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Mobilizing Institutional, Legal and Cultural Resources to Achieve Gender Equality

Mobilizing Institutional, Legal and Cultural Resources to Achieve Gender Equality

Baha'i International Community’s Statement to the 52nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

New York—1 February 2008

The central role of girls and women in the development of families, communities and nations has been clearly established: women are the first educators of the next generation; their education has a tremendous impact on the family’s physical, social and economic well-being; their economic participation increases productivity and drives economic progress; their presence in public life has been associated with better governance and lower levels of corruption. No country, however, has yet achieved a full measure of gender equality. While women bear the most direct costs of this persistent inequality, the progress of all facets of human society is hindered as half of the world’s population is held back from realizing its potential.

The last several decades have produced landmark documents elaborating the rights of women, calling for an end to all forms of discrimination against women, and outlining strategies to advance gender equality.[1] The systematic implementation of these measures will no doubt require a careful re-thinking of budget priorities and processes. Financing this effort, however, is only part of the equation. As the Baha'i International Community noted in its statement to the 51st Commission on the Status of Women, a massive divide still separates the legal apparatus and the culture – embodied in values and institutional norms – required to achieve gender equality.[2] A comprehensive approach to financing gender equality will need to address the constellation of cultural, institutional, and legal obstacles holding back the urgently needed progress of half of the world’s population.

From this perspective, we offer three measures for governments’ consideration: (a) the adoption of a long-term perspective to guide short and medium-term efforts to finance gender equality; (b) the use of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)to evaluate national budgets; and (c) the engagement of religious perspectives and institutions.

Adoption of a long-term perspective. To articulate a coherent and compelling vision of gender equality, leaders will need to move away from a predominantly crisis-driven, reactive mode of operation. Along side short-term goals, they will need to frame policies from a long-term perspective, unconstrained by the intellectual straightjacket of election cycles. An exclusive focus on short-term goals too often falls prey to minimum standards, narrow orientations and compromise positions. A long-term orientation, looking ahead one, two, or more generations, would allow governments to explore a wider range of policy and programmatic options and to consider a diversity of contributions – including those from nongovernmental, business, academic and informal sectors.[3]

The first pillar of the long-term approach is a consensus about the broader goals of development and the outcomes to be achieved. Governments will need to articulate the goals of gender equality in terms of the well-being of society as a whole: its boys, girls, men, women; its peace and security, health and well-being, economic progress, environmental sustainability, and its institutions of governance. The second pillar of the long-term approach involves the measurement of progress towards stated goals. Even in instances where a country may be sensitive to the gender dimension, it often lacks the monitoring tools and systems to gauge the impact of its policies on girls and women. As such, the development of indicators will be essential to determine the effectiveness of financing initiatives. Given the diversity of national and local contexts, one-size-fits-all indicators will not be feasible – each region will need to develop tools most appropriate to its circumstances. The Baha'i International Community looks forward to participating in discussions about this important initiative.

Aligning national budgets with human rights standards

Our second recommendation to governments concerns measures to bring national budgets into compliance with international human rights standards. Far from being value neutral, a government’s budget reflects the values of the country – whom it values, whose work it values, and what it rewards.[4]While budgets are not typically formulated with a gender perspective, the proliferation of Gender Budget Initiatives suggests that these worlds are gradually coming together to bring budgeting processes in line with state obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This type of gender analysis helps to identify gender in equalities in budget processes, allocations, and outcomes; and assesses states’ responsibilities to address these inequalities. [5]For the rights-based approach to be effective, however, it must take into account not only women but rather their entire life cycle – from birth to childhood and youth – as discrimination begins and compounds in these early stages.

The rights-based approach is not without precedent. A number of countries have successfully empowered women politically, boosted their rate of participation in the labor force, and helped to facilitate a balance between work and family life.[6] Governments would be well served by examining closely the practices of those countries which have achieved a measure of success with these seemingly intractable problems. Norway, which the United Nations Development Programme has ranked highest on the Gender-related development index and the Gender empowerment measure, may serve as a useful example. An analysis of effective gender-specific policies and the legal, institutional, and culture obstacles to the adoption of such policies in other counties would help to formulate policy recommendations on the basis of concrete examples.

Engaging religion and religious leaders

Too often, policy makers have been resistant to addressing the cultural and religious dimensions of attitudes governing the treatment of women – fearing the potentially divisive nature of such an undertaking or lacking knowledge about whom to address and how to proceed. Yet the achievement of gender equality has been painstakingly slow precisely because questions about the roles and responsibilities of women challenge some of the most deeply entrenched human attitudes. Given the tremendous capacity of religion to influence the masses - both to inspire and to vilify – governments cannot afford to turn a blind eye.

In the absence of a sustained dialogue between governments and religions, religious extremism flourishes. Fuelled at various times by poverty, instability, the socio-economic changes accompanying globalization and access to information technologies, radical religious voices have exerted tremendous influence on politics and public policy. Among the casualties of this development has been the role of women in public life as evidenced, in some parts of the world, by are turn to narrowly defined notions of a woman’s place in the family, the community, and the world. The decrease in funding for woman’s rights has been partly attributed to these social and cultural shifts. Complicating matters further is the fact that many states continue to hide behind cultural and religious reservations to international treaties concerning the rights of women. Today - nearly sixty years after adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 26 years after CEDAW entered into force - governments can no longer ignore religious practices and doctrines that stand in flagrant violation of international human rights standards. These must be subject to examination and scrutiny.

Despite this challenging reality, religious organizations constitute some of the oldest, far-reaching networks in the world. In many conflict-torn countries, they are the only surviving institutions. In the areas of health, environment, debt relief and humanitarian support, it is religious organizations that have been at the forefront of efforts to reach neglected areas and to influence government policy. Furthermore, given the tremendous weight of religion and culture in shaping perceptions about the role of women in society, religious organizations and constituencies will need to be meaningfully engaged in efforts to further the gender equality agenda. While at first, the language of finance and economics appears incompatible with that of ethics and values(common to religions), both governments and religious organizations need to become familiar with each other’s rationale and perspectives - recognizing that these concern the same reality. An equitable economic system is not possible without agreement about underlying values; and notions of ethics and values divorced from economic conditions will not be realized.

By adopting a long-term perspective, working to align national budgets with human rights obligations, and engaging with religions, governments can mobilize the institutional, cultural and legal resources that facilitate efforts to finance gender equality. It must be borne in mind, however, that the advancement of women is not a privilege, a technical exercise, or a magic bullet. It is part of a broader exercise of creating an ordered society in which relationships between men and women, parents and children, employees and employers, the governors and the governed adhere to principles of justice and emulate the highest aspirations of humankind.

 

[1] The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, The Beijing Platform for Action, the Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security along with the Millennium Development Goals have provided a vision and concrete plans for action.

[2] Baha'i International Community. (2006). Beyond Legal Reforms: Culture and Capacity in the Eradication of Violence Against Women and Girls. New York.

[3] Given that it takes approximately 17 years for an individual to complete secondary education and approximately 20 years to complete higher education, a long-term perspective can more fully take into account and seek to shape the educational resources of a nation.

[4] Budlender, D. (ed.) (1996). The Women’s Budget, Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), Cape Town.

[5] Elson, Diane. (2006). Budgeting for Women’s Rights: Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW. United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM): New York.

[6] Hausmann, Ricardo, Laura D. Tyson, and Saadia  Zahidi.(2007). The Global Gender Gap Report 2007.World Economic Forum: Davos, Switzerland.

Situation of the Baha'is in Egypt

Situation of the Baha'is in Egypt

6th Session of the Human Rights Council

Geneva—24 September 2007

As the purpose of item 4 is to address human rights situations that require the attention of the Human Rights Council, the Baha'i International Community would like to evoke the unacceptable situation of the Baha'is in Egypt.

Although we fully support the right of each country to establish any mechanisms it feels are required for the smooth running of its internal affairs, Egypt’s system for national identity cards does not allow its Baha'i citizens to obtain the new ID card. These identity cards are required by law; are essential for access to employment, education, medical and financial services, as well as freedom of movement and security of property – and the only Egyptians who can obtain them are the Muslim, Christian and Jewish citizens of this country.

The reason why this is such a grave violation of human rights is that government policies have created a situation where members of a minority are denied official identity. Egyptian Baha'is are being denied recognition of their existence – which is turning them not only into non-citizens in their own country, but worse than that: into non-persons.

We might mention that this is the latest in a fairly long history of acts that have persecuted and discriminated against a community of peaceful and law-abiding citizens. Once a vibrant minority, established in the 19th century in Egypt, it suffered a crippling blow in 1960 – when a Presidential Decree banned its institutions, confiscated its assets and established the oppression that has, ever since, denied Egyptian Baha'is their civil, economic, cultural and social rights.

However, we only wish to put one question to you today: How can members of the Baha'i minority abide by the laws that require them to tell the truth when filling out official forms and fulfil their obligations as Egyptian citizens to obtain government-issued ID cards and other documents as stipulated by law? At present, this is impossible, and each one is thus being denied the most basic right of any human being: the right to an identity, the right to an official existence.

As many of you may know, several cases have been working their way through Egyptian courts, filed by Baha'is whose rights of citizenship are being denied. Some have been unable to obtain birth certificates for their children; some have been fired from their jobs; others cannot complete their studies at university… in all these cases: because they do not have (and cannot obtain) national identity cards.

Surely the Egyptian government cannot deny the existence of members of a minority who have demonstrated their obedience to government and their good faith. Egypt is failing in its obligation to ensure the most basic rights to ALL its citizens, including the Baha'is.

The Baha'i International Community is grateful for the support it has received from human rights activists, journalists and others who have joined their voices with ours to seek a just solution to a serious inequity. We ask for your support, as well, so that the authorities in Egypt will correct a situation that has very serious implications not only for the Baha'is, but also for other minorities in Egypt and throughout the world.

 

Integrating gender perspectives into the work of the Human Rights Council

Integrating gender perspectives into the work of the Human Rights Council

Oral Intervention of the Baha'i International Community to the Human Rights Council, 6th session

Geneva—20 September 2007

First of all, the Baha'i International Community would like to commend the Council for organizing this discussion and for looking at targeted initiatives to ensure that the gender perspective is systematically integrated into its work. We congratulate the distinguished panelists for their excellent presentation and look forward to the debate that is being initiated here and will no doubt continue beyond this session.

We strongly believe that the achievement of full equality between the sexes is one of the most important (though less acknowledged) prerequisites for peace. Indeed, only when women participate fully and equally in the affairs of the world – and enter confidently and capably the arenas of laws and government – will wars cease. The Baha'i International Community has been consistently working for the emancipation of women, both through strengthening the UN’s gender mechanisms and through supporting the programs and implementation efforts of its national affiliates in this field.

As you take on the important task of ensuring that the gender perspective is systematically integrated into the Council’s agenda, you may want to consider the following principles.

The advancement of civilization requires the full participation of every human being. For women to be able to fully participate in world affairs, they must be given the requisite tools, level of education and opportunities, of which they are often deprived. Through education, women will make unique contributions to the creation of a just world order: an order characterized by vigor, cooperation, harmony, and a degree of compassion never before witnessed in history.

Furthermore, the equality of men and women needs to be understood as an essential aspect of an even broader principle: the oneness of humanity. Properly understood as a facet of the oneness of humanity, gender equality must be embraced not only as a requirement of justice but also as a prerequisite for peace and prosperity. Nothing short of a compelling vision of peace, and commitment to the values on which it must be based, will have the power to motivate the revolutionary changes in individual behavior, organizational structures and interpersonal dynamics called for by the various instruments on the advancement of women.

The principle of the oneness of humankind lies at the heart of the exhortation that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated. To establish justice, peace and order in an interdependent world, this principle must guide all interactions, including those between men and women. If the treatment of women were scrutinized in the light of this ethical standard, we would doubtless move beyond many traditional, religious and cultural practices.

It therefore becomes clear that women and men have to work together, with respect, to ensure the establishment of world peace and sustainable development.

As the Council moves forward in its work, the Baha'i International Community suggests that measures required for the advancement of women be in evidence here not only thematically, within your discussions, but also in your manner of functioning – in order to ensure the full participation of women in all the debates of the Human Rights Council.

Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights

Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights

Baha'i International Community’s comment on the United Nations’ “Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights”. Submitted to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

New York—1 September 2007

The Baha'i International Community welcomes the opportunity to offer its comments regarding the United Nations’ draft guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights[1] as per the Human Rights Council Resolution 2/2 regarding “human rights and extreme poverty.”[2] We commend the Human Rights Council for taking this important step to address poverty from a human rights perspective – linking poverty reduction to questions of justice and obligation rather than charity. In this way, the moral basis of efforts related to poverty reduction is sharpened and the values underlying such efforts, as embodied in the international law of human rights, are made explicit. With a view to upholding justice as the organizing principle of human activity, the Baha'i International Community offers the following comments on the draft “Guiding Principles.”

In preparing this submission, the Baha'i International Community responded to the United Nations’ call for the participation of those directly affected by or living in conditions of poverty. We organized discussions with Baha'i communities in 10 countries[3], spanning five continents, and will continue to follow and learn from these as responses are received. The outcomes of discussions received so far, namely from Guyana, Namibia, and Brazil, are incorporated into this statement.

Definition of poverty. Definitions of poverty and prescriptions for its elimination are shaped by assumptions about the nature of the human being and the purpose of development, or more broadly, the purpose of civilization itself. While the UN Draft Guidelines provide a multi-faceted definition of poverty,[4] participants in the poverty discussions expanded on this definition in two ways: (a) by casting poverty as a problem for all of humanity, not just for the poor; and (b) by acknowledging a ‘meaning’ and ‘purpose’ dimension that is central to human life. Along with the deprivation of resources and opportunities, poverty was described primarily in non-material terms: among the economically disadvantaged, it manifested as “a state of mind”; the degree to which a person is unaware of her potential and of “what her dignity might be”; the deprivation of the capacity to reflect on one’s own condition; a lack of knowledge; and as the lack of capacity to claim one’s rights. Among the economically advantaged, participants described a “poverty of the spirit” – a blindness to the needs of those living next to us; a loss of “capacity to be indignant, to be ashamed” of the surrounding “wretched conditions” and “absolute penury.” Being “wealthy” was not only characterized as improving one’s own condition but also helping others to survive, to live in dignity, with a view to promoting the well-being of all mankind.

The Baha'i International Community understands poverty as a symptom of a system of economic and social relationships – in the family, the community, the nation, and the world - that promote the advantage of the few at the expense of the many. As such, remedies to this complex issue must be rooted in a systemic approach that directly addresses the harmful and destructive values driving human attitudes, behaviors, and decision-making. In light of this perspective, we conceive of poverty as the absence of resources – material, social, and ethical – necessary for the establishment of conditions, which promote the moral, material, and creative capacities of individuals, communities, and institutions.

Human rights approach. In order for the human rights approach to play an effective role in establishing justice as the organizing principle of human relationships, the promotion of human rights must be freed from the false dichotomies: the concept of “rights” neither justifies a rampant individualism nor an elevation of the state as the sole source of human well-being. Rather, the relationship between the individual and the state is one of trusteeship – each member of the human race comes into the world as trust of the whole, which includes the family, the community, the nation, and the world. It is this trusteeship that constitutes the moral foundation of most other rights.[5] From this perspective, the entire burden of poverty alleviation cannot fall on the state; a portion of the responsibility needs to be assigned to the people, their family, and their community. While conditions of poverty arise and persist for various historic, economic and political reasons, they are equally exacerbated by human values, such as those regarding cultural integration, the rights of women, education, and an individual’s right to progress. As such, a human rights approach to poverty alleviation must consider the appropriate responsibilities of all actors in the community.

New guiding principle: the equality of men and women. While guiding principle “A. Participation by the poor,” includes a section regarding women in poverty, the persistently disproportionate number of women among the world’s poor, including elderly women, the systemic violation of girls’ and women’s rights, and the gross under-representation of women in governance at all levels, merits the creation of a separate principle termed, “equality of men and women,” to guide all poverty alleviation efforts. The aim of this principle is not only to call attention to the dire condition of women but also to remind states that the full and confident participation of women in legal, political, economic, academic, social and artistic arenas is a prerequisite for a more just and peaceful development pathway. Their participation, in turn, opens up opportunities for men and boys to excel as fathers, husbands, workers, community members and leaders in ways that do not exist today.

Right to education and culture. In order for a society to progress, human beings must be free to know, to create, and to believe. First, with the understanding that knowledge can provide the means to alleviate poverty and achieve the higher moral goals of human justice and dignity, the state should work to ensure that knowledge diffusion, production and application become a valued dimension of all aspects of human activity. Lack of education mercilessly depletes the intellectual, creative and ethical potential of human beings, so desperately needed to generate solutions to the problems at hand. One participant commented, “…whoever has knowledge consequently holds power. The first thing is to invest in education so that everybody will have the knowledge and the capacity to interpret what is going on.” Second, human beings must have access to the cultural and scientific attainments of humanity and their applications. Third, the freedom of religion or belief must be upheld and protected, as the right to hold beliefs, to share them, and to change them is central to the individual’s search for meaning and fundamental to protecting the dignity of the human being.

Right to work. The provision of meaningful work should be a cornerstone of any poverty alleviation efforts. One’s work, however, should not be reduced to an instrumental dimension of acquiring means for the consumption of available goods or an expendable cost of production. Thus, the role and meaning of one’s work need to be reconsidered. One’s work is no less than the means of developing one’s craft, of refining one’s character, achieving self-subsistence, and being of service to others. Today, young people between the ages of 15 to 29 account for nearly half of all adults in 100 economically disadvantaged nations[6] and their potential for innovation as well their intellectual and moral engagement in the well-being of their country must become a focal concern in policy making.

The persistence of extreme poverty in the face of increasing and extreme wealth in parts of the world suggests that the problem must be addressed systemically: the responsibilities of all actors – the international community, governments, businesses, media, civil society, the family and the individual – need to be articulated. In order for justice to become the organizing principle of collective life, these principles need to take hold both legally and ethically: nations must be assisted and held accountable for their efforts vis-à-vis the poor; at the same time, the underlying values must take root on a personal level so that behavior is ultimately guided by a sense of responsibility towards other human beings and not only a fear of consequences from breaking the law.

[1] Draft Guiding Principles “Extreme poverty and human rights: the rights of the poor,” pp.29-38 (Annex). Report of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights on its Fifty-Eighth Session. 11 September 2006. UN Document # A/HRC/2/2.

[2] Human Rights Council Resolution 2/2. Human Rights and extreme poverty. 27 November 2006.

[3] Brazil, Canada, Fiji, Guyana, Haiti, India, Namibia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

[4] The draft guiding principles define poverty as “a human condition characterized by sustained or chronic deprivation of resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.” See note 1.

[5] The security of the family and the home, the ownership of property, and the right to privacy are all implied in such a trusteeship. The obligations on the part of the community extend to the provision of employment, mental and physical health care, social security, fair wages, rest and recreation, and a host of other reasonable expectations on the part of the individual members of society.

[6] U.N. Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision (New York: 2005).

Initiatives for the Global Dialogue for Promotion of a Culture of Tolerance and Peace based on Respect for Human Rights and Religious Diversity

Initiatives for the Global Dialogue for Promotion of a Culture of Tolerance and Peace based on Respect for Human Rights and Religious Diversity

Submitted to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Anti-Discrimination Unit.

Geneva—26 June 2007

The Baha'i International Community welcomes the invitation of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to put forward its contributions with regards to initiatives that promote a culture of peace based on respect for human rights and religious diversity. Indeed, the work of the Baha'i International Community is rooted in the understanding that a peaceful society is strengthened by the cultural diversity of its members, that it progresses through individuals’ independent search for truth, and that it is ordered by an adherence to the rule of law which protects the rights of all girls and women, boys and men.

Given the persistent intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief, the Baha'i International Community recognizes the need for coherent action by the international community to create a climate in which individuals of differing beliefs can, alongside one another, lead dignified and meaningful lives free from violence and discrimination. The General Assembly resolution of 19 December 2006, entitled, “Combating Defamation of Religions,” however, is inadequate for the achievement of these ends. If its co-sponsors are true to the intent of the resolution, they will recognize the self-evident need to extend its provisions to include all religions. Today, violence and discrimination are directed towards many religious communities, big or small, new and old; numerous attacks on smaller religions go largely unnoticed. There can be no hierarchization of religion in this regard.

The Baha'i International Community, representing over 180 national affiliates, has led a worldwide campaign to educate its national affiliates about the full panoply and interconnectedness of human rights by systematically promoting human rights education and, as regards the resolution in question, has consistently promoted an awareness of the individual’s right to freedom of religion or belief. Throughout the last decade, over 100 national affiliates received the tools to promote human rights education in their national and local communities, often learning about human rights for the very first time.

Against a backdrop of pernicious violence and discrimination on the basis of religion, which has not spared members of the Baha'i Faith, the Baha'i International Community has given particular emphasis to the matter of  freedom of religion or belief – an integral principle of the Baha'i Faith. The Community has helped its national affiliates to become aware of this right, its status worldwide, and the responsibilities it entails. In an effort to mobilize members of the worldwide Baha'i community to become active proponents of a culture that recognizes the sacred nature of the human conscience, that upholds the right of every individual to search for truth, and that fosters peaceful dialogue and knowledge generation, the Baha'i International Community has encouraged its affiliates to be guided by the following principles.

First, the freedom to hold beliefs of one’s choosing and to change them is a distinguishing attribute of the human conscience and makes possible the individual’s search for meaning. The immutability of this right under international law validates its place in safeguarding the dignity of human beings. In flagrant violation of this right, governments of some Muslim countries have designated “approved” or “heavenly” religions, in which people are permitted to believe. Targeting converts to “unapproved” religions, these States have illegitimately leveled charges of “apostasy” – punishable by imprisonment and sometimes death – effectively depriving individuals of the right to exercise their conscience. Given the interdependence of human rights, such violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief, have compromised, among others, the right to education, employment, peaceful assembly, citizenship, health, and at time, life itself.

Second, the right to freedom of religion and belief is necessarily contingent on the exposure to new ideas and the ability to share and receive information. While this right cannot legitimately be extended to embrace acts that incite hatred, the State cannot prevent criticism and honest debate concerning matters of religious belief.

Against the backdrop of increasing pluralism, States face the challenge of maintaining social cohesion and national unity. Cultural homogeneity and ideological uniformity are no guarantors of peace and security. It is the setting up of just laws, which uphold the dignity and equal rights of all believers and non-believers alike, male and female that provides the surest foundation for a peaceful and prosperous society. An independent judiciary is a vital component in the process of effectively adjudicating cases concerning incitement of religious hatred.

Where contentious opinions about religions are expressed, it is the responsibility of the State to provide for right of reply. As a minimum standard, both sides must be afforded the right to respond, in a peaceful and legal manner, so as to allow the public to arrive at their own conclusion. A long-term preventative strategy to combat the defamation of religions and beliefs involves the education of children, first and foremost. Specifically, it involves providing them with the tool to peacefully question, coherently discuss and freely participate in the generation of knowledge. In this way, a whole generation can be prepared to counter the forces of ignorance and fanaticism eating away at the social and intellectual fabric of society.

Alongside states, religious leaders bear a great responsibility for the prevention of defamatory practices, so that they themselves do not become obstacles in the path of peace and mutual understanding. Rather, by word and example, they must guide their followers to a peaceful coexistence with those who think and behave differently. In a religiously plural society, it must be acknowledged that obligations inherent to a particular religious community are not binding on persons who are not part of that group unless the content of such obligations corresponds to internationally agreed-upon human rights.

Finally, legal measures alone will not eradicate the destructive tendencies towards violence and discrimination, particularly when such measures favor the protection of one group of believers over another which is similarly persecuted. The Baha'i International Community has endeavored to contribute to the creation of a culture of respect and knowledge-sharing through guiding the efforts of its national affiliates to promote the principles of the independent search for truth, adherence to a universal code of human rights and to the creation of an environment - both culturally and legally – in which the human mind is free to know and to believe.

We thank the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for the opportunity to make this submission.

Situation of the Baha'i minority in Egypt

Situation of the Baha'i minority in Egypt

Oral Statement of the Baha'i International Community to the Fourth Session of the Human Rights Council

Geneva—12 March 2007

In April last year, an Egyptian Administrative Court adopted a landmark ruling in favour of Baha'i plaintiffs, upholding their right to obtain identity cards that did not misrepresent their religious affiliation. It ordered the Civil Registry to issue new documents that properly identified them as Baha'is, citing precedents and Islamic jurisprudence that allow for the right of non-Muslims to live in Muslim lands “without any of them being forced to change what they believe in.”

This court ruling was part of an ongoing crisis over efforts to deny identity cards to the Baha'i minority in Egypt. The ID cards are required by law and essential for access to employment, education, medical and financial services, as well as freedom of movement and security of property. An Egyptian citizen cannot lead a normal life without one, so it follows that to receive an official ID card is the civil right of all citizens.

The landmark ruling last year was a tribute to the independence of the judges on that Administrative Court, and Egyptian human rights groups immediately hailed the decision. But ultimately it did not lead to the issue being resolved. Conservative Islamic organizations – including scholars at Al Azhar and Muslim Brotherhood Parliamentarians – urged the government to file an appeal.

The government did appeal the ruling, and in December the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the government’s position in the case, once more denying Baha'is their legitimate rights. Its decision, however, focused on the theology of the Baha'i Faith instead of on the right of the Baha'i minority to be treated like other Egyptian citizens.

The Baha'i International Community welcomes the attention paid to this case. But it is important to remember that the central issue is not whether the Egyptian government (or any other government) is able or willing to recognize the Baha'i Faith as a religion. The point must be how members of the Baha'i minority, who are under the same obligation as all Egyptian citizens to obtain government-issued identity cards and other official documents, can do so without being falsely identified.

For Baha'is to declare their religion as something other than the Baha'i Faith is untruthful and unconscionable as a matter of principle. A declaration on the Egyptian application form also makes such misrepresentation an offence punishable by law. And yet officials of the government are forcing the Baha'is to declare that they are Muslim, Christian or Jewish, in other words that they must lie and thus commit a legally punishable act.

Several more cases are working their way through the courts, filed by other Baha'is whose rights of citizenship have been denied. Some are unable to obtain birth certificates for their children; some have been fired from their jobs, and others cannot complete their studies at university… all because they do not have the required identity cards. The Egyptian government cannot deny these rights to members of a minority who have demonstrated their obedience and good faith, simply because of their personal beliefs, and the burden is therefore on the government to find a solution.

Egyptian Baha'is are peaceful and law-abiding citizens. Our only request is that the government allow them to lead the same, normal, everyday life as any other citizen of their country.

Situation of the Baha'is in Iran

Situation of the Baha'is in Iran

Oral Statement of the Baha'i International Community to the Fourth Session of the Human Rights Council

Geneva—12 March 2007

Just about a year ago, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief released a statement to express her grave concern about a letter that had been sent by the Command Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Ministry of Information, the Revolutionary Guard, the Police and the Army, among others – instructing them to identify people who adhere to the Baha'i Faith and to monitor their activities. The letter had been prepared under the guidance of the Iranian Supreme Leader.

These instructions are being implemented. Iran’s Ministry of the Interior ordered provincial officials throughout the country to step up surveillance of Iranian Baha'is in August last year, requiring these officials to complete a detailed questionnaire about local Baha'is and to monitor their activities. We also received indications that certain Iranian trade and technical associations had begun to compile lists of Baha'is in every trade and employment.

This monitoring has already been followed by acts that target members of the community. Managers of private companies have been pressured to dismiss Baha'i employees, landlords have been asked to refuse lease renewals to Baha'i shopkeepers, and some of the Baha'is who have their own businesses have received death threats or been ordered to close down.

During the same period, the public has been incited to hostility through a media campaign of slander and defamation against the Baha'i Faith. Baha'is in many localities have received letters and messages from strangers that are becoming more and more blatantly threatening. And dozens of Baha'is were arrested over the past year – adding to the numbers of those subjected to a “revolving door” sequence of imprisonment and release on bail. The fact that these people were imprisoned only because of their adherence to the Baha'i Faith is confirmed by the charges brought against the few that have been tried and sentenced.

The Baha'i International Community is particularly worried about all this because it seems to be part of a larger, coordinated strategy. Of course, persecution against Iranian Baha'is is nothing new. The Baha'is have been persecuted throughout their history in Iran, with over 200 dead since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution, many hundreds imprisoned and tens of thousands deprived of jobs, homes, pensions, businesses, inheritance and educational opportunities. The community’s holy places, cemeteries and properties have been confiscated, vandalized or destroyed, and the Iranian Government still bans all Baha'i religious institutions.< The policy laid down in the government memorandum obtained and published by the UN Special Representative on Iran in 1993 is still in effect today.

Right now, however, we feel it is essential for the international community to express its concern at the coordinated nature of the attempt to identify all members of the community in Iran, combined with the upsurge, during the same period, of articles, broadcasts and websites condemning the Baha'is and their beliefs.

We cannot forget that twice before, in the 1950s and again in the 1980s, media campaigns of this nature led to violence against the Baha'i minority and the deaths of Baha'i men, women and children.

This must not happen again.

Transforming Values to Empower the Girl Child

Transforming Values to Empower the Girl Child

Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-first session. Item 3 (a) (i) of the provisional agenda. Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and to the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”: implementation of strategic objectives and action in critical areas of concern and further actions and initiatives: the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child.

New York—26 February 2007

Declaration

The Baha'i International Community welcomes the consideration of  “the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child” as the priority theme of the 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

We also welcome the Secretary General’s Study on Violence Against Children, which we hope will bring attention to this critical issue and facilitate strategizing at all levels of society.

The Baha'i International Community believes that the era of developing legal frameworks to eradicate violence against girls must now be followed by an emphasis on implementation and prevention. The challenge before the international community is how to create the social, material and structural conditions in which women and girls can develop their full potential. The creation of such conditions must not be limited to legal and institutional reforms; rather, deep-rooted changes are needed to create a culture in which justice and equality prevail over the impetuousness of authoritarian power and physical force. Education and training must be carried out in a way that enables children to grow intellectually and morally, cultivating in them a sense of dignity as well as responsibility for the well-being of their family, their community and the world.

We would like to offer the following recommendations:

With the understanding that a girl child's most influential environment is her family, national and international interventions, policies and programs should promote values and attitudes that support families and enable women and men to work together as equal partners in all fields of human endeavor.

  • Educational institutions should develop and incorporate moral development into their curricula. Through such curricula, Baha'i schools, for example, seek to develop the individual as a whole – integrating the spiritual and the material, the theoretical and the practical and the sense of individual progress with service to the common good. Gender sensitization should also form an integral part of a child’s education, with a view to stemming the perpetuation of discrimination and stereotypical gender roles.
  • Consultative mechanisms for coordination, implementation and monitoring at the national level are needed to reinforce the understanding of civil society’s and governments’ responsibility for the effective implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Baha'i International Community and its affiliates in 182 countries, are striving to set a worldwide example of families which not only reject violence against the girl child, but also strive to provide a supportive and nurturing environment in which girls and women are valued and respected as equal partners.

Full Employment and Decent Work

Full Employment and Decent Work

Baha'i International Community’s Statement to the 46th Commission on Social Development

New York—11 February 2007

The Baha'i International Community is pleased with the Commission’s focus this year on “Full Employment and Decent Work for All”, and we noted with appreciation the interventions of the various Member-States, the Under-Secretary General, the International Labor Organization, and Non-governmental Organizations.

Although, the Baha'i International Community will not speak to specific policy recommendations to add to the already rich pool of suggestions, we would like to make a comment on the framework in which work is addressed.

In all policies aimed at tackling unemployment and providing decent and secure work for all, the conception of work needs to transcend just the economic dimension and encompass also the human and social purpose that employment fulfills.

Work needs to be seen not only as a means to securing an individual and family’s basic needs, but also as a channel to developing one’s craft, refining one’s character, and contributing to the welfare and progress of society. Work, no matter how humble and simple, when performed with an attitude of service, is a means to contribute to the advancement of our communities, countries and global society.

Within this context, we can start to see the masses of unemployed not only as a ‘problem’ but as a ‘resource’ to be tapped into in order to achieve national priorities and fulfil the Millennium Development Goals.

We hope that this work paradigm can expand the vision of workers, the private sector, governments, and other agencies; and that this broad vision of work can encompass all policies which are adopted at national and international level to address the issue of full employment and decent work for all.

Thank you.

Beyond Legal Reforms: Culture and Capacity in the Eradication of Violence Against Women and Girls

Beyond Legal Reforms: Culture and Capacity in the Eradication of Violence Against Women and Girls

New York—2 July 2006

By many measures, the status of women and girls has improved significantly over the last 50 years. They have achieved higher rates of literacy and education, increased their per capita income, and risen to prominent roles in professional and political spheres. Moreover, extensive local, national and global networks of women have succeeded in putting women's concerns on the global agenda and catalyzed the creation of legal and institutional mechanisms to address these concerns. Notwithstanding the positive developments, a relentless epidemic of violence against women and girls, perpetuated by social norms, religious fanaticism, and exploitative economic and political conditions, continues to wreak havoc in every corner of the world. As the international community struggles to implement laws to protect women and girls, it is evident that a massive divide still separates the legal apparatus and the culture, embodied in our values, behaviors and institutions, required to stem the epidemic.

The alarming violence against women and girls takes place against the backdrop of two simultaneous processes that characterize the present global condition. The first is a process of disintegration, which in every continent and every arena of human life reveals the impotence of outworn institutions, obsolescent doctrines and discredited traditions, and leads to chaos and decline in the social order. The deterioration of the ability of religions to exercise a moral influence has left in its wake a moral vacuum filled by extremist voices and material conceptions of reality that deny the dignity of human life. An exploitative economic order, fuelling the extremes of wealth and poverty, has pushed millions of women into positions of economic slavery and denied their rights to property, inheritance, physical security and equal participation in the productive enterprise. Ethnic conflicts and failing states have swelled the number of women migrants and refugees, forcing them into positions of yet greater physical and economic insecurity. Within the home and community, the high incidence of violence within the family, the increase in degrading treatment of women and children, and the spread of sexual abuse have accelerated this decline.

Alongside a pattern of deterioration, a second constructive and unifying process can be discerned. Rooted in the ethic of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and fuelled by a growing solidarity of women's efforts around the world, the last 15 years have succeeded in putting the issue of violence against women and girls on the global agenda. The extensive legal and normative framework developed during this time has brought to the attention of a distracted international community, the culture of impunity within which such abuse was tolerated and even condoned. 1993, the landmark UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women defined violence as:

Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.1

This definition challenged the fallacious notion that violence against women and girls was a private matter. The home, the family, one's culture and tradition were no longer to be the final arbiters of just action where violence against girls or women was concerned. The subsequent appointment of a Special Rapporteur on violence against women provided yet another mechanism for investigating and bringing the many dimensions of this crisis to the attention of the international community.

Despite major advances in the last fifteen years, the failure of nations to decrease the violence has laid bare the shortcomings of a primarily reactive' approach and has gradually come to embrace the broader goal of prevention of violence in the first place. Framed differently, the challenge now before the international community is how to create the social, material and structural conditions in which women and girls can develop to their full potential. The creation of such conditions will involve not only deliberate attempts to change the legal, political and economic structures of society, but, equally importantly, will require the transformation of individuals, men and women, boys and girls, whose values, in different ways, sustain exploitative patterns of behavior. From the Baha'i perspective, the essence of any program of social change is the understanding that the individual has a spiritual or moral dimension. This shapes their understanding of their life's purpose, their responsibilities towards the family, the community and the world. Alongside critical changes in the legal, political and economic architecture slowly taking shape, the development of individuals' moral and spiritual capabilities is an essential element in the as yet elusive quest to prevent the abuse of women and girls around the world.

The idea of promoting specific morals or values may be a controversial one; too often in the past such efforts have been associated with repressive religious practices, oppressive political ideologies and narrowly defined visions of the common good. However, moral capabilities, when articulated in a manner consistent with the ideals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and aimed at fostering the spiritual, social and intellectual development of all persons, represent a key element of the kind of transformation required for a non-violent society to take shape. Moreover, such capabilities must be anchored in the central social and spiritual principle of our time, namely the interdependence and interconnectedness of humanity as a whole. The goal of moral development, then, is shifted from individualistic notions of 'salvation' to embrace the collective progress of the entire human race. As our understanding of the world's social and physical systems has evolved to embrace this paradigm, so too must we develop the moral capabilities required to function ethically in the age in which we live.

How does this translate into educational objectives? A number of Baha'i schools and institutions of higher education have identified specific moral capabilities which help to equip children and youth to develop skills of moral reasoning and to assume the responsibility of contributing to the betterment of their communities. The basis for such curricula is the belief that every person is a spiritual being with limitless potential for noble action but that potential, in order to manifest, must be consciously cultivated through a curriculum attuned to this fundamental human dimension. Among the moral capabilities identified by Baha'i educational institutions include the ability to: participate effectively in non-adversarial collective decision-making (this includes the transformation of exploitative patterns of behavior based on the use of force and falsely rooted in the idea of conflict as a mainstay of human interaction); to act with rectitude of conduct based on ethical and moral principles; to cultivate one's sense of dignity and self-worth; to take initiative in a creative, disciplined form; to commit to empowering educational activities; to create a vision of a desired future based on shared values and principles, and to inspire others to work for its fulfillment; to understand relationships based on dominance and to contribute towards their transformation into relationships based on reciprocity and service. In this way, the curriculum seeks to develop the individual as a whole integrating the spiritual and the material, the theoretical and the practical and the sense of individual progress with service to the community.

While such values can be taught in schools, it is the family environment in which children grow and form views about themselves, the world and the purpose of life. To the degree that a family fails to meet the fundamental needs of the children, to that same degree will society be burdened with the consequences of neglect and abuse and will suffer greatly from the resulting conditions of apathy and violence. In the family, the child learns about the nature of power and its expression in interpersonal relationships; it is here that she first learns to accept or reject authoritarian rule and violence as a means of expression and conflict resolution. In this environment, the widespread violence committed by men against women and girls constitutes an assault on the foundational unit of the community and the nation.

The state of equality in the family and in the marriage requires an ever-increasing ability to integrate and unite rather than to separate and individualize. In a rapidly changing world, where families find themselves unbearably strained under the pressures of shifting environmental, economic and political upheavals, the ability to maintain the integrity of the family bond and to prepare children for citizenship in a complex and shrinking world takes on paramount importance. It is imperative, then, to help men as fathers understand their responsibilities in a family beyond economic well-being to include setting an example of healthy male-female relations, of self-discipline and equal respect for the male and female members of the family. This is a complementary role to that of the mother, who is the first educator of her children and whose happiness, sense of security and self-worth is essential to her capacity to parent effectively.

What children learn in the family is either confirmed or contradicted by the social interactions and values that shape their community life. All adults in the community, educators, health workers, entrepreneurs, political representatives, religious leaders, police officers, media professionals and the like, share a responsibility for the protection of children. In so many cases, however, the protective web of community life appears irreparably torn: millions of women and girls are trafficked every year and subjected to forced prostitution and slavery-like conditions; migrant workers face a double marginalization as females and as migrants, suffering mental, physical and economic abuse at the hands of their employers in an informal economy; violence against older women, whose numbers have risen and who often lack the means for self-protection, has greatly increased; child pornography has spread like a virus feeding the appetite of a seamless, unregulated global market; in many countries, even the act of getting to and attending school has put girls at a tremendous risk for physical and sexual abuse. Exacerbating the conditions brought on by weak states and the failure of law enforcement, is the profoundly moral dilemma that forces the community to ask: what moves an individual to exploit the life and dignity of another human being? What fundamental moral capacity has the family and community failed to cultivate?

Across the world, religions have traditionally played a defining role in cultivating the values of a community. Yet today, many voices raised in the name of religion constitute the most formidable obstacle to eradicating violent and exploitative behaviors perpetrated against women and girls. Using religious appeals as a vehicle for their own power, proponents of extremist religious interpretations have sought to "tame" women and girls by limiting their mobility outside of the home, limiting their access to education, subjecting their bodies to harmful traditional practices, controlling attire and even killing to punish acts which were claimed to abase the family honor. It is religion itself that stands in desperate need of renewal. A core element of such renewal is the need for religious leaders to state unequivocally and become the standard bearers of the principle of equality of men and women a moral and practical principle urgently needed to realize progress in the social, political and economic spheres of society. Today, religious practices and doctrines in flagrant violation of international human rights standards must be subject to deeper examination and scrutiny, bearing in mind that all religions contain the voices of women, which have often been absent from the evolving definition of what religion is and what it requires.

The individual, her family and community environment are ultimately under the protection of the state; it is at this level that enlightened and responsible leadership is desperately required. Most governments, however, continue to abdicate their international obligations to punish and prevent the violence and exploitation of women and girls; many lack the political will; some fail to allocate adequate resources to implement the laws; in many countries specialized services addressing violence against women and girls do not exist; and work on prevention has in almost all contexts been limited to local short-term measures2. In fact, few states can claim even the smallest reduction in overall prevalence3. Many states continue to hide behind cultural and religious reservations to international treaties condemning this violence further perpetuating a climate of legal and moral impunity rendering the violence and its victims largely invisible.

The era of developing legal frameworks must now be followed by an emphasis on implementation and prevention. The foundation of such measures is a strategy rooted in the education and training of children in a way that enables them to grow intellectually as well as morally, cultivating in them a sense of dignity as well as a responsibility for the well-being of their family, community and the world. From a budgetary perspective, prevention involves the deliberate adoption of gender-specific measures to ensure that an adequate proportion of resources is allocated towards the provision of accessible social services and law enforcement. Such efforts must be reinforced by clear definitions of violence, as well as comprehensive data collection methods in order to evaluate national efforts in this area, and to raise awareness among men and women of the gravity and prevalence of violence occurring in their community.

The international community, despite its important leadership on this issue through the 1993 Declaration, its acknowledgement of violence against women and girls as "an obstacle to the achievement of equality, development and peace" and the work of the Special Rapporteur, has been divided and sluggish to put its words into practice. In 2003, the failure to act was highlighted at the meetings of the 47th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women which, for the first time in the history of the Commission, proved unable to arrive at a set of agreed conclusions regarding violence against women. In this case, cultural and religiously-based arguments were used in an attempt to circumvent countries' obligations as outlined in the 1993 Declaration. It is imperative, therefore, at future meetings of the Commission that decisive language with regards to the elimination of violence against women and girls be adopted as agreed conclusions, setting out not only the legal but moral tone befitting of this global epidemic.

In order to deliver on its many commitments, the international community needs to dramatically increase the power, authority and resources dedicated to women's human rights, gender equality and women's empowerment. The Baha'i International Community is part of discussions that suggest creating an autonomous United Nations agency with a comprehensive mandate dedicated to the full range of women's rights and concerns. These derive from the Beijing Platform for Action, the Cairo Programme of Work, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and ensure that the human rights perspective is fully integrated into all aspects of UN work. To guarantee a voice for women at the highest levels of decision-making at the UN, such an agency should be led by a director with the status of Under Secretary-General. To effectively carry out its mandate, the institution requires a sufficient national presence as well as independent women's rights experts as part of its governing body.

Efforts to eradicate the epidemic of violence against women and girls must proceed from and be reinforced by every level of society, from the individual to the international community. However, they must not be limited to legal and institutional reforms, for these address only the manifest crime and are incapable of generating the deep-rooted changes needed to create a culture where justice and equality prevail over the impetuousness of authoritarian power and physical force. Indeed the inner and outer dimensions of human life are reciprocal, one cannot be reformed without the other. It is this inner, ethical and moral dimension which now stands in need of transformation and, ultimately, provides the surest foundation for values and behavior which raise up women and girls and, in turn, promote the advancement of all of humankind.

Notes

1. United Nations General Assembly resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Article 2. UN Document A/RES/48/104.

2. United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (2005). Report of the Expert Group Meeting: Good practices in combating and eliminating violence against women. 17-20 May 2005, Vienna Austria. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/vaw-gp-2005/docs/FINALREPORT.goodpractices.pdf

3.Ibid.

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