A committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has called on the Iranian authorities to end ongoing violations of human rights against the Baha'is in Iran—the largest non-Muslim religious minority in the country.

The call came in a resolution, adopted on Thursday, 15 November, by a vote of 85 to 30, with 68 abstentions, expressing "serious concern regarding ongoing severe limitations and restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief."

The five page-page resolution further expresses serious concerns regarding “restrictions on the establishment of places of worship, attacks against places of worship and burial and other human rights violations, including…harassment, intimidation, persecution, arbitrary arrests and detention, denial of access to education and incitement to hatred that leads to violence against persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities.”

It further calls upon the Iranian government to "release all religious practitioners imprisoned for their membership in or activities on behalf of a recognized or unrecognized minority religious group, including the remaining imprisoned member of the Baha’i leadership."

The resolution was sponsored by Canada and had 34 co-sponsors.

Tens of thousands of Baha’is experience educational, economic and cultural persecution on a daily basis for merely practicing their faith. At present, more than 70 Baha’is currently remain imprisoned in Iran.

Baha’i homes are routinely raided and members of the community are arbitrarily arrested and detained. Baha’i-run businesses are shut down and sealed, depriving their owners of earning a decent living and thousands of young Iranian Baha’is are denied access to higher education or are routinely expelled from universities for practicing their faith.

Persecution extends even to cemeteries and burials. Most recently, the body of a Baha’i that had been laid to rest by her family in a Baha’i cemetery was subsequently found exhumed—the fourth case of exhumation experienced by the Baha’is at this same location in recent years.

“It is hoped that this resolution sends a strong message to the Iranian authorities that ongoing violations against the Baha'i community will not go unnoticed," said Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Baha'i International Community United Nations Office.

"Any form of discrimination against religious minorities for merely practicing their Faith is entirely unacceptable and will not be tolerated."

The resolution will be confirmed by the plenary of the General Assembly in December.