The promotion of Good Governance and Human Rights go hand in hand with the realization of effective democracy and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. Acknowledging the particular challenges faced by OIC Member States in this regard, the New Vision places great emphasis on broadening the scope of political participation, ensuring access to civil liberties and social justice, reducing socio-economic inequality, promoting transparency and accountability and reducing corruption.
Several OIC Member States have already undertaken serious reform efforts on their own accord. Additionally the OIC continues to evaluate and examine the roles of various inter-governmental organizations in the development of the Member States and the prospects for developing cooperative ventures with these entities. The first ever capacity building staff-exchange between the OIC and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will occur in 2007 to hone the technical expertise of the OIC Secretariat and develop their programs in line with the UN Development initiatives.
In addition to being a regular participant in the Good Governance for Development Initiative for Arab States, the OIC has also supported recent innovative initiatives including a joint capacity building program for OIC Member States by the Government of Malaysia and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The OIC continues to support initiatives to enhance the performance of public-private institutions and promotes inter-country cooperation in this regard. In promoting democracy through free and fair elections, the OIC sent election monitors to oversee the historic elections in Mauritania in November 2006.
The New Vision has mandated the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) – the principal OIC entity tasked with reviewing progress pertaining to the implementations of decisions - to work towards the elaboration of an OIC Charter on Human Rights. Under its new mandate, the ICFM will also evaluate the feasibility of establishing an OIC Permanent Commission on Human Rights – an independent permanent body to promote human rights in accordance with the provisions of the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam. The ICFM will also work with Member States to introduce changes to their national laws and regulations in order to guarantee respect for human rights. Additionally, Member States will review their educational curriculum to include the subject of human rights with the purpose of emphasizing the cultural component of the issue.
The OIC has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OCHCR) in July 2006 and the two bodies will jointly organize a workshop to draft the Charter for Human Rights in Islam. The OIC advocates for universality, objectivity and non-selectivity in the construction of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) as outlined in the high-level meeting of the Council in Geneva in March 2007. The OIC will also work with the HRC to explore the possibility of drafting a Convention on Respect towards Religions and encourages HRC members to focus on the violation of the rights of the Palestinian people in particular and on discrimination and intolerance against Muslims in general. In combating racism, an Inter-governmental Group of Experts (IGGE) on the follow-up to the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam met in December 2006 to advance the draft OIC Covenant against Racial Discrimination.
