EU Delegation to Iran encouraged to emphasize human rights
The Baha'i International Community is raising awareness of the human rights situation in Iran, including that of the Baha'is, as a European Union delegation is preparing to travel to that nation.
The Brussels Office of the BIC has written to Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, as well as to Commissioners Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Tibor Navracsics, and Carlos Moedas, who will all be part of the EU delegation traveling to Tehran for a two-day bilateral visit 16-17 April 2016.
In a letter to the High Representative, the BIC expressed its hope that she will find the opportunity to address – alongside plans for Iran’s economic development – the issue of human rights in such a way that Iran’s authorities are again reminded of the importance of this question for the people of Europe and their representatives.
Mrs Rachel Bayani, Representative of the Baha’i International Community in Brussels, said: “Without respect for the human rights of every citizen being soundly established, measures taken in other areas of human affairs – ranging from the economy to the environment – as commendable as they might be, ultimately fail.”
In separate letters to the Commissioners, the Baha'i International Community appealed to them to also raise the questions of education and the right to work for all in such ways that the Iranian authorities will be encouraged to take concrete and palpable measures to remedy the situation.
“No society can hope to thrive if large sections of its population are relegated to the lowest ranks of economy and prevented from contributing to its prosperity and growth, and if a significant amount of its youth are barred from contributing to its intellectual capital,” said Mrs Bayani.
In a resolution passed at the United Nations General Assembly in December 2015, the government of Iran was urged “to eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms of discrimination, including the closure of businesses, and other human rights violations against persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities.”
Amongst those minorities seeking their rights in Iran are Baha’is, who represent the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. They have been the subject of a relentless state-sponsored campaign of persecution. Among other things, their youth have been barred from entering university for more than 35 years.
In a statement on 14 March 2016 to the 31st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the European Union expressed “serious concern at the situation of religious minorities in Iran, in particular the continuous systematic discrimination of persons belonging to the Baha’i community.”
Read: Letter to High Representative Federica Mogherini
Read: Letter to Commissioners Tibor Navracsics and Carlos Moedas