Recent Stories
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The United Nations Human Rights Council has voted to continue an investigation into human rights violations in Iran. A 77-page report on the situation was recently presented by Ahmed Shaheed. Subject: Persecution of the Baha'i Community
Geneva—22 March 2013—The United Nations Human Rights Council today voted by an overwhelming margin for a continuing investigation into human rights violations in Iran.
"For years, the Iranian government has made excuses or blamed others in the face of mounting documentation that it severely represses its citizens in gross violation of international law – but the wide margin of today's vote confirms that the world is not buying its justifications," said Diane Ala'i, the Baha'i International Community's representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
"Iran needs to start cooperating with the Council by allowing Dr.... Read more . . . |
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Video of launch Subject: Persecution of the Baha'i Community
Geneva—14 March 2013—The cradle-to-grave attacks against Baha'is in Iran represent one of the broadest and most obvious cases of state-sponsored religious persecution in the world, said Heiner Bielefeldt, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. Speaking on 6 March 2013 in Geneva at a side event during the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council, Dr. Bielefeldt discussed the release of a new report by the Baha'i International Community, which documents rising violence against Iranian Baha'is and... Read more . . . |
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United Nations broadcast. Subject: Persecution of the Baha'i Community
Geneva—12 March 2013—The Baha'i International Community made a statement on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran at the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council. "...Yet another gross violation: impunity systematically covers Iranian officials and plainclothes agents who attack Bahá'ís," the statement said. "We are not aware of a single instance where even one of the perpetrators was prosecuted – much less convicted or imprisoned. Bahá’ís cannot hope to obtain protection and justice from the authorities who incite hatred against them and a judicial system that treats them as enemies of the State." To read the... Read more . . . |
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Subject: Social and Sustainable Development
New York—12 March 2013—Concepts of empowerment that pit one group against another should be discarded in favor of a new vision where social transformation is approached as a collective enterprise in which all people are able to participate.
That was among the main themes of a statement issued by the Baha'i International Community (BIC) to the recently concluded UN Commission on Social Development.
"The impulse to rectify social inequalities is unquestionably noble, but us/them dichotomies only perpetuate and reinforce existing... Read more . . . |
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United Nations broadcast. Subject: Persecution of the Baha'i Community
Geneva—8 March 2013—The Baha'i International Community made a statement on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran at the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council. The statement said that "the number of Baha'is in prison [in Iran] has doubled in the past two years, remaining over 100 throughout 2012." It also pointed out that the the violations of human rights in Iran extends to more than just the Baha'is. It thus asked the Council to "call upon Iran to fulfill its obligations under international law." |
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Members of the Baha'i delegation: Ndiitah Robiati (Namibia) and Donna Hakimian (USA) Subject: Equality of Women and Men
New York—7 March 2013—Delegates from Australia, Namibia and the US have arrived for the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the theme for which is the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls—an unyielding global pandemic. The Baha'i International Community's statement to the Commission calls attention to the “culture of impunity” within which violence against women is often tolerated and... Read more . . . |
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Home of a Baha'i family in Kerman gutted by fire. Subject: Persecution of the Baha'i Community
Geneva—6 March 2013—In a report released today, the Baha'i International Community documents hundreds of incidents of torture, physical assault, arson, vandalism, cemetery desecration and the abuse of schoolchildren directed against the Iranian Baha'i community since 2005 - all carried out with utter impunity.
"The entire situation puts the Baha'is in an impossible position because they must ask for justice and protection from the same authorities who are systematically inciting hatred against them and from a judicial system that treats virtually every Baha'i who is arrested as an enemy of the state," said Diane Ala... Read more . . . |
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Subject: Persecution of the Baha'i Community
Geneva—27 February 2013—A new special report from the Baha'i International Community, “Violence with Impunity: Acts of aggression against Iran’s Baha'i community,” will be released on 6 March 2013, at a side event to the 22nd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The report documents rising incidents of violence against Iranian Baha'is and the degree to which perpetrators, whether government officials or unidentified attackers, have so far enjoyed complete impunity from prosecution. The side... Read more . . . |
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Saraswathi Menon, UN Women Subject: Post-2015, Social and Sustainable Development
New York—26 February 2013—The Baha'i International Community hosted an NGO briefing on the Copenhagen Leadership Meeting that took place last week on the synthesis report of the Global Consultation on Addressing Inequalities (webcast) in the post-2015 development agenda. Speakers underscored that a shift in thinking had taken place among Member... Read more . . . |
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Informal breakfast dialogue on multilateralism Subject: Post-2015, Social and Sustainable Development
New York—25 February 2013—The seventh of an ongoing series of informal breakfast dialogues, organized by the Baha'i International Community and the International Movement ATD Fourth World, focused on ideal global governance and reframing multilateralism for decision making [program]. Opening remarks were delivered by Hon. Mr. Augusto Thornberry, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mission of Peru to the UN and Professor Colette Mazzucelli, Associate Professor, NYU Center for Global Affairs. Among other... Read more . . . |
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