The Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) invites researchers, specialists, and postgraduate students to submit academic papers for publication in a collective work entitled “Peace and Socio-Cultural Heritage: Overview of the Endogenous Resources of a Culture Of Peace.” This volume, set to be published in December 2025, is an initiative of ICESCO’s Network of Experts in Human and Social Sciences, aiming to support the Organization’s efforts in promoting peace, coexistence, and intercultural dialogue. Submissions should address one of the following themes:
Culture of peace: A Concept Endogenous to Traditional non-Western Societies?
Culture of Peace and Oral Literature, Customary Practices/Uses/ Restrictions;
Culture of Peace and Endogenous Mechanisms for Conflict Transformation;
Culture of Peace, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and Institutions Managing Endogenous Cultural Resources. All submissions will undergo a rigorous review by a panel of experts from within and beyond ICESCO to ensure scientific quality and integrity. Submissions should be sent in one of ICESCO’s working languages, Arabic, English, or French, to the following email: shs@icesco.org. Submitted papers must adhere to the following requirements:
The abstract should not exceed 300 words;
Deadline for abstract submission: 28 February 2025;
Announcement of approved abstracts: 30 April 2025.
Deadline for full paper submission: 31 July 2025. For further details on participation requirements, kindly visit: https://icesco.org/8wam
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), in partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication in the Kingdom of Morocco, published the graphic-story, “Show Me Your Smile”. The graphic story is part of the activities of ICESCO’s, “StopBully Program”, which aims at raising awareness of school bullying, casting light on its negative impact on students, and discussing ways to address it.
Published in Arabic, English and French, the story is part of the educational tools comprised in the StopBully Program and serves as a guidebook in a literary and creative form, designed to help children, teachers, education officials and families find practical and realistic solutions to countering school bullying and redressing bullies’ behavior. The story is available for download via the link: https://icesco.org/tz9d
The publishing of this story was the culmination of two contests organized to support and highlight the artistic abilities and creations of young men and women, namely Contest for Best Graphic-Story to Fight School Bullying, won by writer, Hegra Mahmoud Al-Sawi Ahmad from the Arabi Republic, and the Contest for Story illustration, won by Badr Rahawi from the Kingdom of Morocco.
Through this initiative, ICESCO aims to help educational stakeholders ensure a prompt, coordinated and effective response to stop bullies, while strengthening child protection and resilience mechanisms to guarantee their well-being and good mental health.
In observance of World Arabic Language Day, celebrated annually on December 18, ICESCO Centers, Training Poles and University Chairs organized a large number of activities to celebrate the Arabic language, highlight its educational and cultural roles and promote its international presence. These institutions included ICESCO’s Regional Educational Center in Chad, ICESCO’s Educational Center in Malaysia, ICESCO’s Training Poles for Excellence in the Arabic Language in Nigeria and Benin, ICESCO Chair for Research and Pedagogical Innovation in the Arabic Language in Guinea and ICESCO’s Chair for Arabic in Service of Coexistence in the Russian Federation.
On this occasion, ICESCO’s Regional Educational Center of Chad, in cooperation with the country’s International Federation of Arabic Support Institutions, organized a number of activities as part of the 12th National Week of the Arabic Language, notably those held at the Center’s headquarters in N’djamena. These included the “International Scientific Conference: Arabic Language Challenges in Africa and Prospects of Civilizational Communication”, on 19-20 December, and two training sessions on “Academic Leadership” and “Teaching and Academic Guidance Skills”, on 21-23 December.
Similar activities were held at General Lansana Conté University in Conakry, where ICESCO Chair for Research and Pedagogical Innovation in the Arabic Language in Guinea held the Arabic Language Week, on 11-18 December, under the theme, “Contributions of the Arabic Language in Human Civilization and Culture”. The activities were organized in cooperation with Julius Nyerere University in Kankan, the University of Labé, the International University of Guinea, Al-Eamar University, the National Bureau of Arab-French Pre-University Education.
The Arabic Language Week featured a number of workshops and training sessions for Arabic teachers in Guinea, along with lectures, a poetry contest and a symposium on Arabic manuscripts and local languages manuscripts written in Arabic script. It also featured a ceremony to present the first issue of the journal of the ICESCO Chair for Research and Pedagogical Innovation in Arabic-French Education in Guinea, an annual peer-reviewed journal that publishes scientific articles and research in Arabic on various topics related to education and culture. Likewise, in Porto Novo, Benin, the Ibn Battuta African University Institute, which hosts the ICESCO Arabic Language Training Pole in Benin, adopted December as Arabic Language Month, with a number of celebratory events, including an exhibition of Arabic books and a competition for students to read Arabic literature. It also featured an intensive training session for teachers, and cultural exhibitions in both Yoruba (a major language in Benin) and Arabic to promote comparative studies between the two languages.
In the same vein, the ICESCO Chair for Arabic Language in the Service of Dialogue and Coexistence at the Russian Islamic University in Ufa, Russian Federation, organized on December 18 a competition for Arabic language students in Bashkortostan in the field of Arabic public speaking, where students gave visual presentations on the roles of the Arabic language in Muslim life and its international status as a world language.
On the same day in Malaysia, the ICESCO Education Center in Malaysia organized an award ceremony for the winners of the student competition on producing short Arabic-language educational and awareness films. The ceremony was attended by the President of the Islamic University of Selangor, Malaysia, and an official from the Malaysian Ministry of Education.
In the same context, the ICESCO Training Pole for Excellence in Arabic Language, hosted by the Arabic Language Village Ngala in Nigeria, organized a major celebration on December 18, under the patronage of the Executive Governor of Borno State. The celebration included various activities, notably a scientific conference titled, “Arabic Language and Artificial Intelligence: Fostering Innovation while Preserving Cultural Heritage”. Awards of appreciation were also presented to a number of high-ranking officials in recognition of their efforts to support the Arabic language in Nigeria.
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the Azerbaijan Space Agency (Azercosmos) are holding a three-day training workshop on the fundamentals of space medicine, particularly the health care of astronauts during their missions.
The workshop, which kicked off on December 19, 2024 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, will tackle the critical challenges facing astronauts, including the negative effects of weightlessness, exposure to radiation, and physiological and psychological effects, especially during long-term space missions.
In his speech, Dr. Mohamed Sharif, Advisor in the Science and Environment Sector, who represented ICESCO virtually at the opening session, stressed the importance of space medicine in shaping the future of human space exploration. He also pointed out the importance of benefiting from space science applications to achieve sustainable development, praising the constructive cooperation between ICESCO and Azercosmos in enhancing the capacities of space industry professionals and using space sciences in addressing global challenges.
For his part, Mr. Samaddin Asadov, Azercosmos Board Chairman, stressed the importance of scientific research in the field of space medicine to develop innovative solutions and technologies to protect astronauts from the risks they face, emphasizing the role of scientific research and innovation in the field of space medicine in developing health care on planet Earth.
As part of the celebration of World Arabic Language Day, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) held the International Forum “The Arabic Language and the Creation of Useful Content” at its headquarters in Rabat on Thursday, 19 December 2024, with the participation of a select group of content creators known for producing useful content in standard Arabic.
The opening session of the Forum began with the recitation of verses from the Holy Qur’an, followed by an address by Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General (DG), delivered on his behalf by Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, ICESCO Deputy DG, who underlined the importance of the Forum’s theme in a world of increasing communication and information, hence the role of language as a powerful tool for communication.
He also pointed out that this Forum reflects ICESCO’s belief in the complementarity between Arabic and the creation of useful content, and is aimed to highlight the contributions of this language to media action and its most recent tools, namely content creation, as well as to highlight the role of Arabic in preserving the civilizational identity of the Islamic world.
Furthermore, Dr. Benarafa stated that Arabic, given its universality, must contribute to the creation of meaningful content that reinforces its international status, cultural understanding and exchange. He also reiterated the urgent need for a qualified language to support the creation of useful content that provides information based on unbiased facts and reliable and objective evidence, in light of ICT revolution.
In a speech delivered on behalf of Mr. Mohammed Mehdi Bensaid, Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication of the Kingdom of Morocco, Ms. Samira Lemlizi, Secretary-General Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, noted that Arabic is a communicative and cognitive link across a vast geographical area, and praised the language’s role in preserving national identity and promoting cultural diversity in Morocco.
Afterwards, the winners of the “ICESCO Young Anchors” competition, organized by the Arabic Language Center for Non-Arabic Speakers to encourage non-Arabic-speaking children to practice and master the language, were announced. 200 children from 23 countries took part in the competition, and prizes were awarded to the following three winners: Hussam Mustafa from Canada won first prize, Aisha Timur from Türkiye won the second and Mohammed Aslam from Malaysia won third.
This ceremony was followed by the first discussion panel on the creation of Arabic language and literature content, in which a group of content creators from Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Syria and Palestine presented their inspiring experiences and initiatives in this field. The following session titled “Creating Public Cultural Content in Classical Arabic”, featured rich discussions between content creators from Jordan, Morocco and Türkiye on the challenges they face and how to overcome them.
At the end of the forum, participants formulated a series of recommendations, namely to work towards perpetuating the Arabic language and its major role in shaping the global cultural scene, to support the creation and development of useful content befitting Arabic and its civilizational value, and to invest in visual content to enhance the status of Arabic worldwide.
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the European Muslim Scholars Council (EULEMA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish cooperation between the two parties in consolidating the values of intercultural and interfaith coexistence, peace and civilizational dialogue.
The MoU was signed on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at ICESCO headquarters, in Rabat, by Dr. Salim M. Al-Malik, ICESCO Director-General, and Dr. Yahya Pallavicini, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the European Muslim Scholars Council, in the presence of a number of ICESCO’s heads of sector and directors of department and center. Upon the signing, Dr. Al-Malik expressed his happiness for this step, which lays the foundation for future partnership between ICESCO and the Council of European Muslim Leaders, with a view to pursuing the common objectives, particularly highlighting the tolerant image of our noble religion and combating extremism.
For his part, Dr. Pallavicini stressed the Council’s keenness to enhance cooperation with ICESCO given its leading roles in promoting dialogue, harmony and tolerance.
The five-year MoU provides for the joint organization of exhibitions in Europe to highlight the biographies of the Prophets and Messengers, shed light on the values of humaneness and mercy in their biographies, hold international conferences, seminars and training workshops in areas of common interest, and support Euro-Mediterranean cooperation through youth, academic and cultural exchange programs.
The MoU also includes developing educational initiatives and conducting training sessions to address contemporary challenges facing religious leaders in Europe, exchanging ideas and views on issues of peace, dialogue and peaceful coexistence, promoting interfaith dialogue, and issuing and exchanging scientific and research reports, books and periodicals.
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), and Mr. Sultan Raev, Secretary-General of the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY), held discussions on ways to strengthen cooperation between the two organizations in cultural fields, with a particular focus on heritage preservation and promotion.
The meeting, held today, Wednesday, December 18, 2024, at ICESCO’s headquarters in Rabat, coincided with the commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the birth of the renowned Turkmen poet and thinker Magtymguly Fragi. This event was co-organized by ICESCO, TURKSOY, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.
During the meeting, attended by Ms. Lachin Ovazgeldiyeva, Turkmenistan’s delegate to TURKSOY, both parties reiterated their commitment to building a fruitful partnership. This partnership aims to implement programs and projects for the benefit of Member States of both organizations. Key objectives include promoting coexistence, peace, intercultural dialogue, recognizing figures of the Islamic world who have contributed to human civilization, and preserving tangible and intangible heritage of Islamic nations.
The meeting also explored several proposals for collaboration. Both parties agreed to maintain close coordination to develop implementation plans for the selected programs and projects.
ICESCO was represented at the meeting by Dr. Raheel Qamar, Head of the Science and Environment Sector; Mr. Anar Karimov, Head of Partnerships and International Cooperation; and Ms. Sally Mabrouk, Director of the Office of DG.
The headquarters of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) hosted the International Conference on “Interfaith Harmony: Nurturing Peaceful Coexistence”, organized on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, by ICESCO, in partnership with the State Committee for Religious Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani Embassy in Rabat, to discuss the role of religion in building peaceful societies and ways to address the challenges of promoting coexistence and interfaith dialogue as a tool for conflict resolution.
The conference, which saw high-level attendance led by Andre Azoulay, Advisor to His Majesty King Mohammed VI of the Kingdom of Morocco, as well as a number of ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions in Rabat, began with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran, followed by a presentation by Ambassador Khalid Fathalrahman, Head of ICESCO’s Center for Civilizational Dialogue, in which he stressed the importance of this international conference in the path of establishing world peace.
In his address, Dr. Salim M. Al-Malik, ICESCO Director-General (DG), stressed that the current global developments and transformations place great responsibilities on everyone to build peace and maintain security, as the current situation requires a moment to uphold the values of human partnership, pointing out to the need to recognize the efficiency of faith and its people as peace bearers in shaping the future of humanity.
He added that ICESCO’s newly coined concept of “civilizational diplomacy” serves as a tool to resolve culturally rooted conflicts, indicating that the Organization is tirelessly working to ensure the steady progress of international peace. He also lauded Azerbaijan’s remarkable success in managing its unique diversity, commending the partnership between ICESCO and Azerbaijan.
For his part, Mr. Ramin Mammadov, Chairman of the State Committee for Religious Affairs of Azerbaijan, highlighted the great attention that Azerbaijan pays to promoting the culture of diversity, coexistence and harmony, and supporting the values of religious freedom, commending ICESCO’s efforts to promote coexistence and peace.
Rafael Huseynov, Deputy Chair, Milli Majlis (Parliament) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, stressed that the Islamic world’s civilization is a common and diverse heritage shared by many peoples, who remained united under the umbrella of civilization regardless of their different languages, religions, customs and traditions.
The first session discussed “Interreligious Harmony as a Basic Element of Sustainable Development” with the participation of experts from Egypt, Azerbaijan, Libya and Senegal. The second session tackled the “Best Practices in Religious Coexistence” with the participation of experts from Azerbaijan, Italy, Britain, and Tunisia.
ICESCO DG took the distinguished guests on a tour of the sideline exhibition “Shared Humanity, Diverse Faiths” to highlight religious diversity and tolerance in Azerbaijan.
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), received Mr. Ramin Mammadov, Chairman of the State Committee on Affairs with Religious Associations of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and together they discussed ways to promote cooperation between the Organization and the Committee, within the framework of the special partnership relations between ICESCO and Azerbaijan in areas of common interest.
The meeting was held on Monday, December 16, 2024, at ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, in the presence of Amb. Nazim Samadov, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Morocco. During the meeting, Dr. AlMalik commended the strong relations between ICESCO and Azerbaijan, which led to a number of joint programs and projects and a remarkable participation of ICESCO at COP29, held in Baku last November.
The DG also stated that the International Conference, “Inter-Faith Harmony: Nurturing Peaceful Coexistence”, to be held on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, at ICESCO headquarters, in cooperation with the Committee and the Azerbaijani Embassy in Rabat, represents another addition to the series of partnerships between ICESCO and Azerbaijani institutions, and aligns with the Organization’s vision to anchor the values of coexistence, peace and civilizational dialogue.
The two parties discussed a proposal for cooperation between ICESCO and the Committee to implement several programs in the fields of education, health and social services for the benefit of countries in need, agreeing to review a set of projects in this regard.
At the close of the meeting, Mr. Mammadov gifted Dr. AlMalik a copy of the Holy Quran printed in Azerbaijan. The meeting was attended by Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, Deputy Director-General, Mr. Anar Karimov, Head of the Sector of Partnerships and International Cooperation, and Amb. Khalid Fathalrahman, Head of ICESCO’s Center for Civilizational Dialogue.
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), received Ms. Fadia Saadeh, Regional Director for Human Development in Middle East and North Africa Region at the World Bank, and her accompanying delegation. The Meeting focused on exploring avenues for cooperation between ICESCO and the World Bank for the benefit of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Member States of the Organization.
During the Meeting, held on Monday, December 16, 2024, at ICESCO’s headquarters in Rabat, Dr. AlMalik highlighted that ICESCO adopts an open approach to engaging with international organizations and bodies in order to support its Member States in advancing education, science, and culture, as well as building the capacities of women and youth.
He reviewed ICESCO’s key strategic vision and objectives, and highlighted the Organization’s flagship programs and projects implemented in collaboration with relevant authorities in its Member States. He also expressed the Organization’s readiness to cooperate with the World Bank in areas of mutual interest.
For her part, Ms. Saadeh praised ICESCO’s efforts, emphasizing that cooperation between the Two Parties could involve sharing expertise, particularly in the fields of education, teacher capacity building, and the joint organization of forums and activities in these areas.
The Meeting was attended by ICESCO officials, including Ms. Ramata Almamy Mbaye, Head of the Social and Human Sciences Sector; Mr. Anar Karimov, Head of the Partnerships and International Cooperation Sector; and Dr. Zaid Abshama, Expert at the Education Sector. From the World Bank’s Morocco team, attendees included Ms. Fadila Caillaud, Regional Manager in Education Global Practice; Ms. Debbie Newitter Mikesell, Senior Education Specialist; and Ms. Léa Iungmann, Education Specialist.
