OIC OBSERVER MISSION REQUESTS DIPLOMATIC

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000102 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO/UNP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OFDP OIC UN SUBJECT: OIC OBSERVER MISSION REQUESTS DIPLOMATIC PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES ¶1. USUN has received a diplomatic note dated January 22, 2008 from the Permanent Observer Mission of the Organization of the Islamic Conference requesting diplomatic recognition for the Mission. The request is made pursuant to the final communiqu of the annual coordination meeting of OIC Foreign Ministers in October 2007. Text of the diplomatic note appears in paragraph 2 below; the relevant paragraph of the communiqu appears in paragraph 3. The request does not specify whether the OIC is requesting diplomatic status for the observer office alone, or whether it is also seeking diplomatic status for the individual members. At present, the office has no privileges and immunities whatsoever, and as its members are in New York on B-1 visas, USUN requests the Citizenship and Immigration Service extend their official stays every six months. Department is requested to provide USUN with instructions for a reply. ¶2. Begin text of diplomatic note: (complimentary salutation... and has the honor to enclose a copy of document A/62/507 - S/2007/636 containing the Final Communiqu of the Annual Coordination Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the OIC, held at the UN Headquarters in New York on 2 October 2007, circulated as an official document of the General Assembly and the Security Council. Kind attention is invited to Article 146 of the document which deals with the issue of diplomatic status for the Permanent Observer Mission of the OIC to the United Nations in New York. The document is being forwarded to the esteemed Mission of the United States to the United Nations for initiating action on this issue. It is also requested that this may kindly be brought to the attention of HE Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. (Complimentary close) End text. ¶3. Begin text of Article 146 of the OIC Communiqu: The Meeting noted with deep concern the continued difficulties faced by the Permanent Observer Mission of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to the UN in New York due to the absence of diplomatic status of the Mission. Recognizing the central role of the Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York, the Meeting urged the government of the United States of America, as the host country, to extend full diplomatic status to the Mission. The Meeting called for the establishment of Ambassadorial Level Committee in New York comprising the Troikas of the OIC Summit and the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers to pursue this issue with the Government of the United States. End text. KHALILZAD