As Member States gather to review the progress made in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and to address gender equality in the post-2015 development agenda, the time has come for a serious conversation about the role of religion in advancing the equality of women and men. Religion as a basis for social and political mobilization is a reality that must be openly examined. The continuing importance of religion in people’s lives and identities can no longer be ignored. If it is to play a constructive role in society, the very concept of religion, as well as its nature and purpose needs to be reexamined. We must be ready to discard labels that have locked us in adversarial debates such as “secular vs. religious,” “modern vs. traditional,” “liberal vs. conservative,” “Western vs. non-Western.” The role of religion in human life and the equality of women and men are realities too complex to be reduced to such comparisons. A new discourse is needed—one suited to the needs of the age in which we live. The Baha'i International Community wishes to stimulate and to contribute to such a discourse.

At the outset, we wish to state clearly our belief that the equality of men and women is a facet of human reality and not just a condition to be achieved for the common good. That which makes human beings human—their inherent dignity and nobility—is neither male nor female. The search for meaning, for purpose, for community; the capacity to love, to create, to persevere, has no gender. Such an assertion has profound implications for the organization of every aspect of human society.

We see religion not as a set of dogmas, or conflicting denominations. Rather, we posit that religion is an ongoing process through which humanity becomes conscious of the spiritual dimension of human life and learns to orient its individual and collective life accordingly. At the core of religion is a set of spiritual principles, which, together, form the common heritage of humankind. At each stage of human history and development—and no less today in the midst of an emerging global community—religion acquires new meanings, significance, functions and expressions. Today, as the insights of women are increasingly recognized as essential to the creation of healthy families, more peaceful communities, more vibrant intellectual life, and more effective governance, it is their voices in particular that must inform the discourse on the nature of religion and its role in contemporary life.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its progeny of human rights instruments have provided the international community with a normative framework, which recognizes the inherent dignity of the individual and elaborates the rights and responsibilities upon which a peaceful society can be built. The most challenging task for governments and communities alike has been the translation of these norms into a lived reality for the peoples of the world. Legal standards and social science affirm the equality of all human beings, however it is the deep-seated beliefs about the nature of women and men and the relationship between them that have proven to be the most formidable obstacles to the realization of an equitable social order. Twenty years after the (then) largest gathering of Heads of State and civil society brought gender equality to the top of the global agenda, discrimination against women remains the most widespread injustice in the world today.

It is well documented that throughout history, much of humanity has looked to religions and their leaders for guidance and continues to do so today. While many thought that modernity would diminish the influence of religion—a seeming victory of the ‘rational mind’ over ‘irrational’ beliefs—this has not come to pass. Religion is reasserting itself in myriad ways. In the name of religion has been raised the call to service to the common weal; to embracing a common humanity that transcends divisions of nations and race; to stewardship for the environment; to forgiveness and reconciliation. The role of religion as a shaper of culture and community life has been increasingly acknowledged by the UN. Having recognized the ability of faith-based organizations to reach and provide human and material resources in underserved regions, a number of UN agencies have sought to partner with these organizations in pursuit of common goals. Several hundred religious NGOs have been granted Consultative Status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council and are active contributors to discussions at the UN.

At the same time, religion has fallen prey to ignorance and blind ambition. In its name, fanaticism and violence are promoted.  Interpretations of religious doctrines as assigning an inferior status to women and girls have given rise to patriarchal systems and structures, which continue to obstruct women’s full participation in society. The international community finds itself severely challenged by the intransigence of societies who continue to obstruct the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and flagrantly violate the human rights of women based on interpretations of religious law. In some countries, for example, marital rape remains outside of the law; a man’s honor is a viable defense for murdering a female member of his family; no minimum age requirement for marriage exists. In other countries, women have no right to divorce or to inherit; their education is considered optional or unnecessary; they are not present in public spaces and governing structures. While still prevalent, the incidence of such examples is in decline. Progress can be seen in the increased participation of women in public life and community affairs; it can be discerned in the significant efforts of many countries to effect change through strategies focused on the education of women and girls. 

At this stage in the collective life of humanity, we wish to draw the Commission’s attention to three areas of endeavor, which we feel are critical to addressing the present-day situation of women and girls.

1.     Responsibility of religious leaders. Religious leaders have a pivotal role to play in addressing the profound injustices that prevent women and girls from developing their potential and playing their rightful role in the advancement of society. If they are to be worthy partners in the construction of a more just and peaceful society, religious leaders must unhesitatingly raise their voices against the violation of human rights, against all forms of violence and fanaticism, and against the denial of equality perpetrated in the name of religion. They must examine the ways in which their words, their actions, or their silence have enabled the status quo. They must account for the ways in which their guidance and example may be stifling the exercise of those intellectual faculties that distinguish humankind. Governments have a role to play in encouraging reflection on these issues.

2.     The role of men and boys. The equality of women and men is not a condition whose effects will be limited to half of the world’s population. Its operationalization will revolutionize all facets of human society—the generation of knowledge and development of intellectual life, the practice of governance, the allocation of material resources and the condition of the family, to name but a few. Men must come to realize that under current conditions of inequality, the development of their full potential is not possible. It is they who must find the moral courage to convey and model new understandings of masculinity and who must challenge and question the narrow roles that society and the media have assigned to them. In the final analysis, it is not enough to create space in the current social order for women to play their rightful role. Rather, the goal is for women and men to work shoulder-to-shoulder, each as the helpmate of the other—in the context of family, work, community, and international affairs—to construct a society which allows for the flourishing of all.

3.     Discrimination against women based on interpretations of religion. We urge the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to formulate a comment, which addresses discrimination against women based on interpretations of religion, noting that it constitutes a major obstacle to the overarching goal of peace.  

The achievement of gender equality will require financial, moral and intellectual resources on a scale not yet seen. It will involve the efforts of the masses of humanity, the insights of religion as well as science, the fearless commitment of men alongside women, unprecedented collaboration at all levels of governance, and an understanding that the advancement of women is the advancement of all. The Baha'i International Community invites all those working towards the betterment of humanity to join us in a dialogue about the issues raised in this statement. It is our hope that in this way we will learn and better understand each other’s perspectives and collectively advance our efforts towards the realization of a social order which supports the flourishing of all. 

Yesterday, the Baha'i International Community released a document entitled “Unfulfilled Promises”, which reviews the commitments the Islamic Republic of Iran made at  the last session of the UPR as they pertain to the situation of the Baha'is – the largest non-Muslim religious minority in the country.

The review shows that, since 2010, not only has Iran made absolutely no improvement on the accepted recommendations, the situation of the Baha'is has worsened.  One such case is the denial of access to higher education for young Baha'is – a human rights violation to which their parents, and sometimes even their grand parents, were also subjected.

The Iranian government has repeatedly tried to deny this pernicious act, but this past week, as the academic year begins, Baha'i students in Iran were faced with a new tactic: when they sought their results on line, they were referred to the office which oversees the examination process.  There, they were simply shown the National University Entrance Examination booklet which states explicitly that “only Muslims and officially recognized minorities are permitted to participate” – thus, not the Baha'is.

The question one of the students asked the authorities is how he had been identified as a Baha'i without having had to enter his religion throughout the whole registration process.   

This is a question we should all be asking ourselves.  Moreover, it sends a chilling message to all the Baha'is in Iran:   are they now identified in some secret, official record?

In 2006, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief disclosed a secret document that indicated that the Supreme Leader had ordered all national and local government agencies to identify the Baha'is –  is that database now  complete and in use?  Is this the ‘yellow badge’ of the digital age?

In the month leading to Iran’s review, will the government begin to take adequate steps to reverse this unjust deprivation of access to higher education?  Or will they continue to devise ways to keep up their pretence?

The Baha’i International Community is an international non-governmental organization that has been active at the United Nations and other international fora for over 60 years. The Baha’i community’s association with the United Nations dates back to the League of Nations and has its roots in the global vision that animates the teachings of the Baha’i Faith. Baha’is understand the progress of humanity as a global enterprise whose purpose is to bring prosperity to all peoples, an enterprise that must pursue its aim in the context of an emerging world civilization.

“All human beings,” wrote Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Baha’i Faith, “have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.” Thus, every person, every community and every nation have been vested with an obligation to play their part in building a peaceful and prosperous global society. The goals and aspirations of the UN Charter, so timelessly articulated by its authors including the eminent Chinese scholar and diplomat Cheng Peng Chun, boldly reaffirmed humanity’s faith in the dignity of every human being and in the equal rights of women and men, and those of nations large and small. It further committed to international cooperation to promote the social progress of all people. 

The United Nations has a long history of engagement with organizations of civil society. Today, nearly 4000 non-governmental organizations are formally associated with the United Nations through its Economic and Social Council—they represent the concerns and voices of a veritable cross section of humanity as well as perspectives drawn from various faiths and belief systems. This association continues to inform and shape the discussions and discourse within the UN community. In recent years, for example, various UN agencies have begun to reflect more consciously and systematically on their relationships with faith-based organizations, recognizing the many contributions of such organizations in various fields of endeavor as well as the defining role that values, ethics and beliefs play in the lives of people around the world.

From the moment of its accreditation, the Baha’i International Community began to play an energetic role in United Nations’ affairs. “Be anxiously concerned,” wrote Bahá’u’lláh, “with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.” Throughout its nearly 70 years of association with the United Nations, the Baha’i International Community, often working in collaboration with UN agencies and other NGOs, has worked in many different areas in the fields of social and sustainable development including in particular, the equality of women and men, the protection of the girl child, the protection of vulnerable and marginalized populations, and the advancement of a culture of discourse and collective deliberation, among others. At the world conferences of the 1990s, Baha’is actively contributed their vision and experience—at the World Conference on Education for All (Thailand), the World Summit for Children (New York), the UN Conference on the Environment (Rio de Janeiro), the International Conference on Population (Cairo), the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen) and the particularly vibrant Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Guiding these contributions has been a steady effort to apply intelligently and thoughtfully ethical and moral principles to the resolution of global challenges, and a steady striving for coherence between the material and moral dimensions of human life. 

It is important to note that these contributions and ideas are more than theory or aspiration. While they are guided by the Writings of the Baha’i Faith, they are equally informed by and intimately linked with the efforts of countless individuals and communities around the world working towards this vision of ethical and material advancement. We believe that every member of the human family, has not only the right to benefit from a prosperous civilization but an obligation to contribute towards its construction. In this area, close parallels can be seen with the Confucian ethic of responsibility and principles central to it, such as the idea that human beings exist in a web of relationships and not simply as isolated individuals, that social well-being requires trust and reciprocity and not merely a balance of adversarial relationships, and that human beings’ own flourishing requires them to exert themselves for the betterment of others.

As a global community, then, Baha’is are consciously striving to learn how populations of every kind and background can develop the capacity to take charge of their material, intellectual, social and moral development. In this way, human progress becomes increasingly representative of the aspirations and talents of mankind as a whole, and less a process carried out by one group on behalf of another.

Local efforts to improve the well-being of individual neighborhoods, villages and communities carried out by Baha’is and their like-minded collaborators provide key grounding and insight for the Baha’i International Community’s work at the United Nations. Such efforts involve constant effort to understand and translate moral principles of the Baha’i Faith into concrete action. The aim is not indoctrination, rather the raising up of individuals and communities capable of generating and applying new knowledge—as equal participants contributing to the building of a new civilization. It involves patience, understanding, flexibility, wisdom and humility as individuals and communities encounter and work through the deep-rooted and challenging issues before them. Let us take the example of corruption afflicting efforts at just and effective governance and administration at all levels. Not only does corruption dampen economic growth and reduce the utility of government services, it is antithetical to social well-being; it breeds distrust, resentment and hostility; it undermines solidarity and collective action.  How can this be addressed? How can the roots of corruption be reduced?  How can the capacity for moral behavior be developed in individuals, communities and the social and governing institutions of society?

One approach being pursued by Baha’is and their like-minded collaborators in this regard is classes for the moral and spiritual education of young people. These classes seek to equip children with the moral framework needed to navigate the many ethical choices they will face in life. The classes also aim to develop in youth a strong sense of purpose and instill in them the ideals needed to support a healthy and prosperous society. The curriculum seeks to help young people realize and develop their spiritual capacities, such as capacities of the intellect and of rational thought, the capacity to love, and the capacity to initiate and sustain action for the betterment of society, to name a few. These classes are initiated and led by local residents working with young people in their own neighborhood or village, thereby strengthening social bonds and ties of association at the local level. Such community based-efforts are the practical expressions of moral and spiritual principles, which bear on human interactions and collective life at all levels of society. Inevitably, efforts to express moral principles in a social context will raise further questions for communities: What, for example, is the optimal relationship between relatively informal community-based children’s classes and government-sponsored education systems? How are ethical and moral convictions about personal conduct and conscience operationalized in complex systems and bureaucracies? Raising and exploring such questions with others—questions arising from practice—represents another facet of the Baha’i International Community’s participation in the prevalent discourses on human progress and prosperity.  

The Baha’i International Community contributes to discourses at the international level both in terms of the ideas and perspectives that it puts forward and in terms of its efforts to advance a more constructive culture of discourse and deliberation.  By discourse I am referring to the expression of our attitudes, values, and understanding of ourselves and our material, social, and spiritual reality; I am referring to the manner in which we organize our knowledge and ideas; indeed, I am referring to a crucial means by which culture is shaped and developed. As we meet here near the birthplace of Confucius, it is fitting to quote briefly from the Analects:

“A superior man, in regard to what he does not know, shows a cautious reserve. If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.”  — Confucius, Analects, Book XIII, Chapter 3, verses 4-7 

Confucius believed that social disorder stemmed from the failure to perceive, to understand and deal with reality. The Baha’i International Community views the principles of the Baha’i Faith as essential resources for understanding and dealing with the challenges facing communities around the world. Similarly, it sees the efforts of communities trying to operationalize those principles in local settings as important models which can be explored and assessed by all. We see ourselves as part of a discourse among the community of nations and we seek to contribute to this discourse by offering new ways of approaching familiar problems, by re-framing the way that certain problems are understood, be identifying assumptions and mental models underlying the understanding of reality and by drawing on insights from the fields of science as well as religion. We do so in a mode of learning, knowing that no one can lay claim to perfect understanding or complete knowledge. Through practice and through discourse, our understanding advances and is continually refined.

Yet it is not only the content of the discourse that matters, it is also the culture and spirit in which it unfolds. We have observed over the years of engaging with the United Nations community a culture of discourse often characterized by adversarial and positional debates, which are not conducive to meaningful collaboration. Recognizing the importance of process, our Office has sought to foster new modes constructive inquiry and of patterns of interaction which allow the insights and perspectives of participants to emerge and contribute to the generation of new knowledge. To offer a concrete example, over the past several years the UN community has been working to create a new framework for global development—a framework to succeed the Millennium Development Goals. In light of the complexity of the issues involved in such an undertaking and the diversity of participants in this conversation, we sought to create a neutral and informal space a to facilitate a conversation in which the UN community—its agencies, Member States, and NGOs—could freely explore and deliberate about development issues of common concern. 

I hope that through this brief presentation about the Baha’i International Community I have been able to convey the Baha’i perspective that the betterment of humanity is indeed a global enterprise and one which will require the participation of the masses of humanity rather than a small group of actors working on behalf of the disenfranchised. “Every nation and every group,” the international governing body of the Baha’i Faith recently wrote, “indeed, every individual will, to a greater or lesser degree, contribute to the emergence of the world civilization towards which humanity is irresistibly moving.”

The work of the Baha’i International Community can be understood as seeking to facilitate, at the international level and particularly within the context of the UN, an ongoing conversation about the requirements of a world civilization progressing in all aspects of its individual and collective life. This is a conversation that rightfully belongs to all of humanity, and the Baha’i International Community is working to bring ever-growing numbers within its fold.

Mr. President,

Iranian Baha’is continue to face injustice in every aspect of their lives.  They are killed, arbitrarily imprisoned, tortured, their houses are raided, their shops burnt, sealed and defaced, their cemeteries are desecrated and their Holy Places destroyed.  They are portrayed in the media as a dangerous cult.  They are prevented from associating with their fellow citizens through prohibition of employment and denial of access to higher education.  Even children are not spared, as infants, they are imprisoned with their mothers and in primary school they are singled out and ridiculed by their teachers.

Despite all this persecution, they are still exerting all efforts in order to contribute their share to the betterment of their community, and of Iran, the birthplace of their Faith.  Indeed, last December, the seven former leaders of the community penned a letter from inside prison to President Rouhani, regarding the draft charter of citizens’ rights.  In it, the y laid down their vision of an Iran in which no one is “subjugated and oppressed by reason of their ethnicity, gender, religious belief, or any other distinction”.

It is heartening for the Bahá’’is to see that more and more of their fellow citizens courageously stand up for their rights.  A few days ago, an open letter was addressed to Ayatollah Larijani, the Head of the Judiciary by 75 prominent activists and  rights defenders, writers and journalists, requesting that Baha’is by treated with justice.

The Iranian government is now receiving strong signals from within Iran.  It is important that the international community, in turn, echoes these calls and reiterates its stance that the human rights situation in Iran won’t be considered improved unless and until the situation of the Baha’is is addressed.