World Igbo Congress (WIC) is a Houston-based sociopolitical organization that promotes the Igbo people's interests in Nigeria. It focuses its support on economic and legal aid to the Igbo population, the victims of ethnic cleansing before and after the Nigerian Civil War, as well as the rehabilitation of Biafran War veterans. History World Igbo Congress was founded in Houston, Texas, USA, to represent the general interests of the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. It serves as an umbrella organization for all people of Igbo descent who live outside Nigeria, primarily those that live in the United States. The organization was founded on 27 August 1994, following a meeting, in Houston, of prominent Igbo leaders from across the United States. In July 2012, WIC was granted "special consultative status" by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). WIC was patterned after the famous World Jewish Congress, WJC. In 1997, the World Igbo Congress Foundation (WICF) was established as WIC's project development arm. Structure World Igbo Congress is listed in the open yearbook of The Union of International Associations, UIA, as an internationally recognized non-governmental organization. In a 2006 paper presented at the annual conference of the Igbo Studies Association, Dr. Ugorji O. Ugorji pointed out that many Igbo interest groups and organization affiliate themselves with World Igbo Congress. Members of the organization retain their individual membership rights, hence, they vote and run for office on their individual merits and not as delegates of any affiliated organizations. WIC states that its objective is to bring Igbo people and organizations in the United States together to focus on an established Igbo tradition of channeling initiatives for infrastructural development towards the homeland. Like many other Igbo community development associations, WIC works to bring Igbo people together and to encourage brotherhood and development. World Igbo Congress indicates that it is building a modern hospital, in Igbo land, to help mitigate the problem of "medical tourism." Socio-political activism World Igbo Congress's initiatives focus on encouraging good governance and accountable leadership in the Igbo speaking states of Nigeria. For example, WIC supported the new voting system initiatives (e.g. absentee voting) in Nigeria. Over the past two decades, WIC has continued to find ways to exert its influence on issues regarding ethnic divisions and conflicts that affect the welfare of Igbo people in Nigeria. One example of such influence came after a meeting it called in July,