The Islamic Committee of the International Crescent(ICIC) participated In the Donors Conference to Support Displaced Persons and Refugees in the Sahel and Lake Chad Region October 26, 2024 Jeddah – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Dr. Mohamed H. Elasbali, ICIC Executive Director, participated in the Donors Conference to Support Displaced Persons , Refugees in the Sahel Countries and Lake Chad, held on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at the OIC headquarters of the General Secretariat and hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in implementation of Resolution no. (ICHAD-4/49), issued by the forty-ninth session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which was held on March 16-17, 2023 in the city of Nouakchott – Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
This conference was organized in cooperation and coordination between the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) , the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action (Ksrelief), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with the attendance of OIC member states and specialized institutions ,(the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Islamic Solidarity Fund (ISF), the Islamic Committee of the International Crescent( ICIC), and the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), some donor countries, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and other humanitarian organizations interested in the humanitarian situation in the Sahel region and the Lake Chad Basin.
The conference was opened with speeches by His Excellency Mr. Hussein Ibrahim Taha, Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and His Excellency Eng. Walid bin Abdul Karim Al-Khuraiji, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, their speeches emphasized “the keenness of the donors’ conference to achieve a set of goals represented in raising awareness of the refugee and displacement crisis in the region in order to come up with strategies to address it, building strong partnerships to support networking methods that would enhance long-term solutions to the problems of displacement and food security, and other humanitarian crises, intensifying diplomatic work to prevent crises in the region, enhancing effective response and achieving long-term goals, mobilizing resources for immediate humanitarian response, and mobilizing resources to provide support to more than 11 million people suffering from the consequences of displacement and asylum in this region. A video-recorded speech was broadcast by Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in which he stated that there are more than 30 million people in need of humanitarian aid. He said, “The United Nations supports governments to provide food, health care, education and shelter, but we need more support and funding for humanitarian response plans.
” The conference included a high-level session in which spoke by the representatives of (Ksrelief), the OCHA, UNHCR , the Emergency Management Agency in Nigeria, the European Union, some OIC member States, donor countries and international organizations spoke, The interventions included a review of the efforts made to support refugees and displaced persons and address the humanitarian situation, especially in the Sahel and Lake Chad region.
At the end of the session, it was announced that donors pledged to provide 1.1 billion US dollars to support the displaced and refugees in this region, and a call for continuous and intensive efforts to reach the largest possible number of those in need, and to work in partnership with all parties to achieve the noble humanitarian goals, and to extend thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its commendable initiative and generous contribution to hosting this conference, as well as the OIC Secretary-General, the OCHA, UNHCR, and all participating organizations and organs.
The ICIC Executive director held a number of bilateral meetings with some of the delegations participating in this conference, which addressed bilateral cooperation and issues of common interest.
