The Role of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Managing Conflicts in the Middle East

Post-Cold War international developments made it imperative to consider the importance of establishing "qualitative blocs" to regulate relations between states in all political, economic, and cultural fields, in a manner that meets the interests and desires of members in light of the overall existing and potential interactions within the various subregions of the global system.

Thus, the need arose for an "Islamic bloc," which later became the nucleus for the establishment of the "Organization of Islamic Cooperation," a civilized response to the various challenges facing the Islamic world, particularly in the era of international blocs at various political, economic, and security levels, and the resulting double standards of globalization, which threaten to marginalize and threaten the interests and objectives of the countries of the Islamic world, such as the United Nations and the European Union.

Hence, it is important to examine the fundamentals of the formation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the organizational and legal context governing its roles—as the second largest international organization—in managing diverse and complex conflicts. This raises further questions about the governance mechanism and its effectiveness in containing political and security threats in conflicting countries, particularly for the organization's member states in the Middle East, and the most prominent challenges surrounding them. This is based on the following points:

The Nature of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation

The first signs of the formation of an Islamic bloc date back to a meeting of some leaders from the Islamic world in Mecca in 1954, during which discussions were held about reviving the idea of ​​the "Islamic Conference" and preparing a draft founding charter for an Islamic organization whose primary goal would be to embody Islamic rapprochement. Following a stagnation that lasted for more than ten years, the "Islamic Summit" was held in the capital, Rabat, in 1969, following the Jewish attack on Islamic holy sites and in response to the crime of burning Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Israeli occupation army. The establishment of the "Organization of the Islamic Conference" was announced.

This was followed by the convening of the first "Islamic Conference" of Foreign Ministers of Member States in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It was decided to establish a General Secretariat, headquartered in the same city and headed by a Secretary-General. The name of the organization was then changed from the "Organization of the Islamic Conference" to the "Organization of Islamic Cooperation" in June 2011 during the 38th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of Member States. Its membership now includes 57 Muslim-majority countries, geographically represented from the Middle East, North and West Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent (except for Guyana and Suriname), Bosnia, and Albania.

It is worth noting that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is one of the most prominent international platforms for promoting a culture of dialogue among member states. It also works to intensify cooperation and solidarity in various political, economic, social, and cultural fields, and to combat terrorism and extremism. It also supports efforts to achieve regional and international peace and stability, and seeks to protect the rights and interests of Islamic peoples.

Article (2) of the OIC Charter specifies a number of objectives that constitute the organization's main roadmap, based on its status as the largest bloc within the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77, and its unique position as the largest international religious bloc. These objectives are as follows:

- Intensifying and strengthening solidarity and cooperation among member states.

- Confronting the distortion of the image of Islam.

- Encouraging dialogue among civilizations and religions.

- Combating terrorism and extremism.

- Strengthening cooperation among member states in the social, cultural, and media fields, as well as consultation among members of international organizations.

- Supporting the Palestinian people and enabling them to exercise their right to self-determination and establish a sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital, while preserving the historical and Islamic identity of Jerusalem and its holy sites.

- Working to restore full sovereignty and territorial integrity of any state under occupation, based on the provisions of international law, and cooperating with relevant regional and international organizations.

Based on the above, it may be noted that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation derives its political philosophy from three main sources:

- The Islamic principles that govern inter-relationships among Islamic peoples, and the subsequent approach to international relations and the principles of peace, rapprochement, and cooperation among all peoples.

- The Charter of the United Nations and its objectives—particularly Article (52)—which stipulate the maintenance of international peace and security, as well as cooperation among all countries of the world.

- The principles of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was established specifically to include Third World countries (the bloc to which all Islamic countries today belong).

Role Features

The "institutional roles" and "organizational footprint" in supporting conflict resolution and peacekeeping operations varied, based on the principles of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as follows:

- Complete equality among member states.

- Respect for the right to self-determination and non-interference in the internal affairs of member states.

- Respect for the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of each member state.

- Resolving any disputes that may arise among them through peaceful means, such as negotiation, mediation, conciliation, or arbitration.

- Member states shall refrain in their relations from the use of force or the threat of force against the unity, territorial integrity, or political independence of any member state.

In line with this, the Organization supported the establishment of regulatory tools that would contribute to "enriching the role," most notably: establishing a Peace and Security Council, activating the Islamic Court of Justice to adjudicate disputes arising between the countries of the Islamic world, and creating a regulatory mechanism to protect the collective security of member states. For example, the organization has actively intervened in only five international conflicts within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states, such as the Iraq-Kuwait conflict (1990-1991) and the Iraq-Iran conflict (1980-1988). The organization has refrained from addressing other conflicts, considering them subordinate to specialized regional and international organizations, such as the League of Arab States and the Organization of African Unity. This is because many conflicts fall within the framework of regional jurisdiction, which does not grant them priority for intervention. Therefore, the organization intervened in the Iraq-Iran conflict, as it does not fall within any international or regional jurisdiction. Furthermore, various regional and international organizations, such as the League of Arab States and the Organization of African Unity, are observer members of the OIC, further enriching the OIC's roles. Despite their recent diversity, the OIC's interventions remain limited to statements of condemnation and briefing, without any mandatory nature, in most of the current conflicts in the troubled countries of the Middle East.

Existing Challenges

With reference to the fact that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has become an international institution unable to exert a vital influence in significant conflicts (such as the ongoing conflicts in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Libya), as well as the fragility of the "early warning" process and the inability to find effective common positions to contain external interference, a number of challenges surround the OIC's institutional role, as follows:

1. Internal Challenges: Most societies in the Islamic world suffer from diverse threats, particularly extremism, ethnic racism, sectarian fanaticism, tyranny, corruption, and non-institutional development, in addition to problems related to the lack of transparency in addressing and resolving internal problems.

2. External Challenges: These challenges relate to the targeting of the role, position, and status of the Islamic world within the map of the new world order under formation. This is due to the growing levels of external interference, which has resulted in diverse conflicts, especially in the Middle East, such as the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, as a result of intersecting foreign agendas.

3. Institutional Challenges: This point relates to the problem of unifying political decision-making, which is a strategic necessity for the OIC member states. Seeking assistance from non-Islamic countries to resolve current crises could threaten the organization's unity. For example, the alliance of some Islamic countries and their monopoly on political decision-making has become one of the reasons contributing to the fragility of the Islamic position and the conflict of interests that pose a challenge to the organization's unity.

In the same context, the lack of strategic coherence among the agendas of the OIC member states, as well as the confusion of objectives and the lack of principles resulting from the deteriorating political and security situations in most OIC countries, amidst the ambiguity of the political horizon surrounding regional issues (such as the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, and its repercussions on the growing conflict fronts in the Middle East), constitutes, in turn, the most prominent challenges facing the organization's "effective role."

General Recommendations

There are a number of recommendations to ensure the enrichment of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's diverse roles and identify opportunities that can be leveraged to highlight its distinctive impact in managing existing conflicts, especially those intertwined in the Middle East. The most prominent of these are:

- Prohibiting any interference by foreign states, including institutions, particularly the Security Council, in the foreign affairs of the Islamic world. For example, it is important to propose the idea of ​​"active membership" for blocs in the Security Council with veto power, reflecting the economic and political weight of the Organization's member states, rather than merely attending the Council's meetings.

- Ending all inter- and internal disputes among member states, without invoking external international or institutional dictates or internal pressures.

- Creating a balanced voting mechanism within the organization, operating impartially, by reforming the organization's internal working system and modernizing the administrative apparatus of its various key structures to keep pace with current developments in the regional and international systems.

- The importance of activating "economic integration" among member states. For example, trade and economic transactions are still subject to the bidding of the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and the International Monetary Fund. This could render the organization subservient, given the growing indicators of "economic fragility" suffered by member states.

- The importance of completing the activation of an "Islamic Court of Justice," which would have "sovereign" and "binding" status, independent of internal and external international influences.

Based on the above, the decline in the "effectiveness of the role" of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) due to the conflictual interactions existing in the various countries of the sub-regions within the Charter, establishes the importance of reconsidering the reform file, starting with looking towards restructuring the Charter to keep pace with the developments of the current situation at the level of the new international system being formed and its sub-regions, or with regard to the stakes of the member states and the seriousness of the "necessary will" for the unity of joint Islamic action. This is in light of the many challenges facing the work of the organization - especially in the geographical area of ​​the Middle East - due to the repositioning of international and regional powers within the environment of existing and potential interactions, in addition to the continuing internal crises in the member states following the Arab uprisings, and the crises they left behind related to gaining legitimacy and identity, modeling sectarianism, and other factors that indicate the growing fragility of states and the decline in their interaction with the efforts of the OIC towards creating common spaces between the active parties to resolve conflicts. This prompts stakes around the "future of the role" in light of the reshaping of the map of blocs in line with the state of The development of conflict interactions at the regional and international levels.