Category: News update

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) participated in the opening session of the Global Interreligious Council Development Webinars for 2021 that Religions for Peace (RfP) organized through videoconference, on interreligious councils. The event was under the theme “Building and equipping interreligious councils for peace and human fraternity”, with the participation of the leaders and representatives of several religious councils.

Dr. Sidra Tariq Jamil, expert at the Department of Dialogue and Cultural Diversity, and Mr. Mehdi Sabbar, specialist at the Department, represented ICESCO at the symposium. They reviewed the strategic objectives of ICESCO’s new vision, particularly supporting interfaith cooperation and global partnerships, promoting gender equality and environment protection, advocating the freedom of religion and thought, and strengthening interfaith education.

The symposium provided an opportunity for participants to tackle ideas on interfaith councils and concluded with the statements of the representatives of the Global Interreligious Council Development Webinars.

Under the high patronage of H.M. King Mohammed VI, may Allah preserve him, of ICESCO’s Year of Women 2021, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) will hold, on Thursday, February 11, 2021, a major international event in celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The celebration is under the theme “Narrowing the Gender Gap Starts with Science,” and is being conducted in partnership with the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT) of the Leibniz Association in Germany and Space Foundation in the United States.

The event, which will take place face-to-face at ICESCO headquarters in Rabat and also by videoconference at 09.00 UTC, is part of the international programs and activities the Organization will implement throughout the year in appreciation of the role of women and promotion of their status.

Ms. Mehriban Aliyeva, First Lady and First Vice President of Azerbaijan, will give a recorded address at the celebration opening. The opening ceremony will see the participation of H.R.H. Princess Somaya bint Al-Hassan, President of the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan (RSS), and Dr. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, Former President of Mauritius. It will also bring together high-level female figures, Nobel Laureates, specialists in different fields of science, and professors in prominent universities across the globe.

The celebration will be an opportunity for the participants to exchange views and ideas on the various issues pertaining to women in science and technology, including the elimination of discrimination and achieving gender parity through science and technology by launching and implementing initiatives and programs and ensuring quality education for women and girls.
To receive a certificate of participation in the celebration, attendees can register on Zoom via the following link:
https ://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Y96R4IKFTzu4LcCj6SG9NA

Attendees can access the live streaming of the celebration through ICESCO’s official page on Facebook via the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/ICESCO.En

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) will hold on Wednesday, February 10, 2021, at its headquarters in Rabat, a face-to-face and virtual press conference for journalists and media professionals. The conference will announce the details of ICESCO’s programs and activities during 2021 as part of the celebration of the Year of Women, organized under the high patronage of H.M. King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

During the press conference, which will start at 12:00 a.m. UTC (13:00 Rabat time), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General, will review the main programs, activities, and objectives of the celebration of the Year of Women 2021. He will also answer questions from the journalists and media professionals participating in the press conference concerning the activities and programs of the year.

ICESCO kindly invites all journalists and media professionals to register via the link below to take part in the press conference:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fRaubFAvTIyeKRd_Kehi5Q
The Organization will take all the precautionary measures in accordance with the health protocols applicable in Morocco to ensure the safety of all participants.

On the occasion of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), commemorated on the 6th of February of each year, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) calls for raising awareness about the risks arising from the persistence of the practice in many countries of the world, as it harms the female external genital organs to solely preserve wrong customs and traditions.

The persistence of the practice, which has dire effects on the physical and psychological health and safety of women and girls, is considered as a form of discrimination. In conjunction with ICESCO’s proclamation of 2021 as the Year of Women, the Organization considers “female circumcision” as a customary practice that has nothing to do with religion, unlike male circumcision, which is a religious ritual.

ICESCO calls for resorting to medical studies to prove the harm this FGM inflects on human health. ICESCO also calls for raising awareness of the risks arising from the persistence of FGM and for the urgent need to coordinate the efforts of the international and governmental institutions and civil society organizations to ensure sound health education that respects human dignity and is compatible with correct religious beliefs.

The UN estimates that about 200 million girls around the world have been subjected to FGM genitals, causing them to suffer continuous physical and psychological disabilities.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the National Commission for UNESCO and ICESCO in Burkina Faso signed an agreement to launch the “Project of the Fight against COVID-19 through Supporting Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Women and Youth in Burkina Faso,” as part of the ICESCO-Alwaleed Philanthropies partnership to support the efforts of 10 African countries to counter the adverse repercussions of the pandemic.

The signing ceremony was held today by videoconference in the presence of H.E. Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General (DG), and Mr. Alkassoum Maiga, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, and Innovation of Burkina Faso, President of the National Commission for UNESCO and ICESCO.

In his address at the ceremony, Dr. AlMalik reaffirmed that ICESCO will sustain its support to Member States’ efforts aimed at addressing the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The measure is part of the Organization’s new vision that adopts enhanced communication with countries to identify their respective needs and priorities to foster sustainable comprehensive development and enhance the capacities of the beneficiary countries to manage their social transformations.

ICESCO DG expressed his sincere thanks and deep appreciation to Alwaleed Philanthropies, ICESCO’s permanent partner whose Board of Directors that H.R.H. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud chairs, for the generous support to ICESCO’s humanitarian and social initiatives to assist 10 African countries, including Burkina Faso.

Mr. Maiga commended ICESCO’s excellent initiatives, programs, projects, and activities the Organization launched and implemented during COVID-19 aimed at strengthening the efforts of Member States to address the negative impacts of the pandemic. He also appreciated Alwaleed Philanthropies’ assistance to Burkina Faso through its partnership with ICESCO.

At the end of the ceremony, the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the implementation of the project. The MoU provides for developing a sense of innovation and entrepreneurship among women and youth in the private sector especially in rural areas in Burkina Faso through the establishment of local units for manufacturing hygiene products and protective equipment; encouraging youth and women to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship; and spreading the practice of good hygiene to foster public health and ensure smooth transition to structured economic activities in Burkina Faso.

For four decades, Alwaleed Philanthropies has supported and spent more than 15 billion Saudi Riyals (SAR) and carried out more than 1000 projects in over 189 countries that 10 Saudi female members manage, reaching out to more than 1 billion beneficiaries around the world, regardless of gender, race, or religion. Alwaleed Philanthropies collaborates with a range of philanthropic, governmental, and educational organizations to combat poverty, empower women and youth, develop communities, provide disaster relief, and create cultural understanding through education. It seeks to build bridges for a more compassionate, tolerant, and accepting world.

The delegation from the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) held two separate meetings with the management of the Egyptian Cultural Center in Rabat and “Villa of Arts” to explore cooperation prospects, as part of ICESCO’s activities in promoting cultural diversity and civilizational dialogue.

Dr. Sidra Tariq Jamil, Communication Expert at the Department of Dialogue and Cultural Diversity, and Mr. Mehdi Sebbar, Specialist at the Department ICESCO represented ICESCO in the two meetings. Ms. Heba Bahaa El Din, Administrative and Cultural Attaché, Director of the Cultural Center at the Embassy of Egypt in Morocco, represented the Egyptian Cultural Center and Ms. Naïma Slimi, Cultural Activities Officer, was the representative of the Villa of Arts.

During the two meetings, ICESCO’s delegation reviewed the Organization’s new vision and open-door policy, examined the activities in the field of civilizational dialogue to be organized at the world level. The delegation also discussed the broad lines of cooperation between the Organization, the Egyptian Cultural Center and the Villa of Arts.

The representatives of the Egyptian Cultural Center and the Villa of the Arts reaffirmed their willingness to cooperate with ICESCO through the organization of future activities and programs.