DOHA: The third meeting of the Islamic Committee of the International Crescent (ICIC) Peace-Building Strategy Working Group in Baghdad, attended by the Qatar Red Crescent, discussed social crises and conflicts in the Arab region and sought solutions.
The working group was formed as a result of the ICIC’s talks in Cyprus, March 2012. The meeting was hosted by the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS).
The meeting presented a draft peace-building strategy, which is a top priority of the ICIC, to deal with social causes of crises and tensions early before they turn into conflicts that result in casualties, losses in property, instability, and large-scale forced displacement/migration.
The working group discussed some crises that were detrimental to the principle of promoting international peace, especially amid the recent changes and the many interests involved, which led several countries to adopt armed strife, such as Iraq, Libya, Syria, Palestine, etc, even though there are international initiatives to resolve crises and encourage peace.
However, most of these initiatives had little if any impact, which requires a peace-building strategy and mechanism that engages all active Islamic players, noted the meeting.
The meeting proposed an integrated pan-Islamic project for reconciliation and peaceful coexistence among nations, establishment of Islamic-oriented organisations that promote international peace and security, in-depth research on Islamic heritage and Koranic texts to extract Islamic anti-violence and human solidarity concepts, and enhancing the early-warning system to predict imminent social crises.
It was proposed to cooperate with an OIC centre such as peace think tanks, to make studies and develop a database about the conflict zones in the world, as well as to conduct intensive research about how to disseminate the values of peace from an Islamic perspective.
The participants included Dr. Habib Makhtum, ICIC member and head of the working group, Dr. Yaseen Ahmed Abbas, IRCS President, Dr Fawzi Oussedik, Head of QRC International Relations and International Humanitarian Law and rapporteur of the working group, and Dr. Fayez Omar Hamad Mani, President of the Center for Peace and Development Studies in the University of Bahri, Sudan.
The Peninsula
