Source: www.bic.org
New York—11 November 2024—A major new report, Outsiders: Multifaceted Violence Against Baha’is in the Islamic Republic of Iran, has just been launched in New York, exposing the violence inflicted on the Baha’is during 45 years of sustained persecution and across all aspects of life since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Outsiders is the latest in a series of highly significant independent reports and statements about the Baha’is in Iran published in recent months. These include the Human Rights Watch report The Boot on My Neck, which determined that Iran’s treatment of the Baha’i community is a crime against humanity of persecution; the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran which documented the extensive persecution experienced by Baha’i women in Iran during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement; the final report of the former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, who in his closing address in July 2024 also stated that “The Baha’is were targeted with genocidal intent and persecution”; and the release of a joint letter of allegations issued by 18 United Nations Special Rapporteurs and UN Working Group experts, who in a completely unprecedented step, jointly rebuked the Islamic Republic of Iran for the recent rise in attacks against Baha’i women.
The new report was prepared by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, in partnership with Eleos Justice at Monash University, a think tank created and directed by Mai Sato, the new UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran. The report focuses on violence perpetrated against the Baha’i community since the Baha’i Faith emerged in 1844, by documenting three forms of violence as described by sociologist Johan Galtung; direct, structural and cultural, showing them to be part of the Iranian government’s systematic effort to eliminate the Baha’i religious minority from society.
Outsiders notes that Baha’is have been called an “impurity” by Iran’s Shia clerics—in an effort to “justify their discrimination and oppression”—from the establishment of the faith until now. It also found that the crime against humanity of religious persecution has been perpetrated against the Baha’is in Iran
“The ideology underpinning the persecution of Baha’is in Iran is multifaceted, drawing on religious, political, and historical narratives. It combines theological objections with conspiracy theories, nationalist sentiments … encoded in law, and institutionalized in various forms of discrimination and persecution,” the report states.
The Outsiders launch took place at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations in New York. Germany’s ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, H.E. Thomas Peter Zahneisen, said in his remarks that the Baha’is have been “stripped of their freedoms simply for exercising their rights to practice freely their faith … We know the reports of torture, confessions, and other forms of abuse, are all too common.” He added, however, that “the story of the Baha’is in Iran is not only one of suppression, but one of humanity, perseverance and courage. Despite the oppression, despite a culture of fear, Baha’i men and women advocate for justice, for equality, and they stand up for their rights and they support others in defending their rights. They embody resilience and support not only their community but those around them.”
“For us, human rights are universal and they are indivisible,” Ambassador Zahneisen said. “We will continue to call upon Iran to comply with their international human rights obligations.”
Drawing on 57 interviews with Baha’is who shared personal experiences, alongside public human rights resources, Outsiders reveals direct violence, including executions, imprisonment, and property destructions and confiscations; structural violence, including denial of education and livelihoods; and cultural violence, including hate speech propagated by clerics, officials and state media, as well as the desecration of cemeteries.
Dr. Roya Boroumand, Executive Director of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, which prepared the report, said that when the Baha’i Faith emerged in Iran in the mid-19th century, Baha’is began to face discrimination. “The Faith’s followers were seen as apostate infidels, and they have faced continuous and intense persecution, marked by episodes of extreme violence and systematic denial of life,” since that time, the report said.
One major finding of the report, however, is that the Iranian population has increasingly “resisted” the policy of discrimination against the Baha’i community.
“Despite these repeated attempts to indoctrinate the public with anti-Baha’i sentiment, our findings suggest that, to some degree at least, the public is actually resisting the influence of state propaganda,” said Christopher Alexander, a researcher on the report. “This is particularly noteworthy insofar as it challenges Galtung’s theory which imagines direct, structural and cultural violence as mutually reinforcing.”
“While direct and structural violence are very much perpetuated by the state, there appears to be an increasing lack of internalization of this violent culture by the masses,” Alexander added. “Our interviewees generally reported a shift in public attitudes toward Baha’is from contempt and avoidance around the time of the Revolution to increasing indifference, acceptance and even support of the Baha’i community.”
Mai Sato, the new Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, praised the “courageous and resilient” Iranian Baha’i community, as well as its recent #OurStoryIsOne campaign, and flagged the exclusion of Baha’is from Iran’s constitution as one of the ways Iranian authorities justify the persecution. “What the report has found is that the structural violence inflicted by the state is resisted and not embraced by the Iranian community. That is a hopeful and uplifting end to the report,” Sato said.
Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, said in closing remarks at the report’s launch that “Since the Baha’is are unrecognized in the Islamic Republic of Iran, international attention remains their only protection in the face of severe injustices by Iranian authorities.”
Ms. Dugal expressed her thanks to individual civil society activists and organizations, such as the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights and Eleos Justice, who have had “the courage to stand up and speak out” about the situation of the Baha’i community. “For the Baha’is, this international attention gives hope to those suffering persecution within the country and calls on the Iranian government to uphold its international obligations and end its violent policies against all victims of human rights abuses in Iran.”
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