The Importance of OIC Member States Collaboration to Improve Family Welfare

ISTANBUL (December 7th 2019) - The First Conference of Ministers Social Affairs of OIC Member States was held in Istanbul, December 7th to 9th 2019. The conference began with a senior official level meeting (SOM) on December 7th to 8th 2019 and was followed by a Ministerial Meeting on December 9th 2019.

The SOM level meeting was opened by the Deputy for Manpower of the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services of the Republic of Turkey and the Assistant Secretary General of the OIC. In the opening, it was conveyed how important it is for OIC countries to take a role in improving the welfare of families and especially children, people with disabilities, and the elderly. The conference on the first day was marked by long discussions between delegates regarding the drafting of the Omnibus Resolution from the Conference on Ensuring Social Equality and Welfare for All in the Member States: Opportunities and Challenges which will be presented at the Ministerial Conference.

Several issues that have developed to be discussed in the resolution include the handling of elderly people in the middle of increasing the number of elderly people in OIC member countries, then another issue is child marriage which is still high in several OIC member countries, child disaster victims, child victims of drug abuse and also mentioned issues related to child refugees.

In this session, the Indonesian delegation was represented by the Director of Social Rehabilitation for Persons with Disabilities, Margowiyono, Head of Foreign Cooperation, Rr. E Sulistyaningsih, Head of Sub-Directorate of RSPD Mental Ema Widiati and Head of Reintegration Section of the RSLU Directorate, Feri Afrianto from the Ministry of Social Affairs, as well as Aris Munandar, Political Office of the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh and Jepri Edi, Consul for Social and Cultural Affairs, KJRI Istanbul.

The First Conference on Social Development of OIC States was attended by 46 countries out of 56 OIC members. Discussions on the Draft Resolution are still ongoing at this time.

On December 9th, the Minister of Social Affairs Conference will be held where the Chairman of the Indonesian Delegation will read his statement regarding family, children, elderly and people with disabilities.