OPENING ADDRESS OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE TO THE SEMINAR ON ENRICHING THE UNIVERSALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS: ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES ON THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Bismillahi Arrahman Arrahim




Your Ladyship, Madame Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished Experts,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a matter of great privilege for me to be attending today the inauguration of this symposium which is the product of the fruitful and only too natural cooperation between our two institutions: the Organization of the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. All the credit here must go to Madame Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to her assistants and to their Excellencies the Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives of the member States of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, accredited to the United Nations in Geneva, for they all worked with immense fervour and dedication in responding to the valuable suggestion made by H.E. Dr. Kamal Kharrazi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Chairman of the Eighth Session of the Islamic Summit Conference.

Allow me, therefore, to address my heartfelt thanks to the one who first mooted the idea and to those who took charge of its carrying through and saw to it that every due concern is given to every aspect of the symposium, and whose persistent efforts and meticulous work have led to the development of a clear framework of its substance and charted a well defined picture of its objectives.

The title under which this symposium is being held is in itself a clear evidence of this constructive and broad mind which reaches out for the other and seeks to achieve acquaintance with him within the framework of this symposium for the benefit of evolving “Ways to enrich the universality of Human Rights: The Universal Human Rights Declaration from an Islamic perspective”. An elite of Muslim experts in the field of Sharia and Law are thus being offered the opportunity to present researches which expound the Islamic perspective as to human rights and recall the contributions of Islam to the laying of the foundations of these rights through which Islam aimed at leading people out of the obscurities and into enlightenment, at ensuring dignity in their life and non-submission to anyone but God, and at asserting their freedom and their right to justice and equality on the basis of the two sources of Islamic Sharia: Qur’an and Sunna and on Fiqh jurisprudence, away from politicking, demagogy or reliance on local practices and mores which are subject to variation according to historical legacies.

The occasion on which this symposium is being held - i.e. the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -, and the venue - the Palais des Nations in Geneva, will unquestionably have a positive impact in highlighting the message of Islam in terms of human rights and in underscoring the importance of cultural and religious specificities and their active role in the protection and consolidation of human rights.

The present initiative forms therefore a positive step forward among nations and a building block int he edifice of inter-civilizational dialogue which many of the State leaders called for its activation. We have lately witnessed the readiness manifested by international and regional organizations alike to bolster this dialogue. And the Organisation of the Islamic Conference possesses all the potential and desire to contribute actively in furthering and enriching it in cooperation with all those who share the same desire.

In conclusion, I wish to reiterate my sincere most thanks and appreciation to the honorable experts who will enrich the symposium’s deliberations and to all the participants for their interest in this subject.

Wassalamu Alaikmum wa-Rahmatullahi wa-Barakatuh.