JEDDAH
Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said that assisting and protecting refugees, irrespective of their faith, color or ethnic origin, was not only a legal obligation, but also a moral and a religious duty.
To this end, OIC committed to a strategic partnership with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), said Ihsanoglu who spoke at the opening of the Conference on Refugees in the Muslim World in Turkmenistan.
With over 17 million refugees and displaced persons within the countries members of the OIC, including some protracted refugee situations, the OIC Secretary General said that efforts should tirelessly continue to address these refugee and displacement situations, with provision of assistance and protection, as the case may be, in a purely humanitarian effort.
"We should also engage, with the will of all concerned governments, in durable and lasting solutions to these refugee situations, in order to end the suffering of these human beings and enhance social harmony, peace, stability and development," he said.
