Ensure safety to civilians in Syria: OIC

Manama : The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) yesterday called up on the United Nation General Assembly and the UN Security Council to ensure safety and protection of civilians in Syria and implement the Security Council resolutions to achieve a ceasefire to end hostilities and lift the siege on civilians. 

Bahrain participated in the emergency meeting of the Executive Committee of OIC held at the General Secretariat headquarters in Jeddah at the request of Kuwait to discuss the situation in Syria in the light of the developments of the tragic situation in the city of Aleppo. 

The meeting condemned the Syrian regime for continuing military operations, aerial bombing, use of explosive and incendiaries and internationally forbidden weapons on residential areas, systematic targeting of unarmed civilians in Aleppo and across Syria that led to killing and wounding of large numbers of civilian population and the worsening humanitarian situation in the country. 

“These acts are crimes of war and crimes against humanity and represent serious violations of international conventions and human rights,” said the OIC. The meeting also condemned the policy of the Syrian regime for siege, starvation and intimidation to bring in the people in Aleppo and besieged areas.

The meeting also called on the Security Council and stakeholders to impose a prompt and lasting humanitarian ceasefire in Aleppo and other besieged areas in Syria to allow humanitarian teams to provide relief to the population.

The meeting reaffirmed the need to find a political settlement to the conflict in Syria under the auspice of the UN on the basis the Geneva 1 Communiqué of 2012 and through the implementation of UNSC Resolutions 2254 as the only terms of reference with the participation of representatives of the Syrian opposition. 

The OIC meeting stressed the importance of the international community’s cooperation to counter terrorism, extremism and violence, particularly in Syria, as well as the vicious crimes committed by the terrorist organisations like Daesh and Jabhat Al Nusra. 

The meeting further called on the United Nations General Assembly to hold an urgent meeting on the basis of “Uniting for peace” principle to stop the massacres committed by the Syrian regime against the Syrian people. It urged the member states and organisations working in the humanitarian field to expedite the provision of urgent and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to displaced civilians inside Syria and in host countries of  Syrian
refugees.

Bahrain’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Permanent Representative to the OIC, Shaikh Hmood bin Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, represented Bahrain in the meeting. 

The communiqué issued at the end of meeting reiterated the commitment of member states of OIC to the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Syria. The meeting stressed the decisions  of the organisation on Syria at the summit level, and foreign ministers and the most recent Islamic summit in Istanbul on 14 - 15 April 2016 and the Forty Second Session of the OIC held in Kuwait on 27 - 28 May, 2015. 

Third Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 18 - 19, October, 2016.