What did OIC members tell Malaysia at the UNPR?

Those who love to hate Islam won’t like the outcome of last month’s United Nations Periodic Review (UNPR) because of the concern about human rights expressed by many nations which are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

I wrote the last sentence after studying a UN report which lists recommendations given to Malaysia by UN member nations about how we can improve our position in the global ranking of Human Rights. In case you’re unaware, we came out pretty badly.

I’ve chosen to write about recommendations from Muslim majority nations because the image of Malay-Muslims, has taken a beating in recent days due to the Malaysian Court of Appeal denying Christians (in October) the right to continue calling God Allah and also because some Malaysian groups have been misleading Malaysians about the outcome of the UNPR.

The Malaysian Government sent 36 delegates to the 2013 UNPR to represent our progress on commitments we have made over the years to the UN. The status of our conformance and the our sincerity in uplifting our conformance with universal agreements on Human Rights will make a huge impact upon investment in our nation and in our global status. We cannot deny that as a nation we have, for many years, funded local and international efforts to move us closer to our goals.

The Malaysian Government delegation took pains to ‘explain’ the Allah Judgment. It needed to be explained because the conclusions of the Court – and Malaysia’s official Islamic authorities – were considered laughable not only by secular nations, but also by Muslim-majority nations worldwide. For Muslims around the world, Malaysia’s arguments sound as strange as the last century’s claims of racial superiority by white South Africans.

I won’t discuss the differences between the UN and the OIC. Suffice to say that in 1990, the OIC – which now has 57 members – produced the Cairo “Declaration on Human Rights in Islam” as the next level up from the UN Declaration on Human Rights. We will not be far of the mark if we think of the UNPR as a stepping stone to compliance with the Cairo declaration.

So, what did these Muslim-dominated countries have to say to Malaysia about Human Rights?

First, let’s note the names of the 35 OIC nations who gave us recommendations, and the number of recommendations from each nation:

Afghanistan (x2); Albania (x3); Algeria (x2); Azerbaijan (x3); Bahrain (x3); Bangladesh (x2); Benin (x2); Brunei Darussalam (x2); Chad (x1); Djibouti (x2); Egypt (x3); Indonesia (x2); Islamic Republic of Iran (x4); Kazakhstan (x3); Kuwait (x2); Kyrgystan (x1); Lebanon (x2); Maldives (x3); Mauritania (x2); Morocco (x1); Mozambique (x2); Nigeria (x1); Oman (x1); Pakistan (x2); Qatar (x2); Saudi Arabia (x2); Senegal (x2); Sierra Leone (x4); State of Palestine (x2); Sudan (x2); Tunisia (x2); Turkey (x4); Turkmenistan (x2); Uzbekistan (x3) and Yemen (x1).

In summary, 35 OIC member nations provided Malaysia with 77 recommendations. This compares with an overall total of 104 UN member nations and 249 recommendations.