Iran blocks prominent Baha’i human rights expert from chairing UN Forum on Minority Issues

Source: iranwire.com

The United Nations Forum on Minority Issues – running 28-29 November in Geneva, as part of the current UN Human Rights Council session – has drawn controversy and criticism from UN member states after Diane Ala’i, an independent human rights expert and a Baha’i of French and Iranian descent, was barred from becoming chair.

IranWire understands that the decision was influenced by the Iranian government. The move provoked sharp criticism from UN members and human rights advocates for barring a qualified member of a minority from chairing deliberations concerning minorities.

Nominations for the Forum chair rotate across different UN member states groupings, which for the current session was the Western European and Others Group, and are decided by the president of the Human Rights Council. The current president is Ambassador Omar Zniber, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN in Geneva, and IranWire understands the objection came from the Asia-Pacific group and specifically the Islamic Republic.

Ala’i is a human rights expert with more than 35 years of experience across the UN system and human rights mechanisms. She served as representative of the Baha’i International Community to the UN in Geneva for 30 years, retiring in 2022, and was nominated as chair by the non-governmental Minority Rights Group. Her candidacy was also supported by several governments, including Austria, France, Switzerland, and at later stages of the selection process by Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

The serving chair, Irish human rights official and educator Anastasia Crickley, said from the podium during the session that Minority Rights Group had first nominated Ala’i but objections by “a country” forced the change.

Speaking at the Forum on Minority Issues yesterday, the United States said Ala’i was an “experienced, well qualified, and excellent candidate,” and that she was “nominated and re-nominated to serve as chair of this Forum.”

“We are troubled by the rejection of her nomination,” the US added. “The opaque objection by one country was due to her work on behalf of the Baha’i International Community,” but there was “nothing in [Ala’i’s] work that” that suggested “she would not uphold the impartiality required by the position.”

Yielding to objections over Ala’i because she is herself a member of a minority religion “would call into question the integrity of this very Forum,” the US said.

The United Kingdom – which was among several Human Rights Council members to have sponsored Ala’i for the role – also criticized the selection process.

“Minority representation is clearly a very important issue,” the UK said, and “should be taken fully into account in how proceedings are run within this Forum.”

Ala’i was a “highly qualified candidate with broad expertise on human rights, with a particular specialization in the rights of persons belonging to minorities,” the UK said, and that she came from “a minority which is subject to systematic discrimination on religious grounds. We believe that extra care should have been taken to ensure that such discrimination did not manifest itself in the appointment process,” the UK said.

“Regrettably, we understand that the candidate’s nomination was opposed by one country, and on that basis was therefore not appointed to chair the forum,” the UK added.

Ala’i herself addressed the decision in a series of tweets highlighting the contradiction in being barred from the position by a country known for persecuting Baha’is.

The Iranian government was “once again exporting its religious hatred, this time within the UN Human Rights Council,” Ala’i said on X, adding that “it is ironic (or is it outrageous?) that a person belonging to a minority be barred from chairing a Forum on Minority Issues because of an objection by the country that persecutes the given minority within its borders.”

“It is not about me, it is about Iran endlessly and irrationally going after the Baha’is – at home and even abroad – for no reason but their religion,” she added.

Human rights experts and activists also rallied to rebuke the Iranian government’s actions.

Nazila Ghanea, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, insisted no one should face exclusion based on religion, “especially within the UN human rights mechanisms.”

Ahmed Shaheed, a former UN Special Rapporteur on both human rights in Iran and the freedom of religion or belief, questioned whether states should have the power to block appointments based on “protected characteristics” such as minority status, in particular at the United Nations.

And Roya Boroumand, a prominent Iranian human rights activist, said “It is simply unacceptable that one of the worst human rights abusers in the world is allowed to decide who the UN Human Rights Council, a body mandated to fight against discrimination and intolerance, can nominate.” Boroumand added that Iran’s government chose to persecute minorities such as Baha’is “rather than addressing the root causes of Iranians turning away from Islam.”