The U.S. Is Missing a Chance to Engage the Muslim World

In love, they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. That’s not always the case in diplomacy. For the past six years, the United States has not had a dedicated special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the 57-country international organization whose membership spans the globe. In the absence of the United States, malign actors China and Russia have filled the void, lobbying the OIC and many of its member states to avoid criticizing their genocidal policies and acts of aggression. The upcoming U.N. Human Rights Council session in Geneva and OIC ministerial meeting in Nouakchott should spur immediate action to fill the position.

The presidential special envoy to the OIC role was created during the George W. Bush administration to positively engage Muslim-majority countries and communities about U.S. foreign policy. The first envoy, Sada Cumber, laid the groundwork for the position and built relationships with key OIC countries. The Obama administration kept the post, naming Rashad Hussain to the position, and expanded its substantive scope, utilizing it to advance foreign-policy priorities with a broad array of potential partners. In his role as envoy, Hussain played an essential role in promoting religious freedom and related human rights, as well as pushing back against blasphemy resolutions at the United Nations. The envoy role was also instrumental in combating Islamophobia abroad. It co-organized with the OIC and the European Union the first-ever U.N. High-Level Forum on combating anti-Muslim discrimination and hatred.

When the Trump administration came into office promising a ban on Muslims entering the United States, it unsurprisingly left the OIC special envoy position vacant for all four years. However, the Biden administration has taken a different tact, with President Joe Biden making a campaign promise to fill it. Consequently, we are disappointed that more than two years have passed without Biden filling this crucial role with a full-time envoy.

Unfortunately, and inexcusably, inattention or disinterest has delayed the process considerably. The administration acted swiftly to name and confirm well-qualified experts on religious freedom, antisemitism, refugees, and global criminal justice, to name a few. In contrast, this position has languished. Now, the entire effort to appoint an OIC special envoy may encounter even further delay. Starting in 2022, the National Defense Authorization Act requires the Senate to confirm special envoys that exercise “significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States.” Whether that new requirement applies to the OIC special envoy role remains to be seen. However, if the candidate must join the confirmation queue and wait for additional months, the United States will lose more opportunities to regain lost ground in U.S. relations with the OIC and Muslim-majority countries and communities.

In the past, the president’s special envoy gave the United States high-level access to the OIC and its member countries in unique ways. The organization’s regular ministerial and heads-of-state summits are like mini-U.N. General Assembly high-level sessions—these unique platforms for diplomacy at the highest levels are important opportunities to advance U.S. policies. For example, when the Chinese foreign minister attended the last OIC ministerial in Islamabad, he was treated as the chief guest and addressed the forum. As far as we know, no similar high-level U.S. presence is planned for this year. When we are absent, our competitors take advantage.

A case in point is the failed U.S. effort at the U.N. Human Rights Council to discuss the U.N. report on Chinese atrocities against Uyghur Muslims. We strongly support U.S. membership at the council, and this initiative was the right way to use our membership and lead. But, unfortunately, the vote failed with 17 yes votes, 19 no votes, and 11 abstentions. Among other disappointing votes, 12 OIC countries voted no—if two of them had voted yes instead, or if three had just abstained, the resolution would have passed.

We don’t doubt the tremendous effort put into trying to win this vote. However, a U.S. special envoy to the OIC would have been uniquely influential, able to engage, persuade, and pressure in ways unavailable to other U.S. diplomats. As a result of the vacant position, Chinese diplomacy with Muslim-majority countries proved more effective than U.S. diplomacy seeking to highlight a genocide against Muslims.

The OIC also plays an outsized and influential role on many other issues. For example, it is one of the few entities with a reasonable chance of influencing Taliban officials in Afghanistan. The OIC can speak to issues of girls’ education, women in the workforce, and minority rights in ways Western nations simply cannot. OIC members generally allow women to work, attend school and university, and protect religious minority worship rights. A U.S. special envoy could help shape OIC efforts to reverse the appalling human rights violations and the devastating humanitarian crisis in the country.

Yet none of this is happening because the position remains vacant. We both served in envoy roles and witnessed the opportunity costs of delayed or abandoned appointments. Failing to fill the special envoy to the OIC role leaves the United States fighting with one hand tied behind its back. The Biden administration should act with haste to fill the position.

The good news is that the administration has identified an excellent candidate who would bring the right mix of diplomatic experience, interpersonal skills, and commitment to human rights to succeed. While his name is not public, he would bring instant credibility and knows the OIC and its players well. His experience working on religious freedom, minority rights, and equal citizenship has prepared him to advance U.S. values and promote U.S. priorities. We hope the White House and State Department can expeditiously move this candidate through the appropriate process. The Senate should welcome a person of his caliber to the job if its advice and consent are required.

In a time of a rising China and an attacking Russia, the United States needs every ally it can find. Russia and China will undoubtedly look to press priorities running counter to U.S. foreign-policy goals with OIC members at the upcoming U.N. Human Rights Council session and OIC ministerial meeting. The United States needs the OIC and its members to support our policies, and we should not cede ground to our competitors. The Biden administration still has time to get its candidate in place. But every day is a missed opportunity that benefits our opponents.

The views expressed here are the authors’ own.