Source: www.bic.org
New York—20 November 2024—A new United Nations (UN) resolution by the General Assembly’s Third Committee condemning the Iranian government’s human rights record has added to several weeks of international focus on the plight of minorities in Iran—including the persecuted Baha’i community. Baha’is are the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority and the resolution, denouncing the “ongoing severe limitations and increasing restrictions” on the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief in the Islamic Republic, rebukes the Iranian government for 45 years of institutionalized discrimination, arbitrary arrests, destruction of property, and other forms of repression.
The resolution, co-sponsored by 49 countries and which passed with 77 votes today, with 28 against and 66 abstentions, also calls on the Iranian government to amend Articles 499 bis and 500 bis in its penal code. The articles criminalize non-Muslim religious expression—exposing both recognized minorities and unrecognized religious minorities such as the Baha’i community to baseless criminal charges. In recent months Baha’is have been arrested, tried without evidence, and jailed, through these articles.
“The Baha’i International Community (BIC) is pleased to see this crucial United Nations resolution once again receive the approval of the General Assembly’s Third Committee,” said Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the BIC to the United Nations. “We are grateful that the international community remains firm in its duty to uphold human rights. The Iranian government has never acknowledged the truth of these concerns, nor has it upheld its own human rights obligations under international law. The Baha’is and all vulnerable minorities in Iran deserve the right to live their lives in dignity and freedom and the Iranian government must respect these rights.”
The resolution states that the Baha’is have been targeted with hate speech and propaganda, restrictions on education and employment, and the arbitrary confiscation and destruction of property. It also calls on Iran to stop desecrating Baha’i cemeteries and to cease monitoring individuals based on religious identity.
The Baha’i community has also been “subjected to a continued increase and the cumulative impacts of long-standing persecution, including attacks, harassment, and targeting, who face increasing restrictions and systemic persecution by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on account of their faith and have been reportedly subjected to mass arrests and lengthy prison sentences, as well as the arrest of prominent members and increased confiscation and destruction of property,” the resolution said.
Brazil’s Mission to the United Nations said at the Third Committee vote that it “remains concerned by reports of violations against women, human rights defenders, and religious and ethnic minorities. We reiterate our support to the rights of the Baha’is, and other minorities to exercise their faith freely and peacefully without any discrimination.”
The United Kingdom, meanwhile, citing recent calls across Iranian society for gender equality, called the “increased targeting of Baha’i women” an “alarming escalation.”
And Ghana championed the rights of “all segments of the Iranian society, including the adherents of the Baha’i Faith who continue to report adversely on the promotion of protection of their rights.”
Australia, Canada, Israel and the United States also called on the Iranian government to respect the rights of all religious minorities in the country.
The latest intervention at the United Nations follows several intense weeks of interactive dialogues within the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, where UN Member States and independent UN Special Rapporteurs voiced urgent concerns over Iran’s human rights record.
The Third Committee discussions included direct interventions from Member States, with the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia voicing strong condemnation of Iran’s escalating persecution of Baha’is, and the European Union, Canada, Czechia, Israel, Malta and the United States addressing wider concerns on religious freedom and minorities.
Ireland called on Iran to immediately revise its penal code to protect freedom of religion, belief, and expression for all, and the UK labeled the recent wave of arrests as an “alarming escalation” in Iran’s repression of the Baha’i community. The United Kingdom added that Baha’i women now account for over two-thirds of Baha’i detainees in Iran, demonstrating a harsh crackdown that layers gender-based violence on top of religious discrimination.
The annual UN resolution on human rights in Iran, including with respect to religious minorities, remains “a critical layer of protection” for persecuted Baha’is and others who suffer in Iran and shines a spotlight on the perpetrators of the persecution, Ms. Dugal said. “The resolution calls on Iran to meet its international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. The Iranian government is long past the time when it should have changed its ways and respected the rights of all its citizens. Today all Iranians increasingly see their story as one: this resolution confirms that fact.”
Recent developments
A recent launch of a new report, Outsiders: Multifaceted Violence Against Baha’is in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, UN Special Rapporteurs including Professor Mai Sato, the new Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, and Professor Nazila Ghanea, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, spoke about Iran’s systematic repression of the Baha’i community, particularly targeting Baha’i women.
The report, published by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center in partnership with Eleos Justice at Monash University, described 45 years of violence perpetrated against the Baha’i community, citing direct violence, such as executions, imprisonment, and the destruction of homes and businesses; structural violence, including the denial of education and employment; and cultural violence, encompassing hate speech and state-sanctioned discrimination.
A grim example of recent persecution came in October when 10 Baha’i women in Isfahan were sentenced to a combined total of 90 years in prison. The women were convicted of “spreading propaganda” and acting against the Iranian government after organizing educational and cultural activities—such as language, art, and yoga classes, including for children—which Iranian authorities deemed “deviant educational activities.”
Recent international scrutiny also includes a letter signed by 18 UN experts in October, rebuking Iran for targeting Baha’i women through home raids, travel bans, and prolonged prison sentences. The experts, including UN Special Rapporteurs on violence against women and girls, freedom of religion or belief, and freedom of opinion and expression, called the government’s actions “a continuous pattern of targeted discrimination.” And earlier this year a report by Human Rights Watch, titled The Boot on My Neck, found Iran’s 45-year systemic repression of Baha’is to be the “crime against humanity of persecution.”
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