28 Sep 2012

UN / OIC – SYRIA

The Secretary General of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) today (28 September) said the group was calling on both sides in the Syrian conflict to stop fighting. UNTV

Posted at: September 28, 2012 4:27 pm

Duration: 02:06

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STORY: UN / OIC - SYRIA
TRT: 2.32
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 28 SEPTEMBER 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – 2011, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

28 SEPTEMBER 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, press conference
3. Med shot, journalist
4. SOUNDBITE Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC):
"The idea which we are proposing as OIC: That international community should exert pressure on the fighting factions - on the regime and the opposition, those who are supporting the regime and those who are supporting the opposition, they should make an agreement among themselves to stop fighting."
5. Med shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC):
"The way out, as we see it now, and the first target as we see it now, is to stop the fighting, stop bloodshed, stop destructing the country."
7. Med shot, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC):
"The foreign ministers at their meeting today will issue a declaration condemning the sacrilegious act of releasing the film, and stating their position on respecting the right to freedom of expression, and respecting religious sensitivities and cultural values."
9. Med shot, journalists
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC):
"I think this is accepted by every reasonable soul that freedom goes hand in hand with responsibility. There is no unlimited, unchecked freedom. Freedom, it has to go with responsibility, and freedom does not mean that you undermine the others' freedom, other rights, it doesn't mean insulting, it doesn't mean provoking to hatred. Hate speech is never accepted as a freedom of expression. I think this is already in the existing international norms, and we should not really challenge that."
11. Wide shot, journalists
12. Med shot, journalists
13. Wide shot, Alliance of Civilizations meeting
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
"In our inter-connected information age, we may not be able to prevent every merchant of hate in every corner of the world. But we can build bridges that are strong enough to withstand those forces.  In the process, we can deny those who seek to sow division what they want most – more hatred, more upheaval, more publicity."
15. Wide shot, panellists congratulating Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser on his appointment as the new High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations

STORYLINE:

The Secretary General of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) today (28 September) said the group was calling on both sides in the Syrian conflict to stop fighting.

OIC Secretary General, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, speaking to reporters as the OIC foreign ministers continued to meet behind closed doors at UN headquarters in New York, said the group wanted the international community to "exert pressure" on both sides of the conflict to stop fighting. Then a political process could take place and humanitarian aid could reach the needy. He said "the way out, as we see it now, and the first target as we see it now, is to stop the fighting, stop bloodshed, stop destructing the country."

Ihsanoglu also said the OIC supported the new joint UN-Arab League joint representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, who had promised to consider their idea.

The OIC, formerly known as the Organization of the Islamic Conference describes itself as the collective voice of the Muslim world and aims to protect the interests of the Muslim world while promoting international peace and harmony.

Ihsanoglu said the Organization is also expected today to formally condemn the movie trailer that has outraged Muslims around the world.

He said the group would issue a declaration "condemning the sacrilegious act of releasing the film, and stating their position on respecting the right to freedom of expression, and respecting religious sensitivities and cultural values".

Asked by a reporter for details on the declaration and the OIC's understanding of freedom of expression, Ihsanoglu said the wording of the statement was still under discussion at a meeting scheduled to end later Friday.

He said his own opinion was that "freedom goes hand in hand with responsibility" and there "is no unlimited, unchecked freedom". He added that international norms already dictated that "hate speech is never accepted as a freedom of expression" and this should not be challenged.

Earlier today, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the recent efforts of the UN-backed Alliance of Civilizations to promote tolerance in the wake of the anti-Islamic video's release.

He said that "in our inter-connected information age, we may not be able to prevent every merchant of hate in every corner of the world. But we can build bridges that are strong enough to withstand those forces. In the process, we can deny those who seek to sow division what they want most – more hatred, more upheaval, more publicity."

Shortly after the release of the video, the Alliance launched an initiative called "Represent Yourself" on Twitter which aimed to make the voices of moderation heard. It engaged more than three million people in just a few days.

The Alliance of Civilizations was launched under UN auspices in 2005 through the initiative of Spain and Turkey. Ban today announced that he has designated Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, the President of the General Assembly's 66th session, as the new High Representative for the Alliance. In February 2013, he will replace Jorge Sampaio, former President of Portugal, who led the initiative for five years.