An ambassadorial level meeting of the Member States of the OIC Contact Group on Rohingya Muslim Minority was held at the Permanent Mission of Saudi Arabia today, 3 November 2021. The meeting was Chaired by His Excellency Ambassador Mr. Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi, the Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the UN and participated by the representatives of(Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Senegal, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates). The Group had an interactive dialogue with the head of the Independent Mechanism for Myanmar, Mr. Nicholas Koumjian. The Mechanism, established by the Human Rights Council Resolution 39/2 is mandated to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyses evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of International Law committed in Myanmar since 2011.
During the meeting the OIC Ambassadors underlined the importance of ensuring accountability for the crimes committed against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and called for bringing swiftly the perpetrators to justice. In this regard, the members of the OIC recognized the importance of the work being done by the Independent Mechanism, especially for the ongoing accountability processes including the proceedings initiated by Gambia on behalf of the OIC at the International Court of Justice under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The members of the group expressed their full support to the mandate of the Independent Mechanism and also encouraged all stakeholders including the UN member States to extend full cooperation to it. The members of the OIC Contact Group also acknowledged that IMM should be afforded with the necessary resources so that it can deliver as effectively as possible on its mandate.
Mr. Koumjian expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to have the interaction with the OIC Ambassadors. He thanked the OIC members for their engagement with the IMM and for their strong words of support.
Mr. Koumjian expressed his appreciation to the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh for opening the border to a large number of refugees and hosting them.
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