The OIC spokesman Rizwan Sheikh stressed, “the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the OIC is seeking to be part of solutions to issues of human rights and not a problem.” The commission will act as the human rights conscience of the OIC, giving its member states the full benefit of its advisory opinion on the whole range of rights issues, Sheikh said.  The first formal session of the IPHRC is scheduled to be held in Jakarta from Feb. 20-24, and OIC Secretary-General, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, will attend the inaugural session.

The 18-member commission is required to have two regular sessions in a calendar year. The OIC spokesman said the commission will discuss human rights conditions in many regions including Syria, Palestine and Cyprus, in its meeting in Jakarta.  In a press conference held at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Sheikh said the commission has an advisory capacity and non-mandatory for the OIC member states, pointing out that this status gives the commission a wider scope of work to monitor and evaluate human rights conditions world over.

He said that the commission will submit its recommendations on human rights to the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers' meetings. He added that the advisory status of the commission will encourage its members to respond positively with its recommendations and advices.

The OIC spokesman underlined the fact that the statute of the commission does not impose any restrictions on it for communicating with civil society organizations in the member states and other bodies and institutions, in order to obtain necessary facts in the course of its assessment of human rights conditions in those countries.