The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Ummah Unity and Children’s Rights to Education

Abstract

Established in 1969 as a permanent forum to address political, economic, and social challenges facing Muslims in countries with large Muslim populations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is the largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations (UN), with 57 member states (also members of the UN) in Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. Although based on a state-centric system, the OIC’s presence tests the limits of the global polity as a secular construction. The OIC seeks to build “Islamic solidarity” among member states by defining collective interests and encouraging cooperation towards those interests. Through Islamic Declarations/Conventions on the Rights of the Child, the OIC has attempted to provide an Islamic framework for children’s rights and inspire unity among member states for the sake of children. This chapter presents a brief history and description of the OIC, an overview of Islamic approaches to children’s rights and education, and a thematic content analysis of five Islamic Declarations/Conventions on the Rights of the Child, initiated by the OIC from the 1990s to the 2010s. The analysis focuses on articulations of children’s rights to education and evolving conceptualizations of “education.”