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JEDDAH: A debate on the importance of cultural diversity in the promotion and protection of human rights was held at the 12th regular session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) in Jeddah on Wednesday.
An outcome document on the subject was also adopted by the commission.
The session was attended by representatives of the OIC secretary-general, senior officials of the OIC General Secretariat, international human rights experts including Dr. Doudou Diene, former UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, and Ambassador Nureldin Satti, former director of the UNESCO Dar Es-Salaam Cluster Office.
Representatives of OIC member and observer states and their National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) also attended open proceedings during the five-day session.
Topics discussed included Israeli human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories; civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in OIC member states as well as specific mandates given to it by the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers such as Islamophobia; the rights of women and children; the right to development; the standing mechanism for monitoring human rights in Indian-occupied Kashmir, as well as the human rights of Muslim minorities in Myanmar and the Central African Republic.
A ceremony commemorated the services of outgoing and retired commission members Dr. Saeed Alghufli, Dr. Siti Ruhaini Dzuhayatin, Prof. Saleh Alkhatlan, Dr. Ergin Ergul, Mahamad Albachir and Ambassador Abdul Wahab. A commemorative shield was presented to them by Med S. K. Kaggwa, IPHRC chairperson, and Ambassador Samir Bakr, representative of the OIC secretary-general.
The IPHRC Secretariat, in collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, organized a workshop on Thursday for training on Human Rights Council mechanisms such as universal periodic review, advisory committee and special procedures and also on UN treaty bodies systems, including how to write periodic reports.