Category: News update

Today, in Abu Dhabi, States of the United Arab Emirates, the 40^th session of the Executive Council of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), held its closing session. This session adopted the Final Report of 40^th Session, which was marked by the start of a new phase in ICESCO’s history. The Council adopted many decisions, plans and amendments presented by the Organization’s General Directorate. This Session also enjoyed the powers of the General Conference, the highest authority supervising ICESCO’s action, by virtue of the powers vested in it by the 3^rd Extraordinary General Conference, held in the Area of Makkah Al-Mukarramah, on 9 May 2019.

The opening session kicked off with the adoption of the Final Report of 40^th Session. Then, Dr. Salma Al-Darmaki, Secretary General of the National Commission, gave an address on behalf of Dr. Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development of the United Arab Emirates, wherein she conveyed her congratulations on the adoption of the new start of ISESCO, while reaffirming the commitment of the United Arab Emirates to support ICESCO so as to attain its desired objectives based on the belief that achieving a better future for the progress and prosperity of the Islamic world requires combining efforts and achieving a cultural and educational resurgence based on solidarity and collective thinking for the good of Muslim peoples.

Thereafter, H.E. Dr. Boubakar Doukouré, Chairman of the Executive Council of ICESCO, took the floor and expressed his sincere thanks and deep gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for hosting the 40^th session of the Executive Council, and to the Council members for their active interactions with the plans and decisions presented by the General Directorate as well as the constructive discussion throughout the sessions. He also stated that, for special conditions, he sent his resignation to the National Commission of Burkina Faso, and waits for the appointment of new Secretary General while stressing that he will continue to support ICESCO.

Besides, Dr. AlMalik delivered a closing address in which he expressed his thanks to the United Arab Emirates for the generous hospitality offered to the Council members and ICESCO’s working team. He also thanked the Council members for their enlightened opinions, ideas and proposals expressed while examining ICESCO’s strategic vision and future action plans.

Dr. AlMalik also underlined that the support of the Executive Council to ICESCO’s consolidates belief in in a better future for the joint Islamic action in the fields of education, science, technology, culture and communication while stressing that the Organization will provide all its efforts to serve Member States and Muslim communities outside the Islamic world, focus on the priorities and needs expressed by the national competent parties, and pay special attention to the most vulnerable and needy regions and groups.

On his part, Dr. Ali Zeidan Abu Zuhri, President of ISESCO General Conference, in a short address, expressed his thanks to the United Arab Emirates for hosting the 40^th session of the Executive Council, which he considered as pivotal in the history of the Organization as it adopted important decisions that will impact its action over the coming period and enable it to implement its new vision for the benefit of Member States.

He also thanked Dr. Boubakar Doukouré for all the services he gave to ICESCO throughout his membership and chairmanship of the Council.

Afterwards, Dr. Boubakar Doukouré received a commemorative medal from Dr. AlMalik under huge applaud of the Council members. He also received a certificate of thanks and appreciation from Lalla Malika Issoufou, First Lady of Niger, Guest of Honor of the 40^th Session.

The morning session of the Council’s second day adopted the Project on the Establishment of a Development Waqf Fund for ICESCO, Project on the Establishment of ICESCO International Consultative Council, the New Audit Company, and Election of the Financial Control Committee Members, including Republic of Senegal, State of Kuwait, Republic of Azerbaijan, Malaysia, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Council also announced the date and venue of the 41^st Session, to be held at the beginning of next year at ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, before the General Conference, to be held in Malaysia, in 2021.

During this session, the delegate of the Kingdom of Morocco called on all the national commissions to attend the workshop organized by Morocco in cooperation with ISESCO this year so as to share expertise in order to develop the action of these commissions in line with ICESCO’s new vision.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) paid tribute to Dr. Boubakar Doukouré, Chairman of ICESCO Executive Council, in recognition of his services to the Organization throughout his years as member of the Executive Council, then its Chairman, a position he announced resigning from today, at the closing session of the 40^th Executive Council in Abu Dhabi.  Dr. Doukouré stated that he sent his letter of resignation to the President of the National Commission of Burkina Faso and informed the said Commission to select another representative in the Council.

During the session, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director General, decorated Dr. Doukouré with a commemorative medal, amid a standing ovation from the members of the Executive Council. Dr. Lalla Malika Issoufou, First Lady of Niger, guest of honor of the Executive Council, also handed the former Chairman a certificate of thanks and appreciation, in the presence of Dr. Ali Zaidan Abu Zuhri, President of ICESCO General Conference, and Dr. Salma Al Darmaki, Secretary General of the Emirati National Commission.

For his part, Dr. Doukouré expressed his thanks to the Organization for this tribute, stating that he has fond memories of the Organization’s General Directorate and staff members; and promised to constantly support ICESCO’s new plans and visions.

As part of its new strategy, which adopts more openness to the world and the promotion of cooperation with international organizations and bodies operating in its areas of competence, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) signed a memorandum of understanding with the World Muslim Communities Council (TWMCC), today, in Abu Dhabi, on the sidelines of the  40^th ICESCO Executive Council. The MoU provides for partnership in 20 programmes covering the Organization’s different areas of competence.

The memorandum was signed for ICESCO by its Director General, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, and for the TWMCC by its Chairman, Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi.

The MoU covers the period 2020-2022 and provides for implementing 20 cooperation programmes covering five (5) main fields of action. Four of these programmes cover the cultural field, namely publicizing Islamic culture, supporting the reading the Islamic book, publicizing Islamic artistic heritage, benefiting from Muslim cultural capacities. Programmes in the socio-economic field included family guidance, training on life skills, vocational rehabilitation and self-employment, and awareness raising on civil rights and citizenship requirements.

As for the educational field, the MoU covers four programmes, namely supporting education on Islamic values, school support, demands for integrating Islamic schools in formal education, and consolidating Islamic school educational revitalization.

Likewise, the MoU included four programmes in the field of information and communication, namely promoting publishing and translation, developing radio broadcasting, taking advantage of electronic communication tools, and countering hostility towards Islam. It also included the following four programmes in the religious field: developing religious guidance’s methods and mechanisms, developing fatwa mechanisms, building the capacities of Muslim religious leaders, and activating the institutional role of mosques.

The 40^th Executive Council of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), being held in Abu Dhabi, State of the United Arab Emirates, which enjoys the powers of ICESCO General Conference, adopted the amendment to the Organization’s Charter and Internal Regulations, submitted by ICESCO General Directorate so as to keep up with the Organizations new vision and future action plan that promote the position of ICESCO in the Islamic and international arenas.

 The General Directorate reaffirmed in the presentation, delivered by Dr. Mohammed Hadi Sehli, Legal Advisor to the Director General, before the Executive Council, that these amendments aim to:

1. Ensure accuracy and clarity in the legal texts and avoiding any ambiguity therein so as to observe the principle of legal safety;
2. Upgrade the Organization to join the rankings of renowned organizations in terms of the quality of legislations with a view to recruiting the best competencies;
3. Create an atmosphere of safety and trust between ICESCO and its partners at the internal and external levels;
4. Anchor the principle of geographical balance and de facto and full gender equality inside the Organization.

He also highlighted that the General Directorate has adopted a participatory approach in adopting these amendments by offering the chance to the staff members to discuss these proposals and put forwards their opinions and perspectives in this regard. 

He also stated that the main amendments to the Charters and Internal Regulations of the General Conference and Executive Council as well as the Financial regulations are as follows:

1. Clearly and meticulously redrafting the objectives, tasks and measures of the Organization without affecting their substance;
2. Adopting ICESCO’s action plan and budget for (4) years instead of (3) years, and arranging the legal effects of this measure by increasing the Director General’s term of office and the Financial Control Committee’s term to four years;
3. Extending the powers of ICESCO’s General Conference and Executive Council by conferring upon them the powers to ratify the memorandums and agreements prepared by the General Directorate in its fields of competence;
4. Proposing a new mechanism for the selection of ICESCO’s Assistant Director General while observing the equal geographical distribution in nomination for these senior positions.
5. Proposing a new financing sources for the Development Waqf.

As for the Personnel Regulations and the Internal Regulations of the Medical Insurance Fund and the End-of-Service Allowance Fund, the amendments thereto are as follows:

• Developing the mechanisms and conditions of recruitment in the Organization in such a way as to ensure the better attraction of the best competencies while ensuring deliberation on the positions by removing the open-end contracts;
• Promoting the rights of staff through the amendment to the scale of salaries and family allowances so as to entrench social peace within the Organization taking into account the cost of living and price index in the Seat Country as well as the financial balances of ICESCO.

Amendments have also been introduced to the Leave Regulation, including the increase of the maternity leave from two months to 10 weeks; the Medical Insurance Fund, by promoting the social and medical security coverage for ICESCO’s staff and their families; as well as the End-of-Service Allowance Fund, whose rates of contributions have been revised in addition to the calculation of the allowance with a view to preserve the general balances of the Fund and observe the acquired rights of staff.

Moreover, as for the Observer Status Regulations, the Directorate General decided to allow any non-Member State to enjoy the right of Observer in accordance with the criteria and condition set forth.

The 40^th Executive Council of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), being held in Abu Dhabi, State of the United Arab Emirates, which enjoys the powers of ICESCO General Conference, adopted the Establishment of ICESCO International Consultative Council.

In this regard, the General Directorate of ICESCO stressed that among the practices and customs that are established worldwide, which the regional and international organizations and renowned major universities are keen to use, is the establishment of international consultative bodies, networks, academies or councils that include an elite of international figures from among experts with extensive experience, profound knowledge and outstanding status, so as to benefit from their considerable expertise and sound proactive visions.

In this context, and to give body to ICESCO’s move towards more openness to international horizons as part of its new vision, the Organization is keen to benefit from the practices, customs and traditions followed by international organizations and institutions to establish an international consultative council which will benefit ICESCO through its work, thought, expertise and consultation to improve the Organization’s outreach worldwide and provide advice to support the process of reform and development in which it is currently embarked on.

The Council will also coordinate regularly, cooperate closely and consult continuously with the Organization’s statutory bodies, namely the Executive Council, the General Conference, the subsidiary and specialized organs such as the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW), the Islamic World Heritage Committee, ICESCO Goodwill Ambassadors, and the Supreme Consultative Council for Education, Science and Culture for Muslims outside the Islamic World. Accordingly, the Council, in assuring its functions and tasks, will take into consideration these bodies’ decisions and recommendations as well as the issues dealt with by the specialized ministerial conferences, held by ICESCO, and the outcomes of the high-level forums.

Moreover, the Council aims at achieving the institutional transformation and quantum leap which will place ICESCO at the forefront of major leading international organizations active in its areas of competence; supporting the reform approach and the process of development currently followed by ICESCO; implementing the Shura mechanism which is, from the Islamic perspective, a fundamental of successful collective management, and benefiting from it to formulate the appropriate orientations and take the right decisions; and accelerating the pace to achieve the desired goals of ICESCO’s plans and programmes.

The Council shall comprise sixteen (16) members, eight (8) from ICESCO Member States, and eight (8) from other countries and parties, who shall be selected by ICESCO according to specific criteria. If interest demands and should the need arise, the number of members may be increased as may be required by the Council to discharge its missions and in accordance with measures taken in this regard.

The Council’s functions include contributing to the formulation of ICESCO’s strategies, priorities and orientations and to developing its courses of action; anticipating future trends of issues directly or indirectly affecting ICESCO’s areas of competence in the medium and long terms at the regional and international levels; and expressing opinions and providing consultation on the topics relevant to ICESCO’s fields of competence which are submitted to the Council.

The Council shall also encourage openness to future prospects and enhance the visibility of the Organization on the international scene through its achievements and projects; propose new major sustainable projects and initiatives that cater for the common needs of Muslim countries, and develop executive measures to them, while taking into account realities and regional and international changes; boost shared strategies and programmes between the Organization and parallel regional and international organizations. It shall also establish practical partnership and true twinning with a number of regional and international organizations sharing the same interest so as to learn from their accumulated rich expertise and pioneering experiences; enhance partnership between ICESCO and civil society organizations; suggest an executive framework for such partnership, in such a way as to make of the civil society an influential positive force impacting on orientations and programmes of ICESCO; provide scientific consultations; and enrich the issues and topics submitted to the ministerial and sectoral conferences of the Organization and participate in their academic sessions.