In spite of the ongoing pandemic, a committee of the United Nations General Assembly considered and approved a resolution today calling on Iran to observe human rights for all its citizens, including members of the Baha’i Faith. 

The Third Committee of the General Assembly approved the resolution by a vote of 79 to 32. Sixty-four Member States voted by abstention.

The resolution calls on the Islamic Republic to “eliminate, in law and practice, … all forms of discrimination on the basis of thought, conscience, religion or belief, including economic restrictions, ... the denial of and restrictions on access to education, including for members of the Baha’i faith...”. The resolutions also urges an end to “other human rights violations against persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities”.

For over 40 years and to this day, the entire Baha’i community in Iran has been subject to continuous, multidimensional and state-sponsored persecution, affecting every one of its members across generations and within every phase of life and even in death. While the specific tactics employed by the Iranian authorities have sometimes changed, their aim of destroying the Baha’i community as a viable entity in Iran continues in full force. 

“Through various means, the authorities maintain focus on this goal by striving to exclude Baha’is from the public sphere and prevent them from expressing their beliefs, impoverish them economically, undermine their intellectual advancement, erase traces of their history and culture, as well as spread disinformation about them and incite the public so as to create an environment of hatred against them,” said Bani Dugal, the Baha’i International Community’s Principal Representative to the United Nations.

“Let us hope that Iran will finally pay heed to the recommendations in this resolution and the international community’s call for it to uphold the human rights of its citizens.”  

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