Human Rights Post
Director General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) Dr Salim M. Al-Malik has reaffirmed the Organization’s keenness to promote cooperation and partnerships in diverse fields including education, science and culture.
While speaking exclusively to Head of international news operations Dunya media Group at organisation head office based at Rabat capital city of morocco DG ICESCO Dr Salim said, “The ISESCO relationship with Pakistan is very strong. We have several projects in Pakistan. We have four associates from Pakistan who are working in different sectors like we have the head of science and technology and we have two experts on science and technology, one in stabilization dialogue centres from Pakistan and we are looking for further collaboration.”
“I also mentioned here that we have a strong collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Pakistan has given us 100 scholarships for students to study in Pakistan,” he added.
While speaking about the organization, he said that the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) is a specialized organization that operates under the aegis of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and is concerned with fields of education, science, culture and communication not only for Islamic countries but all around the world.
“We are currently 54 members state and we are a specialized organization. We are independent from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and we have our general conference and executive council. ICESCO also allowed other countries to join the organization as Observer States,” Mr Salim said.
“These are two bodies that approved what we do. Executive council meets every year and the general conference meets every four years. The general conference consists of the Ministers of education and minister of cultures, while the executive council consists of either Deputy ministers or vice ministers,” he added.
He further said that we are almost like a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). “We do things that are related to education, culture and science, but we at the same time, try to do other things that are changing with the changing World, in a way that we want to be part of the future, a part of things that are happening, but at the same time, keep the past and keep our Legacy.”
About his journey in ICESCO, he said, “I joined ICESCO in 2019 and the first thing we have done was change the name. At that time, it was called Islamic Organization for science for Education, science and culture. We change it to the Islamic World Organization for Education, science and culture. The reason was that this world consists of different ethnicities and different people. The Islamic world is not just only locked in our member State.”
“There are communities in China, more than 150 million in India, in Brazil, Argentina in Europe. Several Islamic heritage sites need to be protected, it need to be promoted. So, changing the name is to open up the ICESCO for all,” he said.
Dr Salim said that ICESCO is working very hard to communicate with the world that Islam is a peaceful religion. “Islam is a religion of universalism, tolerance, peace, and reconciliation. Islam emphasises peace in communication with all Muslims and non-Muslims in society. We decided to serve humanity, not to serve a particular region.”
“We restructured the whole organization to meet our needs, our goals, objectives and our vision. We also focused on woman’s empowerment. Previously there was not much representation of women in the organization but now we have almost half of the representation of the woman,” he said.
Mr Salim further added that in 2019 there were only two people who were below the age of 30. “Today, 25 per cent of young in the organization is below the 30s. Now, having youth and women be part of the organization has really brought a lot of life to the organization, and made us think of the future, but at the same time look into the quality and make sure that what we are doing is right.”
“We communicate with the country and ask them what they need. What is the project? What are the programs? So, we redirect our business to the needs of countries and I think that has made us totally different in the way that we communicate with our member state,” he said.
While praising Saudi Vision 2030, Mr Salim said that Saudi Arabia put vision 2030 under the leadership of Mohammed bin Salman and they speed up their vision, especially in the field of the sport like in the recent development, famous footballer Cristiano Ronaldo signed with the Saudi Arabian club and in culture.
He said that to protect Islamic world heritage, we have decided to establish a heritage sites Center to register and to make sure that is protected and it is been preserved. “Our goal is to reach 20,000 by 2055. Yet we have reached 482,” he concluded.