The Final Communiqué of the Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Conference of Information Ministers of the Member States of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation was announced.
Hosted by the Presidency's Directorate of Communications, the Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Conference of Information Ministers of the OIC was held in İstanbul yesterday.
The meeting was attended by 20 ministers from 43 countries and nearly 200 high-level representatives, including heads and senior executives of communication and media outlets.
The session, which was inaugurated by the Presidency's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun, who holds the Term Presidency of the Islamic Conference of Information Ministers of the OIC, and OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha, discussed Israel's attacks on journalists in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since October 7 and disinformation activities against world public opinion.
The final communiqué was released at the conclusion of the programme, which marked the inaugural extraordinary session convened on a sectoral basis in the history of the OIC.
The communiqué condemned the ongoing military aggression launched by the Israeli occupying authority against the Palestinian people as well as its systematic oppression, massacre, and genocide of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, and in the occupied West Bank, including Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and called for an unconditional cease-fire to prevent further loss of life.
The communiqué, which condemned the Israeli occupation’s systematic misinformation campaigns and spreading of false and misleading information and fake news to cover its brutality and genocidal massacres committed in the Gaza Strip, called on the international community to open an immediate investigation, leading to holding the Israeli occupation authorities accountable for the crimes they commit against media professionals in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The communiqué stated that the Information Ministers of the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), bound by the OIC Charter, strong religious, human, and historical ties, participating in the Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Conference of Information Ministers held in Istanbul on February 24, reaffirmed all resolutions of the OIC regarding the Palestine Question, in particular the joint Arab and Islamic Extraordinary Summit on the Israeli Aggression against the Palestinian people, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 11, 2023.
The communiqué, which recalled all resolutions of the United Nations and other international organisations on the Palestinian issue, affirming the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, freedom, and national independence, welcomed Resolution No. A/ES-10/L.27 titled “Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations” adopted by the Emergency Special Session.
In the communiqué, it was emphasised that they reaffirmed their determination to amplify their voices in every platform to support the inalienable rights of the brotherly Palestinian people in the face of Israel's barbaric oppression and attacks and to enhance efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Palestinian territory, especially in the Gaza Strip.
The communiqué the provisional measures ordered by the ICJ against Israel, the occupying power, to refrain from genocidal acts and other violations of the Genocide Convention, issued on January 26, 2024, and supported the Palestinian people’s legitimate struggle to liberate their occupied territory and to fulfil all their inalienable rights, especially their right to self-determination and to live in their independent state, with full sovereignty, along the borders of June 4, 1967, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Emphasising that resolving the Palestine issue on the basis of the two-state solution is the only way for durable, comprehensive, and lasting peace and security in the region, the communiqué condemned and warned against the disinformation campaigns run by the occupying Israeli authorities to legitimise the occupation and justify the barbaric mass atrocities and war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Call for "an unconditional cease-fire to prevent further loss of life"
The communiqué expressed concerns that Israel, the occupying power, is seeking to conceal and belie the truth about the unfolding atrocities in the Gaza Strip, including murdering babies, children, women, the elderly, journalists, healthcare workers, academics, and humanitarian workers through systematic disinformation campaigns.
Holding Israel, the occupying power, responsible for the killings, arrest, and censorship of journalists as well as the murder and targeting of their family members, the communiqué recalled that Israel’s intentional attacks on journalists had killed over 120, with numerous others sustaining injuries or disappeared.
The communiqué emphasised the utmost significance of the efforts to build resilience against disinformation campaigns run by Israel, the occupying power, or its enablers and noted that the information environment is filled with false narratives that obfuscate the truth and deflect from the systematic and pervasive breaches of international law.
Stressing that protecting the rights of members of the press working in Palestine, particularly under the dire circumstances in the Gaza Strip, is a responsibility borne by all, the communiqué added:
"We condemn the ongoing military aggression launched by Israel, the occupying power, against the Palestinian people, as well as its systematic oppression, massacre, and genocide of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, and in the occupied West Bank including Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and call for an unconditional cease-fire to prevent further loss of life. We condemn the Israeli occupation’s systematic misinformation campaigns and spreading of false and misleading information and fake news to cover its brutality and genocidal massacres committed in the Gaza Strip.
We condemn the Israeli occupation’s deliberate and systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists and stress that this is part of a campaign to silence the voices of truthtellers. We reiterate that the only path to peace and security is through the realisation of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights, including, in particular, the national independence and sovereignty of the State of Palestine, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. We call upon all countries to recognise the sovereign independent State of Palestine based on the borders of 1967 with East Al-Quds as its capital, being a prerequisite for the peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and to buttress peace and security in the region."
"International community needs to act to hold Israel accountable for violating international law by targeting journalists"
The communiqué also expressed the determination to work collectively and closely at the international level to combat disinformation and demonstrate the common will to act in solidarity and unison to expose indiscriminate attacks targeting Palestinian civilians, including settler terrorism in the West Bank, which aim to cause forced displacement of the Palestinian people.
Emphasising the collective determination to counter and expose attempts by the Israeli colonial occupation to cover up the destruction in the field by intimidating journalists to minimise the international reaction and to ensure that their efforts to cover up the war crimes and genocide committed in the Gaza Strip fail, the communiqué condemned the unwillingness of Israeli occupation forces to take even the most basic steps to ensure the safety of journalists according to the IHL and other international instruments that guarantee and protect journalists’ rights.
The communiqué emphasised that the international community had the right to know what was happening in the Palestinian territory, in particular in the Gaza Strip, and underlined the need for the international community to act immediately to hold Israel, the occupying power, accountable for violating international law by targeting journalists and to take immediate steps to protect all journalists working in the region.
Call to international media organisations to "expose Israel's human rights violations"
The communiqué condemned Israel, the occupying power, for targeting the telecommunication system and maintenance staff in the Gaza Strip and noted:
"We call on all international news organisations and media outlets to expose the Israeli occupation’s human rights violations and campaigns against journalists. We support the efforts of the OIC General Secretariat in implementing operative paragraph No. 10 of the resolution issued by the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit to consider the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, held in Riyadh on November 11, 2023, which mandates the two General Secretariats to establish two media monitoring units to document all the crimes of the occupation authorities against the Palestinian people and digital media platforms to lay bare the Israeli illegal and inhuman practices. We mandate the OIC General Secretariat’s Media Monitoring Unit to devise a media action plan, in cooperation with OIC media institutions and interested national news agencies of member states, with a view to laying bare and countering the Israeli occupation’s disinformation, misinformation, false news, and war crimes at international fora."
The communiqué indicated that they provided support for the OIC Media Monitoring Unit to organise a media workshop to accomplish its mission as stipulated by the Extraordinary Joint Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League held in Riyadh on November 11, 2023.
The communiqué, which expressed support for the OIC Media Monitoring Unit's efforts to combat the Israeli occupation's disinformation, misinformation, fake news, and war crimes spread through digital communication platforms, including social media and artificial intelligence tools, stated, "We affirm our categorical rejection of the false allegations made by the Israeli occupation authorities towards the international media that publishes Israel’s violations and crimes against Palestinian civilians and its attempts to distort and convey false facts about the ongoing Israeli brutal aggression since October 7, 2023. We affirm our condemnation and denunciation of the deliberate and systematic targeting by the Israeli occupation authorities of media professionals, including killing and injuring them, which is a grave violation of international law and International Humanitarian law. We call on the international community to open an immediate investigation leading to holding the Israeli occupation authorities accountable for the crimes they commit against media professionals in the occupied Palestinian territory."
The communiqué expressed gratitude and appreciation to the Republic of Türkiye for its generous hospitality and warm welcome and for the excellent arrangements made for the Extraordinary Session and mandated the Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to follow up on the implementation of this Communiqué and submit a report thereon to the next Council of Foreign Ministers.