What It Is
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is an intergovernmental organization of 57 member states with significant Muslim populations, the second-largest IO after the UN by membership. Its General is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The OIC was founded in September 1969 after an arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem — a defining event in Muslim political consciousness that galvanized the formation of a collective Muslim institution. The original membership of 30 states has grown to 57 over five decades.
Membership and Diversity
Member states span the Arab world, much of Africa, Central and South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The diversity is the OIC's defining structural feature — and its main constraint. Member states' diverging interests make coherent collective positions difficult:
- Saudi Arabia and Iran are both members despite open rivalry.
- Turkey and the Arab states have intermittent tensions over Muslim Brotherhood politics.
- Pakistan and Bangladesh are members despite the 1971 war.
- Sunni and Shia majorities include both inside the membership.
- Secular and Islamist governments sit at the same table.
The OIC's structural diversity means it operates effectively only on issues where Muslim states genuinely share interests — most consistently the Palestinian question.
OIC's Primary Issues
OIC summit-level declarations and General Secretariat work focus on a recurring set of issues:
- The Palestinian question: the OIC's founding issue and the most consistent area of collective Muslim engagement. The organization has hosted multiple summits on Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the broader Palestinian cause.
- Islamophobia: the OIC has pushed UN resolutions condemning religious intolerance and Islamophobia, including the 1999 resolution and the 2022 General Assembly resolution declaring March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
- Blasphemy concerns: the OIC has pursued blasphemy and 'defamation of religions' instruments at the UN, drawing Western criticism that such instruments conflict with free-speech protections.
- Muslim-minority issues: the Rohingya in Myanmar, Uyghurs in China, Indian Muslims, Kashmiri Muslims, and other Muslim minorities have all been OIC issues, with varying levels of substantive engagement.
OIC's Institutional Reach
The organization has consistently brought cases to international forums but has limited enforcement capacity:
- The Gambia v. Myanmar at the (Rohingya genocide case, 2019–present) was filed with OIC backing.
- resolutions on Islamophobia, Jerusalem, and Muslim- have routinely passed with OIC coordination.
- campaigns (e.g., for Palestine) have been coordinated through OIC channels.
The Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) was established in 2011 as the OIC's internal human-rights mechanism. The IPHRC's is limited and its enforcement capacity small, but its existence is itself notable in an organization where many members have significant domestic human-rights challenges.
Constraints on OIC Action
The OIC has several structural constraints:
- Diversity of members — already discussed.
- No supranational authority: like most regional groupings, the OIC depends on member-state cooperation; it cannot compel any member's compliance.
- Limited budget and staff: smaller than its formal political weight would suggest.
- Dependence on Saudi Arabia: the Saudi government's central role in funding and hosting makes the organization politically aligned with Riyadh's positions on many issues.
Common Misconceptions
The OIC is sometimes assumed to be aligned with a particular Islamist political tendency. It is not — the membership includes secular governments (Turkey at various points, post-Soviet Central Asian states), monarchies, Islamist governments, and democracies. The organization operates by that bridges these differences.
Another misconception is that the OIC's General Secretariat has independent policy authority. It does not — the Secretariat implements positions set by member governments at OIC summits.
Real-World Examples
The 2019 The Gambia v. Myanmar ICJ case on Rohingya genocide was brought with substantial OIC coordination and financial support. The 2022 UN General Assembly resolution declaring March 15 the International Day to Combat Islamophobia was an OIC . The OIC's contested response to China's Uyghur policies illustrates the organization's structural tensions — several major OIC members have endorsed Chinese positions due to economic ties, while the rhetoric of Muslim solidarity points the other way.
Example
The OIC's December 2023 emergency summit in Riyadh demanded a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israeli operations — a typical OIC declaratory action without binding effect.