OIC Declaration on Human Rights

OIC Declaration on Human Rights

The OIC Declaration on Human Rights (also referred to as the revised Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam or Cairo Declaration of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Human Rights) is a declaration adopted by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 2020. It revises and replaces the original Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam of 1990.

Background

The 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam was adopted on 5 August 1990 by the OIC (then known as the Organisation of the Islamic Conference) during its 19th Conference of Foreign Ministers in Cairo. It presented an Islamic perspective on human rights and served as a counterpart to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 1990 document explicitly subordinated all rights to Islamic Sharia as the sole source of reference.

Adoption of the 2020 Revision

The revised declaration was adopted on 28 November 2020 by the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers at its 47th session in Niamey, Niger. The revision process had been underway since the early 2010s under the OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission.

Key Changes

The 2020 version introduced several significant modifications compared to the 1990 text:

• The title was shortened by removing the phrase “in Islam”, becoming the OIC Declaration on Human Rights.
• Explicit references to Sharia as the supreme and sole authority for all rights were removed. Sharia is mentioned only lightly in the preamble as one source of guiding principles rather than as a limiting factor.
• Greater emphasis was placed on compatibility with international human rights standards.
• Provisions concerning women’s rights and non-discrimination were strengthened in several areas.

The document remains non-binding. Analyses note that while it moves closer to universal standards in some respects, it retains certain limitations, including a traditional definition of marriage and restrictions on expression intended to protect religious sanctities.

Relation to the United Nations

The OIC Declaration on Human Rights is an instrument of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and was not adopted by any United Nations body. The OIC holds permanent observer status at the United Nations, and its member states frequently engage with UN human rights mechanisms, but the declaration itself originates from the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers.

Full Text of the 2020 OIC Declaration on Human Rights

The complete text of the 2020 OIC Declaration on Human Rights is available in the following publicly accessible academic source, which reproduces the full declaration along with detailed analysis and commentary:

• OIC Declaration on Human Rights: Changing the Name or a Paradigm Change? – Raoul Wallenberg Institute (M.H. Mozaffari, 2021)

This paper contains the full official text of the declaration adopted in Niamey on 28 November 2020.

Sources and Further Reading

• The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam
• The Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s declaration on human rights: Promises and pitfalls - September 28, 2020 by Turan Kayaoglu (Brookings Institution)
• Official text of the 2020 OIC Declaration on Human Rights: PDF version
• Detailed analysis and discussion of the 2020 OIC Declaration on Human Rights: Raoul Wallenberg Institute paper by M.H. Mozaffari

The 2020 OIC Declaration on Human Rights is now the current instrument of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on the subject and represents the direct successor to the 1990 Cairo Declaration.