The Baha’i community of Qatar is at risk of being eradicated from the country, according to a statement made today at the United Nations Human Rights Council, because of ongoing government discrimination based “solely” on their religious beliefs.

The statement (video), delivered by Diane Ala’i, a Representative of the Baha’i International Community (BIC) to the United Nations in Geneva, added that as Qatar is a member of the Council, “it is timely that it addresses the question of the rights of the Baha’is”.

Past efforts by the Qatari Baha’i community to engage the government on this question had met only “false excuses or silence”, Ala’i said.

The BIC’s statement is only the third time it has spoken in public about the decades of challenges Baha’is have faced in Qatar. The country’s Baha’i community has existed since before independence and for over 70 years. But the government has never recognised them as a legitimate community. Conducting both personal and community affairs is “very challenging” in such an environment.

Individual Baha’is have been denied certificates of good conduct which are necessary for employment, Ala’i said in her statement, and others have been blacklisted. Baha’is who have faced this form of discrimination have seen residency permits terminated or not renewed—and they have been deported. Even Baha’is who are Qatari citizens have been obliged to leave when their spouses were denied residency. Baha’i cemeteries have also been attacked.

“The only aspiration of the Baha’i community in Qatar is to be allowed to contribute to the welfare of their country”, Ala’i said in her statement, and to practice their basic rights “without fear of deportation”. Ala’i added that the authorities have not responded to these “longstanding” pleas to be treated as a legitimate religious minority.