Ashraf AboArafe
Jeddah, 9 May 2024
Amidst increasing armed conflicts of various humanitarian dimensions and implications and the ongoing violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip and throughout the Occupied Palestinian Authority by the Israeli occupation forces, and in commemoration of the International Humanitarian Law Day marked on 9 May, the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) calls for heightened global awareness on the need to respect the principles and rules of international humanitarian law aimed at providing protection for the innocent, especially in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and for victims of conflicts and wars.
By designating 9 May every year as International Humanitarian Law Day under resolution 1/42 adopted by the 42nd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in Kuwait in 2015, the OIC affirms its deep commitment to promoting the principles and rules of international humanitarian law.
The General Secretariat seizes this opportunity to appeal to the international community to apply diplomatic, political, and legal pressure on Israel to respect international humanitarian law in the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory. It also calls on the Member States to leverage this day to carry out activities that contribute to promoting the rules of international humanitarian law and to work to apply them on the ground in order to protect civilians, especially children, women, the infirm, the refugees, and displaced persons.
It also calls on all communities to deepen the values of peaceful coexistence, tolerance, and accepting others and to take concrete measures to promote and apply international humanitarian law, many of whose principles are at the core of the tolerant Islamic values.
