Mrs Sarah Amjad Hussein Bedewi, Director of Family, Women and Children, and Dr Alhagi Manta Drammeh, Head of International Cooperation and External Relations represented the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) at the fourth meeting of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts (IGEM) on the draft “OIC Jeddah Convention on the Rights of the Child” from November 5 to 7, 2024 at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Ambassador Iya Tidjani, representative of the Republic of Cameroon to the OIC and chairman of the meeting, welcomed the delegates and stressed the importance of the meeting in charting the course of the Convention. On behalf of H.E. Mr. Hussein Taha, Secretary General of the OIC, the Director General of Cultural, Social and Family Affairs, Dr. Amina bint Obaid Al-Hajri, welcomed the delegates and thanked them for their efforts to achieve positive results for the OIC Member Countries. She also conveyed the greetings and best wishes of the OIC Secretary General to the delegates, who looked forward to their deliberations on this important document.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Noura bint Zaid Al-Rashoud, Executive Director of the OIC-IHRC, thanked the OIC Secretariat General for collecting stakeholders’ comments on the draft document for discussion and further deliberations. During the meeting, delegates from OIC’s Member States, and its relevant subsidiary organs and specialized institutions discussed the articles of the proposed draft convention. The participants and delegates decided to meet again soon to further review the document and deliberations in order to adopt it as an international charter equal to other international human rights documents and consistent with the teachings of Islam.