The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has observed that the actual humanitarian assistance provided by the OIC Member States is much greater than what is reflected in the global statistics, data, and information on humanitarian assistance.
In his address to a workshop on reporting humanitarian assistance provided by the OIC Member States organized jointly with the UN-OCHA, the OIC Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Ambassador Hesham Youssef, noted that, motivated by Islamic values and traditions, many OIC Member States provide substantial financial resources for the global humanitarian response effort.
“This often happens through government allocations, foundations, charities, or financial institutions. Estimates suggest that the total humanitarian contribution from the OIC Member States in both 2015 and 2016 exceeds US$4.8 billion,” said Amb. Hesham.
“We firmly believe that the humanitarian assistance provided is much higher and is not reflected in the statistics, as the top 10 donors globally are not from the OIC Member States, despite the generosity of some of these Member States,” he added.
In his intervention during the workshop, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Partnerships with the Middle East and Central Asia of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Mr. Rashid Khalikovstatedthat the financial tracking service of the UN is generally recognized as one of the most authoritative source of data and information on humanitarian assistance.
He noted that “the FTS has recorded over $8 billion of humanitarian assistance from the OIC countries since 2014. I believe this is under-reported,” adding that if the largesse and generosity of OIC countries is to be truly valued and recognized, there has to be a way to quantify, capture, record and disseminate such information.
Some of the international donor agencies from the OIC and non OIC Member States participating in the two-day workshop include the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, Turkey-TIKA, DFID, European Civil Protection And Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), Islamic Solidarity Fund (ISF), among others.
The two-day workshop was convened to share experiences and to encourage dialogue among OIC Member States with major donors on the preparation and gathering of information on humanitarian assistance from the OIC Member States.