Year
2016
Volume
10
Number
2
Page
248
Language
English
Court
Reference
T.J. GUNN en A. LAGRESA, “The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation: Universal Human Rights, Islamic Values, or Raisons d’état?”, HRILD 2016, nr. 2, 248-274
Recapitulation
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (Organisation of the Islamic Conference prior to 2011) is an intergovernmental organisation consisting of 57 states, most of which have a Muslim-majority population. The OIC represents itself as speaking for the Muslim world while representing and defending the true values of Islam. The principal human rights instrument of the OIC is the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam (1990). The Cairo Declaration, and other documents of the OIC, provide that human rights must be interpreted in light of and consistently with Islamic law (Sharia). Thus the question is whether the OIC and its Indepentent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) has effectively rejected the universailty of human rights and adheres to a regional (or religional) exeption. The article argues that the underlying norms of the OIC emphasise practical state interests of sovereignity and non-interference in the internal affairs of OIC member states rather than either Islamic values or human rights.