ISTANBUL, March 22 (KUNA) -- The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to hold a General Assembly meeting to declare Islamophobia a racist act.
In a final communique following an emergency meeting of OIC Foreign Ministers held in the Turkish city of Istanbul, the organization condemned in the strongest terms the heinous terrorist attack against innocent Muslims in two mosques in Christchurch city, New Zealand, that killed more than 50 people and injured 50 others.
The OIC also called on the UN to declare March 15 as a world day for solidarity against Islamophobia.
The communique called on Guterres to communicate with relevant UN mechanisms to expand the scope of resolution 1267 pertaining sanctions to include individuals and entities associated with extremist racist groups.
The communique referred to the necessity of UN's involvement in social networking platforms to take institutional and technical measures in order to ban any content calling for violence and hate against Muslims.
The OIC expressed appreciation to New Zealand's government, mainly Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's stance, for the open condemnation of the terrorist attacks, according to the communique.
The organization said that it supports New Zealand's authorities to open a comprehensive and transparent investigation about the terrorist attacks, it noted.
The meeting, hosted Turkey, and was attended by New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a speech in the opening session in which he warned against the rising tide and spread of Islamophobia in societies, stating that the incident of New Zealand may reoccur if its causes are not addressed.
New Zealand's police arrested the attacker who identified as Brenton Tarrant from Australia and appeared before the court last Saturday. He was accused of a premeditated murder crime.
In a cold blood, Tarrant recorded his crime and posted it on social networking. Ardern described March 15 as a "darkest day" in News Zealand's history. (pickup previous) ta.wa.hm