The 15th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation concluded its proceedings Sunday, in Banjul, Republic of Gambia, and adopted the « Banjul Declaration. »
The summit was held over two days (May 4-5, 2024), with the OCI member states’ heads of states, and governments, and high-level dignitaries from non-member states in attendance.
Gambian president Adama Barrow who chairs the Islamic Summit, stated in his closing speech at the closing session of the summit that the 15th Summit marks a fresh start for The Gambia to engage with member states and relevant stakeholders to promote peace, justice, and continuous dialogue within the Ummah and beyond.
“The responsibility rests collectively on the Organization to seek lasting solutions to the plight of people in distress, resulting from any form of conflict, war, or challenge that confronts humanity,” he added.
President Barrow urged all Member States to cooperate and accompany The Gambia during our three-year tenure to promote and realize our ideals and take concrete steps to advance the socio-economic status of the Ummah.
The Summit adopted “Banjul Declaration” in which heads of OIC member states Affirm their solidarity in confronting the humanitarian catastrophe befalling Gaza Strip and its people due to the unflinching Israeli aggression for more than six months without respect for the most basic moral and humanitarian values and called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and cessation of the all-out aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
They called on the countries of the world to take action to stop the crime of genocide committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip and to implement the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice; and affirmed that all efforts should be made to accelerate the delivery of all humanitarian aid and reject any attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land.
The Declaration also reaffirmed the need to enable the Palestinian people to realize their legitimate national rights, as recognized by the international community, including through its recognition of the fully sovereign State of Palestine within on the 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Shareef as its capital.
The heads of OIC Member States We paid tribute to the solidarity of African peoples and governments with the struggle of the Palestinian people, specifically the Member States of the OIC, and their firm stance to end the historical injustice that has befallen the Palestinian people, based on their bitter experience with ending colonization and apartheid.
They reiterated the importance of resorting to dialogue and mediation for peaceful settlement of disputes thereby creating a tension-free atmosphere among the Islamic Ummah and stressed the importance of strengthening preventive diplomacy in order to contribute significantly to achieving peace, saving lives and resources as well as attaining the aspirations of our peoples for sustainable development.
The Declaration expressed solidarity with Muslim communities and minorities in a number of non-OIC Member States who face persecution, injustice and aggression.
In this regard, it reaffirmed the continued political, moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people and call upon the United Nations Security Council to take effective measures to implement its resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir to enable the Kashmiri people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination through a UN-supervised plebiscite.
The heads of the OIC Member States Paid tribute to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and other Member States for leading efforts at the UN General Assembly for the adoption of the Resolutions designating 15 March as “International Day to Combat Islamophobia” in 2022 and “Measures to Combat Islamophobia” on March 15, 2024.
In addition, they called upon member states and other countries to take all measures, including legislative and policy measures to combat religious intolerance, negative stereotyping, hatred, incitement to violence and violence against persons on the ground of their religion or belief.
They also paid tribute to The Republic of the Gambia for its leading efforts at the level of the International Court of Justice, on behalf of the OIC, to hold to account those responsible for genocide and other atrocities against Rohingya Muslims.
The Banjul Declaration condemned in the strongest terms the repeated incidents of burning copies of the Holy Quran in a number of European countries and called on the concerned countries and the international community to take comprehensive and necessary actions to prevent the recurrence of such acts and to counter the alarming surge of Islamophobia.
It also commended the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of His Majesty King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, for their continued generous support and guidance to the OIC and the Ummah in general for the attainment of global peace, justice, harmony, security and sustainable development.
The Islamic Summit also issued a comprehensive final communique addressing various political, economic, humanitarian, cultural, social, and media issues concerning the OIC member states.
The final communique commended the outcomes of the international forum organized by the Union of OIC News Agencies (UNA) under the theme “The Role of Media in inciting hatred and violence: The Dangers of Misinformation and bias”, held in Jeddah on 26 November 2023 in cooperation with the Muslim World League.
The forum was attended by all official news agencies of OIC member states and a number of international media and intellectual and religious institutions and featured a special theme on “bias and misinformation in international media: the Palestinian cause as an example”.
The Islamic Summit praised the forum for highlighting and countering the fight against the Palestinian cause in some western states, which prevents exposing the Israeli occupation’s violations and enabling the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights.
The summit also issued an independent resolution regarding “The Issue of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif » in light of the unprecedented and grave developments in this issue due to the heinous Israeli military aggression against the Palestinian people, especially in the Gaza Strip.