforts at the level of national parliaments, the media and civil society organizations, to pronounce the OIC position and urge the relevant authorities to take the necessary legislative measures to criminalize such attacks.
Mr. Sindi pointed out that, through its Department of Information and the Islamophobia Observatory, and its media arms represented by the Standing Committee for Information and Cultural Affairs (COMIAC), the OIC States Broadcasting Union (OSBU), and the Union of News Agencies (UNA), the OIC is making great efforts with its partners, to enhance understanding of the responsible use of freedom of expression in the media , and to establish national mechanisms to hold accountable the media that continue to feed hate speech and intolerance, and implementing the OIC media strategy to combat Islamophobia.—PR
