JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa on Monday (February 20th) appealed to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to play a greater role in the conflict in Syria, the International Islamic News Agency (IINA) reported.

Marty said due to a lack of improvement in the Syrian situation, he wrote to OIC Chairman Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov urging the body to hold a special conference on Syria.

He added the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC), now holding its inaugural week-long meeting in Jakarta, should commit to protecting of human rights in the region.

Meanwhile, IPHRC meeting chair and female professor at State Islamic University Siti Ruhaini Dzuhayatin said the commission is still working out internal issues and the Jakarta meeting would only focus on establishing strong organisational procedures, according to The Jakarta Post.