Jeddah (IINA) – Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad Ameen Madani on Saturday appealed to the international community to address the escalating Syrian refugees’ crisis that left thousands of victims die from drowning and suffocation.
In his appeal, obtained by the International Islamic News Agency (IINA), Madani said: "The little Alan’s motionless body washed up to the shore leaves in fact no need to yet another lengthy statement, or even to another word, to remind us of the great humanitarian tragedy, which he and hundreds of thousands of Syrian children, men and women, youth and elderly have suffered and continue to suffer from."
He stressed that the treatment of the refugees in any way other than to be qualified as dignified and compassionate, hurts the conscious of the humanity. “Those Syrian refugees who drowned in the Mediterranean, or suffocated in a human trafficker’s truck in Austria, none of them are responsible for starting the Syrian crisis or for the failure to stop it. Yet, they are, and continue to be the direct victims of both that crisis as well as the failure of the international community, particularly the members of the UN Security Council, and the countries of the region, to find a solution to it. This must not, and cannot continue to be so,” Madani said.
He called on all the OIC member states and the international community to put aside their differences, and mobilize their efforts to help the Syrian people and refugees. The decretary heneral affirmed that from the very beginning of the crisis, the OIC has been following with profound concern the escalating human tragedy of the Syrian refugees, who fled their homes and sought refuge in neighboring states.
He pointed out that many OIC member states, most notably Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt have been carrying the extreme burden of the influx of the Syrian refugees, and they have all allocated huge amount of resources to host more than four million of them in their respective countries. Similarly, in cooperation with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other humanitarian partners, the OIC has been striving to help the victims of the Syrian conflict.
“The world is witnessing a momentous period of instability and conflict that has produced what the United Nations describes as the largest pool of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons since the ravages of World War II. This is a clear result of the failure of the international community to resolve the Syrian as well as other political crises; and the inability of some of us to address the issues of poverty, marginalization and hopelessness,” Madani continued.
Alarmed by the urgency of the matter, I appeal to the international community in its entirety to let no other calculations, but “humanitarianism” and “human dignity”, guide their thinking while responding to the Syrian refugee crisis. I wish to remind all nations of their moral and legal obligations under the international law to help those desperate refugees. In particular, I wish to express the OIC’s readiness to cooperate with the EU and its member dates and other partners in order to facilitate the successful settlement, resettlement and integration of the Syrian refugees in places where they can live in peace and dignity.
In order to stop this greatest humanitarian tragedy of our times, in its manifestation and root causes, we must act now; and we must act together, he concluded.
AB/IINA
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