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Gino Naldi* & Cristiano d’Orsi†
1. Introduction The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is an intergovernmental, transnational organization with a current membership of 57 states, including the State of Palestine, making it the second largest intergovernmental organization after the United Nations.1 As such an international organization, the OIC comes within the scope of a regional arrangement or agency relating to international peace and security under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter.2 The OIC is distinctive in that it is defined not by geography, although most member states are from the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, or shared political values but by religious affiliation,3 accordingly described as ‘the principal organization representing the Islamic world’, membership of which is ‘exclusively Islamic’.4 Thus, according to Article 3(2) of the OIC Charter, in order to become a member a state must have a Muslim majority population,5 but this does not appear to be a rigid condition given that not all the member states satisfy this requirement.6 This is also evident from the stipulation in Article 3(2) of the OIC Charter that the applicant state be a UN member, which Palestine is not, but this particular instance should be considered an exceptional case.7 The OIC views itself as ‘the collective voice of the Muslim world’,8 but its claims to speak for Islam and the Ummah, the worldwide Muslim community, and not simply on behalf of its member states, is controversial.9 Founded in 1969,10 the OIC Charter was first adopted in 197211 and later revised in 2008.12 It endeavours to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among the various peoples and religions of the world.13 Countering Islamophobia is an important raison d’être,14 as is supporting the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and statehood.15 Its objectives centre on the promotion of Islamic solidarity and include enhanced co-operation in the economic, social and cultural fields.16
