H.E. Mrs. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK Addressed the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Group Meeting on the OIC Plan of Action on People with Disabilities
Date: 21-22 May 2023
Venue: Jeddah - Saudi Arabia

The General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in coordination with the Chair of the First Session of the Ministerial Conference on Social Development, the Ministry of Family and Social Services of the Republic of Türkiye, organized an Open-Ended Intergovernmental Group Meeting on the OIC Plan of Action on People with Disabilities on 21-22 May 2023 in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Meeting was held within the framework of following up on the implementation of the resolutions of the First session of the Ministerial Conference on Social Development and the resolutions of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), especially Resolution No. 4/49 - C on Cultural, Social and Family Affairs adopted at its 49th Session held in Nouakchott.

Experts from 23 OIC Member States, as well as representatives from the General Secretariat of the OIC, International Islamic Fiqh Academy, and SESRIC participated in the Meeting. The Meeting aimed to discuss, enrich and finalize the draft OIC Plan of Action on People with Disabilities by incorporating the comments and feedback of the OIC Member States and OIC institutions in order to submit it to the Second Session of the Ministerial Conference on Social Development, which will be held on 5-6 June 2023 in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt for consideration and adoption.

The Meeting started with the opening session in which the representatives of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, the President of the 49th Session of the CFM, and the Republic of Türkiye, Chair of the Ministerial Conference on Social Development delivered opening remarks. On part of the OIC General Secretariat, H. E. Amb. Tarig Ali BAKHIT, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian, Cultural, and Social Affairs, read out the message of the OIC Secretary General.

During working Session I, H.E. Mrs. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK addressed the Meeting and underlined the potential role in fostering the intra-OIC cooperation in the domain of social development. She provided an overview of the efforts of the Centre in the domain of social development towards the implementation of the resolutions of the First Ministerial Conference on Social Development. She further highlighted the instrumental role played by SESRIC in the preparation process of the first draft of the said Plan of Action, which was submitted to the First Session of the Ministerial Conference on Social Development, held in December 2019 in Istanbul, Republic of Türkiye.

Following the address by H.E. Mrs. SELÇUK, Dr. Cem TİNTİN, Senior Researcher at SESRIC, made a brief presentation thereat to inform the participants about the main structure of the Plan of Action. In his presentation, Dr. TİNTİN also shared the background of the Plan of Action and briefed the participants about the way forward.

After the intervention of SESRIC, the delegates started to share their comments and feedback on the draft Plan of Action with a view to enriching the document and reflecting their perspective. Amongst others, the delegates highlighted that raising awareness is a critical aspect in developing and implementing a Plan of Action. To this end, it was recommended that an additional area of main action on ‘sensitization and raising awareness’ could be added to the draft Plan of Action. Besides, they mentioned that some of the emerging issues like epidemics and climate change could be included in relevant sections of the draft Plan of Action.

In the last session, it was agreed that SESRIC and the OIC General Secretariat will work in coordination to reflect all comments collected during the Meeting with a view to submitting the final draft version of the Plan of Action to the Second Session of the Ministerial Conference on Social Development, which will be held on 5-6 June 2023 in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt for consideration and adoption.